Life is strange at the moment as Woolly and I watch the daily news and try to keep up with the Covid19 situation, in Wales we are still locked down, well we can drive 5 miles but given that our nearest supermarket is 10 miles away we can’t follow that. As we count the days down to being released Leicester in England is back to being locked down again. Will this impact on us, who knows at the moment? But with the hope of travel restrictions being lifted in 5 days I thought it a good idea to get the car serviced and ready for some outings to come. This also meant that we could have a proper walk around Welshpool town whilst waiting for the mechanic to do his thing, my small companion was quivering with delight at the thought of actually seeing something new.
Woolly says – Quivering, I was bouncing with glee as soon as Jo had told me the joyous tidings, I set about finding out about the nearest town to our new little home. Welshpool is a small town in Powys, Wales a mere 4 miles from the English border which currently cannot be crossed. Its Welsh language name, Y Trallwng, means “the marshy or sinking land” doesn’t appear to have affected it but means I will have to be mindful of sinking into the ground while out. In English it was initially known as Pool but its name was changed to Welshpool in 1835 to distinguish it from the English town of Poole and save confusion. With several churches to view and a canal to investigate I felt that we would have plenty to discover.
Ready for the off we sped through the now familiar country lanes into the town centre, having dropped the car off I set off at a trot to our first destination.
Racing across the main road and up a steep incline we arrived at St Mary’s Church a Grade I listed building. The original church dated from about 1250 with the whole building being restored in 1871. A memorial in the church commemorates Bishop William Morgan, translator of the Bible into Welsh, who was the vicar from 1575 to 1579, we wouldn’t of course be able to see this as churches are currently closed. Set on a fairly small area of land the church was rather lovely with a small graveyard around it and a memorial for the war hero’s from the area, a piece of granite looked slightly out of place next to the grave stones which is said to have been a part of a nearby abbey throne many centuries ago.
With Jo snapping away I peered over the wall and hurried down to look at a rather sweet Tudor cottage.
The Grace Evan’s Cottage is named after a maid of Lady Nithsdale (a daughter of the First Marquis of Powis), who is said to have helped to rescue Lord Nithsdale from imprisonment in the tower of London in 1716. The cottage is described as her birthplace, or as a gift to her on her return to Welshpool in 1735. No longer open to the public regardless of lockdowns it was lovely and having taken our snaps we wandered past a few more buildings before finding ourselves on a small piece of grassland.
As my small friend whooped in delight and promptly set about climbing onto a rather nice sculpture of a steam train, I stood reading the information board.
Woolly says – It’s my job to give information, you just concentrate on picture taking thank you. The Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway once ran straight thorough this part of town, although the trains still run to this day the line has been changed and the station is now just outside the main town centre. The photographs on the board of the narrow-gauge engine squeezing its way through narrow streets and past houses must have been a wonderful sight although not very convenient for residents when it was passing their front doors, it closed in 1956 and the former tracks became new roads in the town.
Crossing the road, we found our way onto the canal footpath going over the former bridge that had carried the train and onto the towpath.
It was beautiful and very scenic. The sound of ducks quacking and water flowing through the weir was delightful.
A mother mallard and her two baby ducklings were busy grabbing for pond weed, as Jo knelt to capture them on film I caught a glimpse of a cat in the long grass, before I could mention snack time it pounced and the mother duck began squawking loudly pushing her young into the centre of the cut to keep them out of danger.
Further along the towpath we came to a small basin where the Powysland Museum is housed, it was also home to two swans and their very fluffy goslings.
It was a lovely walk past the Welshpool lock we crossed over another bridge and found ourselves back in the town centre once more. With shopping being reduced to supermarkets only it seemed like years since I had actually looked at anything other than food produce when out so the temptation to pop into Poundland was to great, promising my furry friend a treat we wandered the stores collecting a couple of items including his much needed snack.
Woolly says – An art deco former cinema took my eye as we walked into the main street of Welshpool itself. The old Town Hall now Market building was most impressive, built between 1795 and 1804, it was a mix of French Renaissance style and its interior was one to view on another day once life fully returns to the town.
