We didn’t actually intend to go to the top – we sort of expected that at some point the track would do a sharp turn straight up the hill at which point we’d say in unison “bugger that, I’m not a mountain goat!” and turn around, but it didn’t, it just kept winding and climbing, but a good track and while tiring and not many moments of relenting, it wasn’t a hard path to follow, so by the time we’d got halfway it seemed downright wussy to turn around, so to the top we went… where we found an absolute gale blowing, plus two work friends of djelibeybi’s who we promptly invited to dine with us at the Shakespeare pub tomorrow night. The view would have been spectacular… if the entire country hadn’t been covered in mist. The wind truly was spectacular. At one point I had to cling to the trig marker while djeli told me all about how it worked.

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Today we visited Boscobel House and the Royal Oak (yes, the one Charles II hid in from the Parliamentarian troops, although what’s there now is actually a descendent of the original tree. You can even buy your own Royal Oak sapling! Ah, the initiative of English Heritage ) and then went on to Moseley Old Hall in Staffordshire, which is where he went after leaving Boscobel. Both were totally fascinating. And wonderful to see proper priest’s holes!

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We’d been meaning to go to Wales but couldn’t work out where we wanted to go, so in the end we went to Stokesay Castle, an impressive early fortified manor in fabulous condition, and then sort of made things up as we went along – Clun Castle, Dolforwyn Castle, and then to Powis Castle which unfortunately was closed, but we’ve made a note that we definitely want to go back there. At Powis, a large herd of red deer watched us drive slowly up the driveway, and then a herd of smaller (possibly fallow) deer were on the hillside as we walked back to the car. I stalked them gently with my camera, and when djeli got bored and started to drive down towards me, the sound of the car evidently startled a great red stag. Absolutely stunningly gorgeous. So beautiful. We almost ran over a pheasant leaving the grounds, but fortunately he flopped out of the way in time. Came home and played Carcassonne The Castle in the evening, just to continue the theme. I thrashed djeli soundly, both times

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Went along to a couple of the Coalbrookdale museums (Darby Houses and Museum of Iron) then out to Benthall Hall at Broseley and then finally the Tar Tunnel at Coalport. I was fighting sleep for most of the day, and ultimately think I got the most out of the Tar Tunnel, being the geology freak I am, but it was a nice day to be out and about – glorious sunshine!

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… in the pouring rain, as it turned out. Very beautiful walking up the “dingle” though. Gorgeously peaceful.

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A very fine house run by the National Trust, near Shrewsbury. As usual, all very well done by the Trust, but it brought to the fore even more than usual the difficulty with “restoring” a house that has seen numerous styles and renovations – which one do you pick to restore to??!

Unfortunately no photos allowed of the inside of the house, so there’s only a couple of the grounds, which I’ll post here once they’ve been through Photoshop…

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Took a while to get underway, but it was a beautiful spring day and we got here in the end. Went for a lovely walk in the evening, then Djeli made us sang choy bow for dinner. Mmmm.

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… eventually. 4am alarm. 4.30am wake up call, then 3 hour bus trip to Grenoble, a flight to Gatwick, cab to friends’ place in Wandsworth, then on to home again. No wonder I’m tired!

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Only had the morning really in Brussels before needing to get lunch and go and check-in for my train, so I went to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, which was absolutely fantastic and huuuge and worth a good deal more than the measly €5 they charge to get in. Had a last wander round the Grand Place with my lunch when I was done, then bought specaloos and some PIMs for John from the supermarché near the hostel before collecting my bag and heading to the station.

Knitted on the Eurostar on the way home and a French lady opposite told me my scarf was “très jolie” and that she’d always wanted to learn how to knit, so I told her it wasn’t very hard – only 2 types of stitches to be learnt. Nice to have a good exchange in French, however small.

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Went to S.M.A.K. (contemporary art gallery) and then the normal art gallery in Ghent. I wasn’t that taken with anything much in S.M.A.K. but it was marvellous to see a gallery devoted entirely to the work of living artists, and there was a very nice wonky stool made by some Italian chap which I rather liked. The other art gallery was fabulous, especially the modern section – mostly Belgian artists I’d never heard of, but some beautiful pieces there.

Had frites for lunch, then boarded a train back to Brussels and went and wandered around the Grand Place for a bit, visited the Manneken Pis to see what he was wearing (nothing at all, but apparently earlier in the month he’d been dressed as a dentist) and then went and indulged in a hearty and not too expensive spaghetti bolognaise for dinner. Yum! More knitting when I got back to the youth hostel.

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