The Iron Bridge at Ironbridge

October 2013

... is a marvel - the cradle of the industrial revolution. It's deservedly a World Heritage Site and you can find out all about it as a visitor attraction and as a museum here. It really is worth a visit!

However the Walking Boys had other priorities and not enough time to visit the museums, so we walked around the area following parts of The Shropshire Way and The Silkin Way as we strolled from the Tar Tunnel along the Severn across the iron bridge itself (Abraham Darby, 1779) past the pork pie shop (so tempting - though not, perhaps, one's first choice for a wedding cake ...) and on we ambled ...

... approaching a gift shop where the cornice fell off and just missed us, round the Bedlam Furnaces, pausing for a very good lunch at The Golden Ball Inn (worth the walk up the hill) before following the Severn again to the Hay Inclined Plane and via the Coalport section of the Shropshire Canal, back to the Tar Tunnel car park.

This part of the Shropshire canal is no longer navigable from the main Shropshire canal and therefore the ingenious Hay Inclined Plane remains unusable. This part of the canal was unused from about 1944 and building the new town of Telford has made it irretrievable.

So a good stroll around the town and its environs. Cloud throughout but dry. And this gives us the first 5 miles or so in Shropshire, with the next five to come on Sunday.

And so we drove off to The Burlton Inn where we were well looked after, though the Inn is undergoing management changes. We found the service excellent, the rooms comfortable and unostentatious and the food good. I was disappointed by the limited range of beers, but if you want a comfortable and inexpensive stay, this fits the bill.

We also fed well at the Dickin Arms at Loppington, where the home made food was of a high standard and the landlady gave us double portions of her apple pie and custard.

On Sunday we took a second walk in Shropshire.

Wenlock Edge and Diddlebury

A classic escarpment wreathed in trees and made of limestone from 420 million years ago, when the area was under water. Seen from the west it is dramatic, but poses a gradual climb from the east.

The bottom picture shows clearly the stratified rock layers, at an angle as the rock has tilted over the millennia (as John attempts to show, in mime).

Rain prevented much photography on Sunday and the walk would repay a visit in better weather.

There's also a rather good old fashioned pub, The Sun Inn at Corfton, Craven Arms, where, after a rather rainy day, we dried out with an exceptional value Sunday lunch.
This was both our start and our finish point