Shropshire 47- Ellesmere/the Wharf/lunch at the Mere/and a big boulder make a big hole

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Sion work early this morning as he had a plan and I was invited along . He probably should have realised that he needed to invite me as I was the driver . Without me he was going nowhere. He had a plan. He had received a message about meeting his friend Woolly Mammoth and his carer Jo for a walk, a chat and lunch out. Well even if Sion had decided not to meet up I was going . Sion got ready and found his way to my bag where he would sit for the journey to Ellesmere. Woolly had been doing his research and found the Sculpture Park which surrounds the mere at Ellesmere . A 15 minute drive away from home . We had been before but there was still a large part of Ellesmere and the Wharf we had never quite found.

"How long will it take to get there ? My travelling companion was getting excited .I think he was extremely happy as this was the second time we had met up since the Autumn. I explained it was on the doorstep and I had found a carpark just outside of Ellesmere, within walking distance of the Mere where we could park all day. "Good plan " my furry friend muttered. The journey was a simple one . A straight road to Overton and then a main road straight into Ellesmere. Sion spent the time telling me about Ellesmere . A small market town with quite an interesting shopping centre , a massive mere and a wharf. He knew that there once was a motte and bailey castle built in the 11th century possibly by Roger de Montgomerie or his son Roger . " That castle was on the Castle car park where we are parking . Will there be anything left of it ?" I very much doubted that much remained . A bit of earthworks perhaps . Once the castle or lack of a castle was put to bed Sion started on the geography of the area. "Did you know that the mere at Ellesmere is one of the largest meres in England outside of the Lake District ?" "It is one of nine around the town ." Sion got very impressed telling me that the mere was formed when in the Ice Age which of course meant ice , snow , large boulders of ice forming lakes and woolly mammoths . The meres of Ellesmere and district are different to those in the Lake District as these have no running water coming into them . They rely on rain water .

We arrived in town and headed for the Castle Car park . Closed . Shut . Gates locked . We had arranged to meet Woolly and Jo there so a quick text was sent to say car park closed . Plan B - we parked along the main road alongside the mere . Jo and Woolly found us , parked up and we paid for three hours parking at £1.20 per hour . We worked out that should be enough time to walk as far around the mere as we could before walking up to the Wharf and then back to the Mere cafe for lunch .

There were a number of others walking with children and dogs . We entered the sculpture park . It is not a large one .Not on the scale of the Sculpture park at Rotherham . It looked a little more run down than the last time we visited . The maze was not maintained . The paths were muddy but we carried on walking around the mere . We bumped into a Wrexham football club player out with his wife and child and stopped to talk to a group who were cutting down the trees . The noise of the machines had frightened a dog and we had agreed to look for the dog as we walked . With the recent rain the path became increasingly muddy . "I hope you are not expecting me to walk in that mud !!!" Even the two humans were beginning to get bogged down. And as for poor old Alfie - his little legs were sinking in the mud. In the end with no hope of continuing we had to turn back retracing our steps . Along the way though there were other sculptures to catch our attention , We stopped at the sign which suggested we should be quiet and listen . "Ha Ha not much chance of that is there ? " No Sion , despite meeting up with Jo a few weeks before Christmas we still had much to catch up on .

Plans for holidays . Jordan Jo mentioned to us. Now that sounded brilliant. Jo had been deep in the planning of a holiday where in part she would be with Woolly and Zoe and the rest on her own. It seemed that many places in the Middle East were out of bounds due to conflict . Africa was much the same . Some parts accessible and others just a no go. We both agreed for different reasons why it seemed hard to organise any holiday . 2024 seemed as difficult as the previous three years when it came to travel .

Our walk took us up into the town. Past the church which no doubt was shut . English churches seem less likely to be open in the day. The High Street looked much the same as it looked when I worked in Ellesmere. Large three story Georgian townhouses and a quaint garage serving petrol . A garage that looked exactly as it had done 60 years ago . A couple of pumps under a cover .

We headed for the Wharf . That had changed out of all recognition . I worked there but could not recognise anything of where I worked . The parking looked different as did the buildings . The Wharf which had been pretty derelict in the 90's was now a hive of activity with a marina full of boats . The boats were occupied with fires burning from wood stoves and washing hanging on make shift clothes lines. The canal was built between England and Wales . It was planned to carry boat traffic betweeen the Mersey and Severn. The proposal would create a link between the Port of Liverpool and the mineral industries in north east Wales and the manufacturing centres in the West Midlands. It made sense at the time to construct this quick route between the two great rivers . A route that would then open out to the south. Ellesmere was chosen as the hub for the new network and over 1 million pounds was raised in 1791 for that purpose . The money was used to create the Llangollen canal. Telford the great engineer got the job and moved into Beech House in the town where suddenly workers constructed tunnels, locks , wharfs and moorings and the dream was to become a reality. The sad reality though was that the canals were never completed due to rising cost and failure to generate traffic. They lay neglected for years. Waterways drained of water . Wharfes slowing decaying. "The railways were the problem then " Well one of them Sion but the car and the lorry were the end of them really .

That was until a euraka moment came along when suddenly in the 1980's/1990's holidays on the canal boats came into fashion . The canals had to be rewatered. The wharf along the way opened up. The tow paths cleared and made ready for walkers and boaters . And the pubs along the canals got a new lease of life . That is what happened at Whitchurch when the new arm of the canal was dug to take visitors into the town. The wharf at Ellesmere became a hub again for traffic and new houses were built around the canal basin . It all looked lovely .

Along the way were more sculptures to see and some of the old black and white pubs and houses . We had talked about work which would be coming up for Jo. Another season of glamping . Africa as a destination for a long holiday . Again some places viable but others off limits . Russia not accessible nor will it be for some years to come . I had found a booklet about a trip around Holland . "We won it as part of a competition in Practical Motorhome " I did indeed win it when they published a photograph of Gabby in a car park at Tintern Abbey . I had sent in a few over the years mainly abroad but none had won anything . So it was a surprise to actually win a few books on motorhoming and trips for such a normal boring photograph.

We continued to walk past he overnight moorings and I thought as I always do how nice it would be if Ellesmere catered for vans as well . They do it in Germany . Overnight stops on the rivers and canals . There were plenty of overnight stops in the Go Dutch book. Still the book had some good ideas that I was going to look at when I got home .

Lunch was in the Mere Cafe . It looks tiny from outside but inside it is like the Tardis and goes on forever . One part because it was winter was closed . The menu was interesting and had a number of dishes that sounded good . We both chose the Vegetarian Quiche served with a salad. We shared a portion of thick cut chips . All in all the three hours of parking had flown by without us noticing . " We could have spent at least another hour catching up " Indeed we could have Sion . Indeed we could . Until the next time .

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