Ystad Ddiwydiannol - try pronouncing that!

Monday 13th August

We left Birmingham in the direction of Wrexham which is in north Wales, the point of this detour being a visit to Demon Tweeks, who sell race gear. Thankfully our trip out of Birmingham was away from the city and after a short time through a few suburbs (much nicer than the ones we saw yesterday)  we were out in the country. Our trip took us up along the main road that runs parallel to the motorway - still not a lot to see, but better than seeing nothing.

As we got closer to Wales I said to Rob 'I wonder how Dora will go with the Welsh place names?'. Well she provided us with a few laughs. I wasn't even prepared to have a go with those words containing far more consonants than is reasonable. The translation of 'ystad ddiwydiannol' is industrial estate. Really? This was the sign we saw when we got to Demon Tweeks. Rob was happy - he bought a new balaclava for racing - don't think it was any cheaper than we can get at home though.

Thankfully all the road signs have both English and Welsh because we'd have no idea otherwise. Have a go at 'heddlu'. Police; you can't even begin to guess.

We stopped for lunch at a pub called Duke of Wellington where we had a great meal (2 for £10) and picked up a brochure about the Pontcysyllte (can't pronounce that either) Aqueduct which was completed in 1805. We took a short canal cruise across the aqueduct and back. Apparently they do a safety check every 5 years where they block off either end of the aqueduct and pull the plug to empty it. That would be a sight to see.

The pub - lunchtime, driving along and saw the sign 2 meals for £10.
That will do us, and excellent meals they were,
including the blackberry crumble which we shared.

Came out of the pub and the police had set up the mobile speed camera.

The aqueduct is about 7ft wide for the boat plus 4ft
for the horse to walk along to pull the boats.

Sculpture representing the main industry of the area
and use of the canal - limestone quarrying.

Lots of canal boats in the area - apparently you can follow
this system all the way to Birmingham and then on to London. 

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct from below.
126ft above the river.

Railway viaduct - this looked pretty impressive too.

Tonight we are staying in a B&B near the town of Bala in Wales. The house is over 400 years old - beautiful place.

Just a small example.

Found this in the pub where we had lunch. Nothing much changes does it?

Finally - quilts!

Friday 10th August

Just a driving day today from York to Birmingham. Motorway all the way so nothing to see. As we got closer to Birmingham the temperature dropped from 19 to 12, and the clouds got blacker and heavier. Eventually it rained, and quite heavily for a while. We arrived in Birmingham at our accommodation around 2.30 and were able to check in early. Spent the afternoon working out the best way to the quilt show. Seems like on weekdays there is a direct bus, but tomorrow is Saturday so we've decided to drive - it is only 5k.

Saturday 11th August

Birmingham Festival of Quilts. Easy drive, easy park, easy ticket purchase, very civilised sit down lounge for coffee before opening time.

It took me a while to work out the layout - exhibitions at the front of each hall (3 halls) and vendors at the back. I focused on all the exhibitions first. The same sort of categories as our quilt shows and lots of beautiful pieces but I don't think we should feel like the 'underdog' here. Certainly at AQC and Vic quilters showcase (and probably Sydney though I haven't been there) we have some equally impressive and stunning quilts. I'll include a small selection of some of my favourites.

In terms of the vendors - they are selling the same sorts of stuff as at our shows, though there are probably three times as many vendors. To be honest, I really zipped through these quickly as I was really looking for something special to catch my eye to buy as a memento of this show. Sadly, nothing really new and different.

Not a flattering shot, but here I am in Birmingham.

Some of the workshop area.

Early in the day - just getting started.

The colour in this one really took my eye.
This was in the novice section. Pretty good for a novice.

The colours in this one were stunning.
The quilting made each 'star' pop.

The tentmakers of Cairo. Truly amazing to watch them work.
He works with a needle the size of a crowbar and a pair of dressmakers shears.
And he is so quick. Apparently they have a saying 'slow stitcher, hungry family'. 

The 1718 silk coverlet - 300 years old. Hard to get a good photo without reflection.

These were a group of quilts - reproductions of the 1718 quilt. 

These were a couple of quilts in a small exhibition from a Russian sewing group.
Talking to the 'curator' of the exhibition she felt that they had a long way to go
to measure up to what was on display in Birmingham but for me these quilts
had real visual impact. When I walked in to the area it was 'wow'.

Ricki Tims - I didn't hear him speak, just got a photo.

Loved this in red and white - it might be from the book Quilted Diamonds.

Rob loved this one - our dog of the day.

This one won the miniature section - about 12" square.
Look at all those prairie points.

Colour!

One of two Dear Jane quilts. It looks yellow but the background
was actually a beigy brown. Very nice effect.

This one was a winner - the pink flowers are all 3D.

We spent the whole day here. Rob enjoyed his day also and took time out for a short nap in the afternoon. Another lovely English Indian dinner tonight.

