Monday 6 June - Wem

Wem is billed as a small market town which s famous for sweet peas.  It has one main street and is not very interesting.  We took the train out and caught the next one back.  Didn't see a sweet pea.

Terry Pratchett would have been proud

This small deconsecrated church is now in a community park, the grave stones have been moved to the edges.

Lunch was at the Armoury which was good - pint of Woods Shropshire Lad.

This flotilla of geese moved down the river.  There were six adults and about 16 goslings.  The adults kept the young close together and one at the back acted as lookout.  He made a lot f noise as they approached an area where dogs were playing on a small beach - the group moved to the other side of the river.

Sunday 5 June - River Festival

It was a very good day today for the River Festival which is held on the Quarry Park.  It was a big event but there was a lot of  room left over for groups to sit on the grass, have picnics, play ball and exercise dogs.  The range of fast food available was very wide and included Mexican, Asian and African as well as the more traditional burgers and fish and chips.  Water safety was being emphasized while many conservation groups were represented including one that planned to rebuild and reopen the Shrewsbury Canal.

The prosecco cart added a bit of class

At Waitrose we found a treacle tart but it wasn't as good as the tarts my old mum used to make.  Her filling was much deeper and sweeter while her home made bread crumbs added an uneven texture.

A Fire Company mark on a building close to the apartment.

Lunch today was at the Carvery of the Coach and Horses - roast pork with all the trimmings. It was excellent.

Saturday 4 June - St, Marys Organ and Guided Tour

There was an organ concert at St. Marys church this morning.  There were only some 12 people on hand but the program was quite good with works by Wesley, Boyce, J.S. Bach, Burtonwood and Lefebure-Wely.  St. Marys is not consecrated and has a coffee shop and occasional art exhibits.  The stained/painted glass is magnificent.  Many of the windows have come from other churches in the area as well as France, Belgium and Germany.

This afternoon we took a guided walking tour of the centre of Shrewsbury.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and helped to fill in some of the details of the amazing history of this town.

This is a calculator that was used by wool merchants in the market building.  Nobody knows how this type of abacus worked, bearing in mind that the currency in those days was based on shillings and pence

The royal coat of arms with a red dragon signifying Wales

Coat of arms of Shrewsbury.  Nobody knows where the three leopards or loggerheads originated.

Two of the fire companies had offices in the market square

A mark of one of the fire companies

This is the first time I have been able to photograph this building in St, Julians without a car parked in the corner.

This door is on the walk down towards the Quarry

The ducklings were pretty active in the Quarry

Friday 3 June - Walk along the Severn

We went first thing to look for the mother duck with ten ducklings in the Quarry Gardens. There was absolutely no sign of them although the good weather provided an opportunity for further pictures of the rhododendrons which are getting past their peak.

The walk past the cricket ground along the river is always pleasant.  Many trees were in full bloom and the fields were yellow with buttercups. A grey heron circled overhead.

The horses had a diet heavy with buttercups

The cattle preferred a closely cropped area

Mixed grill at the Boathouse was very good but I didn't have room for deep fried Mars bar

On our way back the duck family (down to seven ducklings) was out.  It is amazing how they can hide themselves.

WE went for a drink at the Three Fishes this evening.

Thursday 2 June - Ellesmere

Ellesmere has always been a favorite destination for us when in Shrewsbury and today was no exception. The bus ride took a little under an hour and there was one other paying passenger and two pensioners who ride free.  It was cloudy and bright this morning but the clouds cleared later on and the afternoon was sunny.  We walked around the western part of the mere under a loud barrage of bird song and enjoyed the various flowers and plants.  The ducks were a little elusive but the coots were fighting among themselves over the water.

At one point we came across two swans with eight cygnets and gave them a wide berth.

The colors on some of the fungi were very bright indeed

On our return we found the swans and cygnets had gone.  We later caught up with them near the boathouse, along with a large number of geese, ducks and coots.

We had an excellent lunch at the Boathouse.  Mary had crab ravioli and I had fish and chips.  We spoke to the owner whom we had met at the market in Shrewsbury in November.  His wife, the chef, has an excellent control over the kitchen.

This afternoon we walked across to the canal.  The path through the woods was very overgrown indeed but not particularly difficult providing we walked carefully.

There was one gosling who was always behind the rest and the parents had some difficulty in keeping them together with the fairly heavy canal boat traffic

There were a lot of boats and people along the canal all the way into the Ellesmere basin.   We sat for a little while watching the swallows feeding over the basin.  They were presumably picking up water skeeters. Little dive bombers snatching up insects on the surface with little splashes.  It was a pleasant walk under sunny skies.  The bus back to Shrewsbury was fine although we were the only passengers for the entire journey.

Click here to see all pictures taken at Ellesmere

Wednesday 1 June - Mergansers

The forecast was cloudy today so we decided to stay in town.  It wasn't cold but there was a wind. We first went to the Dingle to check on the family of ten ducklings we saw the day before yesterday. There was no sign of them but the rhododendrons made a spectacular display.

Further up the river towards the Welsh bridge we saw a family of mergansers sitting on a partly submerged branch of a tree.

After a sandwich at the Coach and Horses we walked out along the river to the English Bridge. Another merganser was teaching her brood to fish by putting her head under water to look for fishes.  At one point all five were swimming along with their heads under water.

The mother swam off but three young managed to scrsamble on to her back with the other two paddling furiously to keep up.

Tuesday 31 May - Chirk and Pontcysyllte almost

The train to Chirk was scheduled to leave at 0924 while the 30% reductions only start from 0930. Our train arrived here on time but sat with our full fare tickets in the station until 0935.  This is one of the devious tricks played by Arriva Trains Wales, a German company running the trains on behalf of the Welsh government. We were ten minutes late arriving at Chirk in fine weather and set out walking along the towpath of the Shropshire Union Canal to the Aqueduct at Pontcysyllte.  The plan was to have a drink and possibly a snack at Pontcysyllte before walking back to Chirk. We enjoyed watching the families of ducks with small ducklings dashing everywhere and managing to keep out of the way of the many canal boats passing by.

Chirk

http://www.pontcysyllte-aqueduct.co.uk/

Walking along the level path was easy. We had come prepared with flashlights for the tunnel and made good progress until we reached the aqueduct only to learn that the footpath had been closed after somebody had fallen to their death early this morning. We had no option other than to return to Chirk.

This is as close as we could get.  We had walked across last year and I was disappointed although the footpath is not for those who do not like heights.

From inside the tunnel

At Chirk we walked into the village and went for lunch at the Hand Hotel.  The food was quite good but very very slow indeed.  Evidently the Hand Hotel needs a few more hands in the kitchen.

The train back to Shrewsbury had just two coaches and was full.  Arriva Trains Wales needs an extra coach in each train.

Click here to see all pictures taken this day