Easter Cruise Day 8 Llangollen and Horseshoe Falls

Today as in previous years we made our pilgrimage to the Horse Shoe Falls, so named by Telford's navvies because of its curved shape.

This time we explored a little further as it gave us an opportunity to give smudge a good walk.  Sadly today there were no steam engines running on the railway just this diesel engine.

Just does not have the same appeal as a steam loco

 We paused for a cupper in the Bridge Inn and booked a table for lunch on our return.  They are quite dog friendly provided the dog is on a lead and dry.  Presumably not muddy either I guess.

The restored iron bridge spanning the river Dee

 At the falls we let Smudge off lead and continued on up stream through a gated footpath.  It led us up to a quaint church hidden away on the hill side.  We did not venture inside but saved that for another trip.

Little church further upstream from the falls.

 From here the footpath climbed up to the road and back to the falls at a higher level.  The view of the falls was quite stunning.

The falls seen from our vantage point up the hill

 As there is a large open field alongside the falls we let Smudge have a run.  He clearly enjoyed the freedom as he ran around like a wild thing, his little rudder of a tail wagging happily.  His recall is pretty good and he charged up to us when we called him back for a treat a bit later.

Catch me if you can.

 Back at the bridge Inn we managed to get a window seat in the restaurant and watched these canoeists enjoying the rapids below us.  The chap in the red canoe is the instructor helping the other 3 down the course.  One waited below and waved.  I gave him the thumbs up and then thumbs down.  With a grin from ear to ear he  understood I was asking if he was enjoying himself.  He replied with both thumbs up and a big smile so he was clearly having a good time

Quite fancy a go at this myself one day.

 As we booked a meal tonight in the Corn Mill we settled on just sandwiches for lunch.  We had prepared a Kong full of food and treats for Smudge before we left and so whilst we ate he tucked in too.  He was so good the group that arrived at the next table did not know he was there until we left.

Settled down for his lunch in the Kong and well behaved.

On our return to the boat Smudge and I stayed aboard whilst Chris walked into time to post a card for her mum.  

The view from bridge up the highstreet

Our mooring at the wharf.  Tucked away nicely in the corner

 In the evening we crated Smudge and walked to the Corn Mill for our meal.  We were slightly early so followed a path along the river.  We came across a weir we had not noticed before.

Not seen this weir before

There was a slight calamity when we got back to the mill as they had no record of our booking the table.  The staff checked and found we had been booked in on the wrong date by mistake.  Apologising we were asked if we could wait half an hour for a table to become free.  In fact it was barely 10 minutes and we were shown to a six seat table right in the bay window all to ourselves.  A fab meal followed and a pleasant evening was had.

Tomorrow we will start retracing our route back down the Llangollen.