Narrowboating in England and Wales, Part III

On the sixth day, we arrived at Chirk in about two hours of very peaceful boating. We moored on a soft and muddy bank and went off to visit Chirk Castle, a National Trust (NT) property. Follow the previous link for some information on the castle and this link (Chirk Castle) for some more good information. The castle was very nice, but very restored. I call these types of places "Williamsburg" places because they are authentic but re-created and sometimes a let-down. This particular property however, was not a let-down because they were having a Mad Hatter's Tea Party in honor of Family Thursdays.

The reason for the Mad Hatter Day is because most of the recent remake of Alice in Wonderland was filmed at another NT property, Antony, and the NT is really feeding into its claim to fame.
These gates were particularly impressive and the red hand was interesting. Somewhere in one of the links the symbolism of the red hand is explained.
The gatekeeper's cottage which is now privately owned.

It was a long walk there - longer than the guide book said.
We had a decent lunch and the kids participated in some of the activities.
Owen's pike army being inspected by the Queen of Hearts
This just seems like an excuse for old people to wear fancy dress if you ask me.
The marauders
I thought the fancy dress crew was crazy handing out long poles to small children however, no children were harmed in the making of these photos.

Some snaps of the castle:
TM stands for Thomas Myddleton, an owner of the castle.
The outside and inside of the tower clock
We didn't get the gouge on the wonky numbering system on the clock, sorry.
Hera and Zeus on a ceiling
Some pretty decorations
Some of the most amazing needlework I have ever seen
That weird hand again
On the way back, we rescued a baby lamb who had gotten its head stuck in a fence. Sheep really are dumb sometimes. Who knows how long it had been there! Also on the way back, we met Val, Paul, Peter and Nick coming to the castle! Reunited!!! All of the kids were happy about that.
When we returned, Craig and I got to talking to the others who were moored nearby but before we could see our boat. So Evan went ahead and returned to the boat first. Upon his return, he said that one of the mooring spikes had come loose from the soft and muddy bank and some people were actually holding the boat for us so that it did not swing into the canal! Who knows how long they had been there! They had gone before Craig and I caught up with Evan. Unfortunately, the mooring spike we had lost, searched for and found previously had fallen into the canal never to be seen again. I think that spike did not want to be on our boat and did everything it could to free itself. We all moved along a bit further so we could get through the Whitehouse Tunnel
and the Chirk Aqueduct
before dark and to beat the crowds the next morning. Then we docked, ate and introduced our British counterparts to s'mores much to their delight.