#its called chirk and i love it

[forcefemd]

i’ve been playing this very cute visual novel…. it’s made me cry a few times queer love is just so real and makes me so so emotional

[dry-valleys]

“Oswestry, very much an embattled border town, peers eastward into the alluvial plains of middle England, and westward into the rising hills of Wales. Oswald, its patron saint, Christian king of Northumbria, died here [in 642- ed.] at the hands of pagan King Penda of Mercia after defeat at the Battle of Maserfield, one of those all too real and yet semi-legendary seminal battles of the early Christian church. Much that was old has of necessity been lost here, since the town paid the price of being a frontier fortress, and three times over was destroyed by fire. But the sense of the past remains strong without the need of more reminders like a few stones of the castle, and copies of ancient charters. Like Shrewsbury itself, Oswestry has been in and out of Wales in its time, and as usual on ground once bitterly disputed is as much Welsh as it is English, and speaks both with equal fluency”.

Ellis Peters.

Leaving the town of Oswestry, keeping close to the present Anglo-Welsh frontier, and the 8th-century frontier Offa’s Dyke, laid down by King Offa of Mercia to delineate his Saxon kingdom from wild Wales.

The sites of both Oswestry and my destination (6,7), Chirk, were, in Offa’s time, narrowly in Mercia; while Oswestry is still in England, a shifting border has put Chirk in Wales now, so I crossed several boundaries while remaining recognisably in the same land, border country.

The road led out of town, past (3) Bakers Hill, towards (4) Selattyn, which while now covered in dense conifers, has great views of (5) the border lowlands from its slopes. From here, the last serious high point before the plains open out, can be seen as far as (8) Kronospan board factory in Chirk.

At the top of Selattyn Hill is the remnant of a structure built in 1847 to commemorate legendary Welsh prince Gwyn, who according to legend resisted the Saxons here, and last used as a lookout tower in World War 2. Despite the tower and a nearby cairn being a Scheduled Monument,  it’s buried beneath the trees and I couldn’t find the cairn at all.

Then it was on to Chirk, which I visited in (7) May 2016. As well as the medieval castle, another feat of engineering is the Chirk Aqueduct and Viaduct (9) designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1801. The more famous Pontyscyllte Aqueduct was also engineered by Telford, and I feel those who visit there should also pay a call here to fully appreciate his genius.

Telford would have loved to see the railway at Chirk, but sadly died in 1834, before trains arrived here in 1848. The railway station has no permanent staff but is well kept and I rested peacefully before my train took me to Shrewsbury (sadly the trains are irregular and I got here just before a train left, so didn’t spend as much time in and around Chirk as I’d have liked; but look forward to doing it another time).

Chirk Castle was also closed when I came here, but I’ll hopefully be storming it very soon!

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – News From Around The World

Thursday 6th September 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader….  I looked at the clock and it said midnight, next second I'm looking at the clock with 3.30am on its face, not worth risking sleep when I get up at 4.00am so out of bed and get met with wet kisses from Bella, as I try to tie my shoes... so out into the dark of the early morning we go, me with a wet face and her with a wagging tail ...we spend the next 30 minutes with me at the end of a leash and Bella dragging me to the next spot to sniff.. finally we make it home, the coffee has brewed, Bella's eaten and is now sound asleep on my foot and I've read the news, so would you like to see what I have discovered?

WRONG WAY WOKING DRIVER, 87, FAILED SURREY POLICE EYE TEST…. An 87-year-old motorist was stopped by police for driving the wrong way down the road - and then failed an eye test. A police car was forced to take evasive action when the man drove the wrong way after pulling out from a junction on to the A3 in Surrey earlier. He was stopped and given a roadside eyesight test, which he failed as he could only read a number plate from 7.3m away. The minimum distance is 20m. Surrey Police said he voluntarily surrendered his driving licence. The man, from Woking, was also reported for two driving offences.

UZBEKISTAN TAX OFFICIALS TO WEAR FAMILY ID BADGES…. Tax officials in Uzbekistan are to be issued with new identity cards which include a photo of family members, it's been reported. Management at the State Tax Service in the country's south-western Bukhara region have approved the new badges to remind officials that they have families at home waiting for them, should they be tempted to "tarnish the reputation of the service", the Kuz.uz news website reports. As well as steering the wearer away from thoughts of corruption, they're also supposed to remind staff of the partnership between tax payer and tax collector as part of Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev's campaign to improve the tax service and increase tax revenues. However, it's an idea that's been ridiculed on social media in Uzbekistan. According to the Fergana news website, users have called the idea of new badges "stupid" and of no help against corruption. Others said that they may even break data protection laws.

BELFAST MAN SERIOUSLY INJURED BY SHARK OFF COUNTY CORK COAST…. A man from Belfast suffered a "deep flesh wound" after being bitten by a shark off the coast of County Cork on Saturday evening. The man suffered the serious lower arm injury while deep-sea angling. The crew of the angling boat gave the man first aid before he was transferred to a lifeboat, where he got further treatment. Crosshaven RNLI volunteers were called to the scene at 18:00 local time. It is understood the man was angling for sharks and had been trying to unhook one of the fish when he was bitten. "This was more of an angling accident than a shark attack, there was a bit of a struggle when pulling the shark on board," a RNLI spokesman said. "We're not trying to panic anyone." The angling boat Deora Dé, which the man was on board, sailed towards Crosshaven from about eight miles offshore and met with the Crosshaven lifeboat about four miles south of Roche's Point. The lifeboat was then met at Crosshaven by an ambulance and the man was transported to Cork University Hospital. The man was conscious throughout and was able to climb onto the lifeboat without help. It is understood that the fish involved was a blue shark. Although they are the most common species of shark in Irish waters, they rarely bite humans. They usually feed on small fish and squid, and can live for about 20 years.

IKEA INDIA FINED OVER CATERPILLAR IN RICE DISH…. Ikea India has been fined after a customer found a caterpillar in a rice dish served at its store in the southern city of Hyderabad. Abeed Mohammad tweeted about the incident on Friday, tagging the city's municipal authorities. After investigating his complaint, officials on Sunday imposed a fine of $141 (£109) on the furniture giant. The Swedish firm, which opened its first store in India in early August, said it was sorry over the incident. Mr Mohammad's tweet has been widely shared on social media. Hyderabad, a technology hub, is also home to other global companies such as Microsoft, Google and Facebook.

DELAYS AFTER MILK SPILL ON THE A5 CHIRK BYPASS IN WALES…. Motorists are facing delays on one of the busiest roads in north Wales after a milk spillage on the A5 Chirk bypass. The main road between Wrexham and Shrewsbury was shut between the Gledrid and Halton roundabouts after a vehicle spilled six cages of milk. Fire crews had helped with the clear-up following the 06:00 BST incident and the Chirk Bypass reopened at 08:30. North Wales Police have warned of long delays and heavy traffic in the area… and have advised drivers not to cry over spilt milk…

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, morning… …

Our Tulips today are staggeringly beautiful…

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Thursday 6th September 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Spain #Tulips #Travel #Coffee