From owner-canals@blacksheep.org Thu Aug 21 18:57:10 1997
	id AA15277; Thu, 21 Aug 97 18:57:00 EDT
 (EMWAC SMTPRS 0.81) with SMTP id <B0000049043@iserver.woodside.k12.ca.us>;
 Thu, 21 Aug 1997 15:45:10 -0700
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 15:04:03 +1000
To: canals@blacksheep.org
From: coleman@woodside.k12.ca.us (Coleman)
Subject: Monmouth and Brecon, the Fens and the GIG

We just returned to the U.S. two days ago, having covered much of England
in almost a month.  The first week was on the Monmouth and Brecon, really a
beautiful canal.  We hired from Cambrian Cruisers and had a very reliable
boat.  The canal travels along the ridge of the valley and has some of the
most spectacular views we have seen in 8 different canal trips.  The basin
at Brecon is very nice and the town was a good visit. Considering that it
was the week after school was out, the canal was not crowded.  My only
complaint is that the portion from Goytre to Pontypool was like plowing a
furrow and was no fun at all.  The weather was great.

The next week we rented a cottage at Boscastle in Cornwall - not exactly
canal related but a great stop between boat trips.  The town is relatively
tourist free and folk sing night at the Wellington Hotel, at Roger Taylor's
suggestion, was a highlight of the whole trip.  (Try to imagine a bunch of
Cornishmen and women trying to sing negro spirituals.)  It rained hard in
the west that week, but we usually managed to be where it was not.

We then drove clear across England to March to a boat from Fox Boats and
spent a week on the Fens, to Cambridge and back.  I have to say that this
was a different experience from our other canal trips - going full throttle
from place to place with the main view being river banks.  On the other
hand, there was an abundance of wildlife (we literally were never out of
sight of swans) and Cambidge and Ely both have good boat facilities.  We
were stuck at Denver for a day on the way back because the tide was too low
and put that time to good use exploring some of the side rivers.  It was
incredibly hot much of the time.

And then we ended up at the GIG.  Since we have been off the list I don't
know if anyone has given a rundown of the activities, but we really had a
great time and it was wonderful to meet the people that go with the names
on the list.  I videoed the collected boats, so now I can show people in
the U.S. what we are talking about.  Our hats off to Sid and the others who
put this all together.

Now its back to the books to plan next year's trip.


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Jerry and Mary  Coleman
coleman@woodside.k12.ca.us

 "There is a fixed amount of intelligence in the world, and the population
keeps growing."
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