Well kept Tudor frontages adorned many of the town’s buildings along with several Methodist churches, a sign on the front of one made us both chuckle, ‘We may have all come on different ships but we’re all in the same boat now’, so true at the moment. We wandered on towards what appeared to be a large Church perched on a small hill.
On the 5th November 1839 the Foundation Stone of Christ Church was laid by Edward James Herbert, Viscount Clive (the future 3rd Earl of Powis) to commemorate his coming of age. Completed in 1844, the Norman style church was designed by Thomas Penson (1790-1859), due to dwindling numbers it had finally closed in 1998 and was bought in 2003 by a family to renovate. It was fabulous as was the small graveyard surrounding it. A pathway took us past old headstones covered in ivy and undergrowth before arriving a yew tree arch through which we could see the current Welshpool cemetery. Feeling that is was well past time to sit down we found a bench and Jo set about retrieving water and snacks from her bag.
Most annoyingly the top of the water bottle had opened and everything inside was a trifle wet, having emptied everything out and dried what I could with a tissue, I handed my companion his food rations and sat peacefully reading the headstones. Sadly, many of the ones nearest us where dated from March and April this year.
With rested paws and feet we set off down hill and back into the town, although independent shops are allowed to open now not many seemed to have taken up the option, we passed the butchers who seemed to be bursting with prime cuts and came to a small but wonderful smelling shop entrance which Jo ducked into. Ten minutes of chat with the owner and the selection of a few small items she reached into her bag to pay. At this point out lovely day came crashing down as no matter how much she rummaged no purse was forthcoming, everything including the kitchen sink arrived on the shop counter including soggy tissues and half dissolved headache tablets as we frantically checked through everything. I could see the look of panic developing on her face so made the only helpful suggestion I had, ‘Go back and look for it’, a quick word with the nice lady in the shop and I found myself, a range of coats and the purse less bag dumped onto the counter and watched her heels as she raced outside and set off at a run. I looked at the lady shopkeeper who smiled kindly down at me, ‘You must be hungry’ She Said, well there’s only one answer to that I thought as I tucked into the sandwich she passed towards me. Many hours seemed to pass and I started to wonder where my carer had gone to and if she would ever return.
I ran back the way we had come and tried to race up the very steep hill back to Christ Church pausing once to breathe before trotting on. The bench we had sat on was empty and a workman who we had watched spraying the weeds told me that he hadn’t been over there and that no one else had since we had left. Trying not to panic I headed back down the hill and ran through the town towards Poundland the last place I knew that I had the purse. The staff checked but nothing was handed in, sweat was pouring off me and my heart was beating rapidly as I finally arrived back at the gift shop and my small friend who was busy licking mayo off his paws. Having thanked the lady for her help and promising to return soon with some actual money we headed to the bank.
Woolly says – We stood in the queue outside for what felt like a lifetime, we had no money, Jo had no ID other than some slightly damp business cards and we had no food in our fridge at home, things were looking bleak, not to mention that the car was still to be collected and would obviously need paying for and was our only method of getting back to base. My carer had obviously spent the time waiting productively and having finally gained admittance to the teller we were issued with some cash, cards were stopped and reordered and the way to the police station ascertained. A quick call to Zoe provided us with the ability to pay for the car by phone and then send her the money and due to the kindness of HSBC we wouldn’t be starving. Like nearly everything else the police station was closed and having walked just over a mile to get there I could see that Jo was starting to flag. Giving her a quick moral boast and the promise of wine for later we headed towards the garage. It certainly wasn’t our day for good news as we were informed that our lovely vehicle needed some parts and would still be a few hours away from completion.
The need to cry was becoming quite high but knowing that tears would achieve nothing we explained the lack of purse situation to the garage receptionist who promised to get everything fixed as fast as possible and headed towards the supermarket to stock up. Several hours later I was finally able to slump onto our settee with a large glass of red, a chocolate covered mammoth and time to cancel and sort out cards and items that we no longer had.
Woolly says – The chocolate was an added bonus in my book and I had the feeling that whatever I asked for in the supermarket I would probably get just for the sake of one of us being happy. Hopefully by the time lockdown cease’s for us we will have methods of paying for fuel and any other costs although I’m not altogether sure that letting Jo out will be a good idea after today!