So what brought us to Chirk Marina? A shortage of paint that is what brought us to the marina. You cannot buy some colours of paint for love nor money. Ducksback paint for fences - any colour apart from grey . What did we want grey of course . Is it right to blame Covid? I guess we will never know . Are the factories producing paint short of workers due to Covid? Are materials hard to source? Is it because everyone is into Do It Yourself . No holidays , no work so are folks painting every room , every fence and spending money on their homes ? It is impossible to second guess the reasons . WE can guess but probably will anywhere close to working out why things are hard to find on the shop shelves . Covid has changed our world in a way we could never have imagined . Perhaps things will never be the same again.
It is Day 439 of lockdown. The end of May approaches and summer is just round the corner . The roads are busy with campervans, caravans and cars all heading somewhere for a holiday. We were
not going anywhere though. But then out of the blue a ride out was on the cards . Not far . In fact probably 8 miles up the road . We had found paint . We got excited about finding it and ordered two tins on line to pick up later that day. The sun was shining and it was brilliant to get out on the road .
We picked up the paint and headed for Chirk Marina . The Marina is approached via a narrow lane. There was plenty of parking and I wondered why the who owned it had not considered turning the area into an aire. A port de plaisance just like ones we parked at in France . The Chirk Aqueduct was just round the corner further along the towpath . The Canal was a world heritage site so what was there not to like . I kept thinking to myself that there was so much parking they were missing a trick . Hardstanding aplenty . A building with reception just right for housing a cafe the motorhomers would use . The boats on the canal could pick up passengers and take them
to Llangollen or just for a ride along the canal . It seemed a recipe to print money . I could see the potential . We would stop there if they opened an aire .
The car park must be empty all night and was crying out for motorhomes . The canal in 1801 by William Jessop and Thomas Telford . How about fishing ? Perhaps that could be included in a package of ideas to bring the tourists in. Walks along the canal to The Darkie . One of the first tunnels in the country to have a towpath . A walk in the dark might be interesting . My mind was racing with possibilities . Why cannot our country adopt the continental idea of aires, sostas and stellplatz? Time for change I hope now that we are having to take staycations.