Sunday 12th August

Laundry day again and the laundry was just around the corner. We probably only have one more laundry day before we go home.

After the laundry we headed to the city of Worcester. I decided to not use motorways today so that we'd get to see something. Dora took us through all the burbs of Birmingham and through the centre of the city to get out to the western side. Where our accommodation is located, in the east, seems to be a housing commission type area - run down, untidy, metal shutters on shops, graffiti. I believe Birmingham was once (maybe still is) a very industrial city and I guess the housing and the roads reflect this. We really didn't see a 'pretty' area of town.

We visited the cathedral in Worcester. King John of England (1612) is buried there. He was the King in power at the time of writing the Magna Carta. We had lunch at the Marks and Spencer cafe after going to a previous one in Stirling.

This pink giraffe is significant to the cathedral
- there is a pink giraffe in one of the stained glass panels.

Worcester Cathedral.

The old organ at the cathedral.

They must have a very busy and dedicated craft group at the church
- hundreds of tapestry kneelers.

This pulpit was just stunning
- all marble of different colours and fantastic carving.

The shire offices in Worcester.

And a giraffe at the shire offices.
There were quite a few giraffe statues around town.

A drive back to the hotel via Stratford upon Avon where we saw Anne Hathaways house and the street where William Shakespeare was born. Anne Hathaway was the wife of William Shakespeare. We didn't actually visit WSs house as there were hundreds of tourists and no parking.

Anne Hathaway's cottage.

I love the character of these part timber houses,
this one in Stratford upon Avon.

One final sight on the way back was the Hatton locks, a series of 21 locks on the canal between Birmingham and Warwick. We watched a couple of canal boats pass through one of the locks.

While I am doing this page Rob has the tv on and is watching the World masterplay darts from Melbourne!

Up hill and down dale.

Wednesday 8th August

We are working our way south towards Birmingham and today we travelled to the town of Consett, back in England and near Hadrian's Wall.  On the way we stopped at Rosslyn Chapel. This was built in 1446 by Sir William St Clair. It is believed to have been planned to be much bigger, but he ran out of money. The interior of the chapel is elaborately carved everywhere. No photos allowed inside, but the outside was also pretty speccy.

Rosslyn Chapel -
built of sandstone so a lot of pink, orange and gold colour.

Just a taste of the outside carvings. 

This section at the front was added later.
Inside here is the original outer wall and in this wall
there are large bullet gouges and 'peppering'.
They said this would have been stray shots from battles around the area.

Melrose Abbey - built by the Cistercian monks in 1136. Alexander II and other Scottish kings and nobles are buried at the abbey. When excavating in 1921 they found a lead container believed to hold the heart of Robert the Bruce. The rest of his body is buried in elsewhere.

Melrose Abbey.

This area was the kitchens.
Back in the 1100s this abbey had running water. 

One of the 'gargoyles' at the abbey - a pig playing bagpipes.

We had lunch in the town of Melrose and across the road from the tea room i found a patchwork shop. Nothing exciting so I saved my money for the quilt show.

Hadrian's Wall - this wall was built by the Romans in 121AD and stretched 73 miles across England. We saw a small section of the wall and then visited Chester's Fort where they have found extensive ruins of a roman fort placed along the wall.

Just part of what they have uncovered of Chester's Fort along the wall.

Travelling south today we followed the A68 road. I think Scotland spent it's entire road safety budget on this road - there was a speed camera it seemed like every 3-5k.  Once we crossed into England though I'm not sure that we saw any.

Dinner tonight was a carvery meal at a nearby pub. Cheap, very good, and plenty of it.

Thursday 9th August

Headed for York today and decided to go via a few roads off the major highway, so we just plugged a couple of town names into the gps with no knowledge of anything there. Our first stop was Barnard Castle. This is now a ruin but dates back to 12th and 14th century. There were a few castle ruins in this area. 

Barnard Castle.

From here to Ripon the drive was pretty spectacular. Beautiful scenery through the Yorkshire Dales.  One particular road that Dora picked was definitely a one car road - thankfully we met no cars on the really tight part of the road. Really loved Yorkshire - stone walls everywhere, beautiful and green, hills and valleys, sheep, little farmhouses - just lovely.

A few shots of the Yorkshire Dales.

Even though we are no longer in Scotland we are still seeing heather.

So isolated!

We arrived in York, our overnight stop, around 3, dropped the car, and walked in to town. Yorkminster Cathedral was our destination at the other end of the city. Another wow cathedral. After this it was just a wander back through the old town, dinner and back to the hotel.

One of the original gates to the walled city of York.
There are quite a few sections of the walls still standing.

The ceiling inside the Chapter House of the cathedral.

Yorkminster Cathedral.

I wonder if the beams holding up each floor were ever straight.

And I love the angles on this one.

Beautiful tiles inside the cathedral.