University of Birmingham

An old hand with a new hand.  Mary-Ann's first introduction the the campus.  Old Joe looking on.

Staffs Mog Turns 30

An over night stay to at the Metropole Hotel in Llandridnod Wells to be with Staffs Mog members for the 30th anniversary of the centre being set up.

Over 20 Morgans assembled in the car park, 40 plus members for dinner.  Very good company to be with again after all these years.

This is how a Morgan spends the night. Neat.

Elan Valley

The iconic top reservoir over flow.

A short walk,

before a sit down to

take in the beauty.

Mon Brec Canal - The Other Fun

Not all heart stopping moments or work, of course.  A bit of bird spotting.

Creating a home from home afloat.

Enjoying the canal  itself,

and the fields either side.

Tree hugging, had to be done.

 Mountains to be marveled at.

 A now experienced crew taking us back to base.

Absolutely gorgeous.

Mon Brec Canal - The tunnel

 And then came the tunnel.

After a short wait for a south bound boat to make its appearance, you have to peer down the tunnel to see if another boat is in there already by spotting its flood light, we ventured in.

 There is a slight kink in the tunnel and the roof has partially collapsed, all adding to the fun,

but we made it through.  Gek walked over the track the horses would have taken when this was a commercial waterway.  Horses were used to move the barges prior to the invention of engines.  Hence the track by the canal, even though the bridges. The barges were poled through the tunnel in those days, or may be the crew walked the roof to move the barge along, as they did in Dudley.

Mon Brec Canal - The locks

 We passed through 5 locks up and the same 5 locks back.  Gek and Mary-Ann did all the hard work,

whilst Alice and I tried to enter the lock with out hitting the lock walls.

Mon Brec Canal Cruise

We collected the narrow boat from Road House Narrow Boats at Gilwern,

with Alice and Mary-Ann.

The view from the bridge of the first bridge.  Nigel, the boat owner, had already taken us through the first, a particularly narrow, low affair,

As if this wasn't narrow enough.  By the time we returned the boat, 80 bridges later, all four of us were experts at running plumb centre in the waterway.