Category Archives: Shropshire

Well, that was fun!

15 Saturday Nov 2025

Posted by in Food, Photography, Pubs, Shropshire, Travel

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The pair of us are now back in Bigland Towers after our Shropshire sojourn. Travelling home on Friday was fun but nowhere near as bad as we feared. Our part of the Welsh borders missed the worst of the storms. They weren’t so lucky a few dozen miles further South, with extensive flooding in places like Monmouth.

We left Church Stretton just before 10am to drive up to Oswestry. There’s very few towns in the UK I’ve never visited. If it’s got a railway station then I’ll have been there. Oswestry isn’t on that list. Sure, it has a railway preservation site based by the old Cambrian Railway works, but as there’s no mainline connection the town was never high on my list of places to get to. On Friday we put that right, and I was pleasantly surprised. We didn’t stay long due to the rain which never let up, but we saw enough to make us want to revisit another time as the town has interesting variety of shops, cafes and pubs – along with a market. Unlike some towns which are dominated by chains and charity shops, Oswestry still has a range of independent outlets. One place I particularly liked was the indoor market. It’s got an eccentric feel to it as it contains cafes, a bar, lots of antique and model shops – and even has its own barbers.

Llwyd Mansion is a Tudor building dating from 1464. It’s grade 1 listed and currently under restoration by the local council who now own it.

Moving on we looked to find a country pub where we could stop for lunch. We’d decided to avoid the motorways as much as possible, so we stuck off across country along the A495 through Ellesmere before crossing the border back into England to skirt the Western edge of Whitchurch.

By the power of Google I found a pub further on by the Shropshire Union canal which seemed to fit the bill, the Willeymoor Lock Tavern North of Whitchurch.

We got there just after opening, making us the first customers of the day. This gave us chance to meet to and talk with the three generations of the family who run the place. Oh, and admire the amazing collection of over 230 teapots collected by the matriarch of the family, who at 97, is still going strong.

I ordered gammon, egg and chips whilst Dee had the home-made steak pie. Both were really good meals and very good value.

Tearing ourselves away we made a non-stop run across country to the M6 at Lymm. Needless to say, the motorway was chokka. Conditions weren’t much fun due to the rain and they got worse by the time we transferred to the M62 to head East across the Pennines. High winds didn’t exactly help matters but Dee’s excellent driving skills and my extra pair of eyes got us home safely. We were relieved to be home, but wistful too, as we weren’t really ready to leave Shropshire. We’ll be back…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Cheers!

Shropshire sojourn. Part 4…

13 Thursday Nov 2025

Posted by in Food and drink, Musings, Photography, Shropshire, Travel, Walking

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Today, the weather Gods smiled upon us! When we woke and looked out on the world (well, the Long Mynd) we saw clear blue skies and sunshine, with visibility clear for several miles. It wasn’t a day to waste, so as soon as we’d scoffed some toast washed down with coffee we donned our walking gear and headed down into Church Stretton. After a brief stop to pick up some goodies from Steele’s family bakery (their chocolate brownie is excellent, as is the fruit flapjack) we headed up to the Burway before striking off across country to follow the town brook path uphill.

Not a place you want to get trapped on in winter.
The town brook burbles adjacent to the footpath towards Long Synalds – on the lower sections anyway, after that, the footpath begins to gain height.
– as this view shows! Here, we’re looking back towards Church Stretton with Caer Caradoc on the horizon and the Devil’s Mouth in the mid-distance.
Having made it up to 425 meters we swung round to the South side of Townbrook valley in order to get to look back over the valley and towards the North.
Looking back down over Church Stretton with Caer Caradoc to the left.
One of the ‘wild’ horses that can be found wandering the Long Mynd. They’re not actually wild, but the area is common grazing land.
Looking West across Yearlet towards Long Synalds. This time of year the colours are amazing as all the bracken is dying back.
Dawn atop Ashlet just before we began our descent to Ashes Hollow and the footpath towards Little Stretton. What a contrast in weather, we’d have been in cloud level with zero visibility if we’d been up here over the past few days! Considering it’s nearly mid November temperatures were a balmy 12 degrees, with very little wind.
Almost there! We’ve followed Ashes Hollow and the stream to the edge of Little Stretton. This house is the first sign of human habitation, but still within the area managed by the National Trust.

Having been walking for several hours we made a welcome pitstop at the Green Dragon pub. This friendly little pub serves a good selection of real ales and decent ‘pub grub’. I treated myself to the scampi (because it’s not something I’d cook at home) whilst Dawn plumped for the fish and chips.

Scampi, chips and peas with Tartare sauce. I felt I’d earned it!

Fed and watered, we continued our walk back into Church Stretton and home via another pitstop in our ‘local’ the Kings Arms. Now we’re back at the ranch, relaxing and wondering what tomorrow will bring. This Shropshire sojourn is coming to an end, we leave in the morning to head back to West Yorkshire, but the weather forecast is promising torrential rain for most of the journey – bar a small window in the morning that we may be able to make the most of en-route. Let’s see what happens…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Cheers!

Shropshire sojourn. Part 3…

12 Wednesday Nov 2025

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We knew the weather forecast had predicted wet weather today, so we were in no hurry to rush out of the house this morning. Even so, I was up not long after 07:30 in order to throw back the curtains and greet the day. It scowled back, making me wish I hadn’t bothered! This is how the view across to the Long Mynd looked.

I’d had half and idea to wander down into the village to get pictures of passing trains but driving rain make me think twice and the idea of staying in the warm and dry seemed much more attractive. So, whilst Dawn was at her toilette, I prepared porage with coconut flakes, fresh blueberries, sultanas and served with honey. After all, it was the weather for comfort food!

