Tuesday 5 June - Bishops Castle at Last

Minsterley Motors run the bus service between Shrewsbury. The buses are clean, comfortable and punctual

Today we made sure we were at the right bus stop and managed to catch the bus to Bishops castle along with a fairly large party of hikers who left us at Pontesford and were walking over to Craven Arms.

Just after Minsterley the bus entered a dark tunnel of trees and went along a narrow valley for several miles. Once out of the trees the area is heavily into sheep farming with cattle and some horses as well.

There is a small square above the town hall which always has a couple of cats. This one ignored us and continued its bath.

Small flowers growing on a stone wall

This octagonal building is at the Bowls Club. It is a listed building - even the central wooden pillar is octagonal 

The colours and variety of the wildflowers were astounding

We went up the main street and into the countryside above. We sat for some time in a plethora of flowers and were deafened by the noise of the birds. It was cloudy but it was quite warm and very pleasant.

Roses are in full bloom at present

Five Three Tuns cask ales avaiable

We had lunch as usual at the Three Tuns pub which is right next to the brewery - the oldest licensed brewery in England. It was pretty good. As expected the fish and chips was excellent although a little too much. Mary tried a different gin favored with rhubarb. It was pretty good but a little sweet.

We had plenty of time to wait for the bus back and had a look around the lower town.

This is the Six Bells, the other brewery in town

This house is opposite to the bus stop but is frequently difficult to photograph because of cars parked in front.

As expected the bus arrived almost ten minutes early to our stop to allow the school kids time to jump out and visit the sweet shop across the street. The driver knew when they had all returned and everyone ignored the sign on the bus about no drinks or food allowed. Some of these school kids have a long ride into school at Bishops Castle and three or four were met by a parent in a mini van to take them to their homes. I assume they all live on farms.

The weather brightened up this afternoon and we had a very enjoyable day. What strikes us here is the incredibly peaceful atmosphere, even though the birds make a lot of noise.