Wednesday 15th May

After a rather disturbed night with the rain beating down on the roof all night we got up to more rain but suddenly it looked brighter and then, joy of joys, the sun came out!  Our plan was to get a taxi from the Poachers to Chirk Castle – the bus appeared to take us via Oswestry!  We had picked up some taxi numbers in the pub last night and called a local one – Swan Taxis.  When I told the lady that we were four adults and one small dog (Niamh was staying on the boat) she said that she would ring me back.  A couple of minutes later, true to her word, she called and said that we would be picked up in 10 minutes.  It appears that the man with the relevant sized taxi works nights but very kindly ferried us to Chirk Castle. 

Chirk Castle

Chirk Castle was lovely.  We were ferried from the car park to the castle gates in a minibus and had a guided tour of the apartments. 

The castle was probably built by Roger Mortimer, of the powerful Marcher family, who was granted the area by Edward I after the Welsh defeat in 1282  Completed in 1310, Chirk is the last Welsh castle from the reign of Edward I that's still lived in today.  After the War of the Roses, the castle settled in royal hands on the execution of Sir William Stanley in 1495. In 1563, the castle was granted to Elizabeth I's favorite, Robert Dudley, soon created earl of Leicester and Baron Denbigh, who held it as part of his extensive north Wales properties until his death in 1588. The castle was purchased in 1595 for about £5,000 by Sir Thomas Myddelton, a son of the governor of Denbigh Castle and successful London merchant who converted Chirk into a comfortable Tudor residence. The castle remained in the hands of the Myddelton family, who still own and work much of the estate, until 2003. It is now in the care of the National Trust.  Check out The Castles of Wales website for some fantastic photos.

Main Hall

Dining Hall

 

Great Hall

Fireplace made from four poster bed!

We weren’t able to take Muffin into the apartments so Richard volunteered to take him on the woodland walk.  As we came out of the castle into the courtyard Richard was walking in so we found the tea shop and had a nice lunch.  I called the taxi company again and was greeted with “are you ready to come back now”! The taxi arrived within 15 minutes, just giving us chance to look round the gift shop.  We were safely delivered back to the Poachers - perfect service.

Barbecuing on the tow path

We left our mooring as soon as we got back to the boat and motored on through the Marton Locks to just below Bridge 9W where we moored up for the night.  It was a lovely evening, though chilly, so Richard finally cooked the BBQ – and delicious it was too :-)

4.19 miles

2 locks
0 lift/swing bridges