Sunday 19 May 2013

More at Maesbury

Well, we did moor at Maesbury! Walking past the final winding hole, you come to the end of the navigable section, and a barrier across the water under the bridge.


Down to the next bridge, and things are clearly happening.


It's the Montgomery restoration section of the Shropshire Union society hard at work to put this bit of the Monty under water, which they hope to do by the end of the summer.



They laughed when they saw the camera, and told me to take a picture of the bloke in the dump-truck. Which I did.


Turned out he was an Air Vice Marshall, having a relaxing break from whatever AVMs do! Further down the path, the size of the restoration task became even more apparent.


There's a plaque on one of the bridges, commemorating one of the men who worked tirelessly to make the restoration of the Monty a reality. The wording was along the lines of "he moved mountains". You can see why and how, and be grateful.

The weekend continued well. Last night we went, with our friends Roger and Mirjana, to the home of John and Hilary whom we'd met at the session at the Navigation Inn on Friday. Enjoyed a great plate of spaghetti, and a great deal of music with melodeons, guitars, accordion and one or two other instruments. Thanks for your hospitality, folks. A brilliant time. Hope the visit to the guitar festival went well today, John.

This morning, as a prelude to lunch at the Navigation, we strolled up the road to see "the flatpack church", the parish church of St John the Baptist.


Rumour is that it was ordered from Harrods, some time in the 1930s, in an era when they would supply anything! Just down the road we found this…


and wondered whether Harrods had thrown in a church hall as an extra!

So we returned to the Navigation, and I am happy to report that the food, like the music, is definitely better than the brickwork. We also found ourselves on a table next to IWA trustee Alan Platt and friends, and that led to some interesting and helpful conversation.


Tonight we've come north and tomorrow we must say our farewell to the Monty. It's been a delightful few days.



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