Wednesday 23 May - Ludlow

Our original intention was to take the train to Ludlow. I bought the tickets but when we got to the platform the train was badly delayed and they were terminating trains at Cwmbran of all places because of the electrification work. With these sorts of delays who knows what it would have been like trying top get back. I went back to the ticket office and got a refund, then we walked over to the bus station where the hourly bus to Ludlow was waiting.  It was cheaper to take the bus than the train even with the 30% seniors discount.  The bus took longer but the sun was shining brightly and the ride was full of interest.

Ludlow was looking its best as there were not too many tourists around.

Although the castle looks impressive from the outside there are great banks of stinging nettles which look awful

We walked down to the River Teme and walked along between the two weirs. It was idyllic in the clear blue sky. We watched a hawk come gliding over hunting for small animals or birds. It was driven off by several angry crows but came back later to be attacked by several swallows.

Very few families of ducks at present

Dandelions may be a weed but they are beautiful in their own right

          

Back in town we came across these 1737 down spouts on a house.

Lunch was at Ye Olde Bull and was not memorable. It was funny to see lasagna served with fries and a large hunk of garlic bread and a small salad on the side. The beer and the wine was not bad.

After a late lunch we visited the Parish Church then caught the bus back to Shrewsbury.

The bus takes an indirect route so as to serve some of the small villages such as the Strettons (Church Stretton, All Stretton, Little Stretton. The lanes are very narrow and there are occasional delays waiting for a vehicle to come to a convenient passing point.  A bus coming in the opposite direction had to back up for about 40 yards at one point. Yesterday a man was trimming his hedge using a ladder which was placed in the road itself which the driver managed to avoid.

Click here to see all pictures taken at Ludlow

Tuesday 22 May - Craven Arms, Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre

Another hot and sunny day. Just right for the bus ride to Craven Arms and a wander through the Discovery Centre along by the River Onny. The spring flowers were at their best and we enjoyed the walk. There were few visitors apart from one school party which stayed close to the main building. Most of the people we saw had wet dogs carrying toys in their mouths.  One couple had three dogs, two quite young and one 15 years old suffering from arthritis.  They all enjoyed the water, the older one was slow but still swam after the toy as long as the others were held back to give him time. We have been here many times and enjoy the rugged wildness.

There are kingfishers and kites here. We saw neither. The kingfishers would have been frightened off by the joyful swimming of the dogs.

Back in Shrewsbury I came across this quiet close just around the corner from where we are staying.

Monday 21 May - A Day on the Welshpool and Llanfair Railway

The sunny and hot weather continues. Charles Spencer picked me up early in the morning and we went straight to Cyfronydd crossing where I made a thorough inspection before moving on to Llanfair Caereinion.  I had suggested Monday for this crossing work because no service trains were running.  However, there were two round trips for steam driver experience using Joan, the lovely red locomotive. On top of this, the railway was taking delivery by road at Welshpool of a restored Hungarian car and sending out a second similar car for work.  It turned out there was a lot of activity on the railway.

Joan on the driver experience train at Welshpool later in the day

My reason for being here was to inspect all the railway crossings of public roads and to make recommendations.  As well as Cyfronydd I looked at the crossings at:

- Dolarddyn Road

- Castel Caereinion

- Coppice Lane

- Cwm Lane

 and finally we stopped at the private crossing at New Drive

At Dolarddyn Road we caught Joan where the fireman is returning to the locomotive after flagging the crossing.

Joan returning to Llanfair at Cwm Lane

We returned to Llanfair for a sandwich lunch and then went to Welshpool where I was able to watch the fun as the Hungarian coach was taken off the low loader lorry and a second coach was loaded away. The work on the "new" coach is excellent and the railway will proudly be putting it into service this weekend. The skill of the lorry driver in backing his low loader on to the ramp as well as the knowledge of the railway crew was impressive.

"New" coach being moved into position in the Welshpool yard

Pulling the "new" coach off the low loader using a barrier wagon

The "new" coach safely on W & Ll rails

In the bay platform at Welshpool

Chattenden was the motive power for this work assisted by Joan to allow a straight forward swap between the "new" coach and the one going out.

The outgoing coach has been pushed on the low loader and the lorry driver is securing it for its road journey

The "new" coach was brought back to Llanfair Caereinion by the diesel for all to admire

Throughout this exercise the work was assisted by Lucy, a beautiful black Labrador with her purple ring toy. The crew would take it in turns to throw her toy but at critical periods she was put into the Welshpool signal box so as to be out of the way.

Click here to see all pictures taken this day

Sunday 20 May - A Walk around Town

Another beautiful hot sunny day today. The Dingle is beautiful. There are a lot of quite large fish in the pond and we saw a heron fly in and hide in the weeping willow.

About half or the Quarry grass area has been set aside for the Shrewsbury Kids Festival. Adults and small kids got in for GBP3.00 but kids 5-15 had to pay GBP15.00.  It was pretty full and everybody was having a great time. We wandered down along by the river and looked into the Crown at Coleham but it smelt pretty nasty so we finished up at the Three Fishes.

Wendy served me with a pint of Mild and Bitter and a packet of scratchings. Mary had a glass of rose and a packet of crisps.

We went back down to the river afterwards and continued out walk, coming up close to the St. Marys church. Ice creams were the order of the day.

Saturday 19 May - Crewe Heritage Centre

The Salvation Army was playing at the top of Pride Hill as I made my way to the station.

The trip to Crewe went quickly. The weather was sunny and hot on the walk to the Heritage Centre. The most interesting items in the Centre are the three signal boxes, Crewe Junction North, Crewe South and Exeter West.  There is also a good viewing platform where one can see the action on the main line north of the station.

Crewe Junction North is an early electro-mechanical frame

Exeter West

Exeter West

 Not only has Exeter West been moved up here from Devon but the entire operating floor and frame is fully operational.  The bell signals and block instrument functions are controlled by computer leaving the crew to operate the levers and bells just like the real thing. I had a great chat with the two who were working the levers.  After a while I noticed that everything was quiet with no trains moving. I mentioned this and they said they had stopped the computer so they could talk to me. They couldn't have done this in reality as Exeter was very busy indeed on a summer Saturday. It was a very friendly and pleasant visit.

The Exeter West locking frame is fully functional

The viewing platform provides good views of trains at the northern end of the station

The Heritage Centre has a complete Advanced Passenger Train

I took the one car all stations puddle jumper back to Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury was pretty busy but there didn't seem to be anything special so far as the Royal Wedding was concerned. We went over to the Three Fishes and had a discussion with a couple of people.  I had a pint of Mild and Bitter for the first time in many, many years.

I watched the FA Cup Final this evening, Chelsea beat Manchester United 1- 0.

Click here to see all pictures taken at the Crewe Heritage Centre

Friday 18 May - St. Chads

Went to an organ concert at St. Chads lunchtime today. Nothing very special.

After that we went down to have a drink at the Kings Head on Mardol. It dates back to the 1400s - only to find the place locked. Don't know whether this is permanent or temporary.

The sun was shining as we walked out this morning and I took the opportunity to take a better picture of the date on the old house just up from us on Swan Hill.

Thursday 17 May - Spamalot

  

More old downspouts - 1730

Cornflower in the Castle gardens

Entrance to the castle

This old house, right close to us, is dated 1628. It is well preserved.

Spamalot was a lot of fun but very silly as we expected.  The theatre was not full but it is running for for nights. Lots of Monty Python items from The Holy Grail and Life of Brian. One advantage of living in the Old Police Station is that we are not more than ten minutes walk fro the Theatrre Severn. A good evening.