Penblwydd Hapus

All that prevented our narrowboat tipping into the River Dee 38m (126 ft) below (see extra) was Thomas Telford's 210-year-old thinness of iron just to our right. Exhilarating. I've previously walked along and walked below the Pontcyssylte Aqueduct but today was my first time to go over it in a boat. A brilliant way to start celebrating Maria's day.

Driving the boat back up the Llangollen canal (yes, up - it seems that not all canals are flat) was such hard work for the boat that twice we had to get out and haul at the ropes against the current and we didn't get back to Llangollen wharf till late dusk.

After a meal in the community pub we drove through howling wind and tumbling twigs to hear Jamie Smith's Mabon at Llanarmon. A Welsh band singing and speaking (some of the time) in Welsh to a mostly Welsh audience way up a Welsh valley was a brilliant way to end Maria's day.

Diolch Maria!


With, belatedly, news from Paris. Added to Beirut and all that is happening in Syria and beyond. What must we do to make peace?