We’d planned to catch the 11:30 train down to Ludlow in order to spend a few hours exploring the town but the weather was so crap we decided to take the car instead as that way we’d have some flexibility. It turned out to be a wise decision.

The journey down along the A49 wasn’t too bad apart from heavy traffic and HGVs – hardly ideal on a road where the verges were beginning to resemble linear ponds. That said we made it into town just as the rain eased, which made our explorations easier – although conditions meant my camera stayed in its bag for most of the day. Rather than sightseeing we ended up shopping – a pastime neither of us are particularly fond of – but Ludlow possesses a branch of one of our ‘go to’ clothes shops, ‘Fatface’, so that’s our Xmas presents sorted then! As our purchases came in paper bags we were rather limited after that, who wants soggy bags spilling their contents all over the road? We decided to cut our wandering short and plumped for lunch instead, visiting a place we’d eaten at earlier in the year, Kin Kitchen. where we both plumped for the same thing – the fish platter.

Having eaten, and with the rain renewing its onslaught we dropped off our purchases in the car before heading to the Ludlow Brewing Co, whose brewery is located in an old railway goods shed adjacent to the station. The interior’s very modern and their range of beers excellent. The modernity’s contrasted by two amazing models of the old Ludlow town halls (both now demolished). The Victorian version lasted for just 100 years. It was flattened with indecent (and suspicious) haste in 1986. From descriptions it sounded like an amazing space, which had covered market on the ground floor but a spung dancefloor above. It had survived it would have been a real asset, compared to the sad market that exists today, where a few temporary stalls huddle together, looking rather lost amongst the fine buildings surrounding them.

Here’s a couple of shots from the pub;

The model of the Victorian town hall.

Whilst we were visiting I did manage a couple of railway shots. Locomotive-hauled services have disappeared across most of the UK nowadays but this line sees several such services operating between Cardiff to Holyhead and Manchester, using cast-off intercity coaches and hired-in locomotives that were built to haul 125mph mail trains.

67010 propels 1W57, the 10:53 Cardiff Central to Manchester Piccadilly out of Ludlow station, past the Ludlow Brewing Co on the left.

Oh, there’s another trick to these loco-hauled services. Some of them offer fine dining! They carry an onboard chef who prepares gorgeous 3-course meals on board. Watch out for a blog about this in the future.

As the rain was relentless we decided to cut our losses and head home to have a quiet night at Bigland Towers in exile, enjoying some home cooking with creature comforts. Tomorrow’s our last full day her and the forecast looks very different to what we’ve seen so far. We’re planning to stay local and maybe get a walk in – depending on conditions. We need to make the most of it before we head back on Friday when we have a yellow weather warning for (yet more) rain.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Cheers!

Shropshire sojourn. Part 2…

11 Tuesday Nov 2025

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Shropshire, Travel

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The view from our accommodation when I threw back the curtains at 07:15. The Long Mynd is up there in the clouds somewhere!
I wandered down to Church Stretton station for an hour in-between showers, where I managed a couple of pictures. Here’s a Transport for Wales service from Cardiff en-route to Manchester Piccadilly via Shrewsbury.
A pair of the old BR built Class 153s were working a Shrewsbury to Swansea service via the Heart of Wales line. 153382 led 153352 South of the station past autumnal colours.
By the early afternoon we’d decided to abandon soggy Stretton for the delights of Shrewsbury. The weather wasn’t any better, but there were far more places to explore or seek refuge in! This Cardiff-Manchester service did the honours. Ironically (having returned from Manchester) the same set took us back to Stretton several hours later!
Shrewsbury’s replete with history, but you need to keep your eyes open, otherwise you’d miss plaques like this one on Fish St.
Half-timbered Tudor era buildings are ten a penny in Shrewsbury. Here’s one that’s had a lot of TLC – the 15th century Henry Tudor Inn, located in Barracks Passage.
Rather than being rammed with identikit food and other outlets Shrewsbury has lots of independent shops, like this craft bakery.
There’s lots of old shop fronts which display goodies like this. Here’s Appleyards on Wyle Cop, opposite Shrewsbury Orthodox Church.

By later afternoon we’d had enough of dodging the rain so caught the train back to Church Stretton where we had time for a drink in the Kings Arms before adjourning to have acelebratory meal at Sawaddee Thai Restaurant in the Square. It was our wedding anniversary after all! Sawaddee is a cosy (around 30 seat) family run restaurant. The food was very good and not just spiced for English palates. We shared a Thai fishcake starter, then Dawn had the Paenang curry whilst I had the hotter Jungle curry (both with chicken). The mains were £9.95 and really tasty. We also split a coconut rice between us.

Thai fishcakes with dipping sauces
Jungle curry
Paenang curry.

The chili rating on the bottom of the menu made us both chuckle!

Now we’re kicking back at our accommodation. Tomorrow’s weather’s not expected to be up to much, so the plan is to catch the train to Ludlow and enjoy wandering the town. Watch this space…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Cheers!

Rolling blog: Another Shropshire sojourn. Part 1…

10 Monday Nov 2025

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10:50.

After a hectic week and weekend which has seen me up to my neck in judging stations and photographs for the 2026 Community Rail Awards we’ve breezed into a new week which sees the pair of us taking some time off. It’s our wedding anniversary on Tuesday so we thought we’d get away for a few days. We’d planned to visit Rome, but neither of us had time to plan things the way we’d have liked, so we’ve opted for plan B by returning to somewhere we know well – which means we can relax. Instead of the eternal city we’re heading back to Shropshire to spend time in Church Stretton and the Shropshire hills AONB – somewhere far less built up and chaotic! But first, we’ve got to get there…

Church Stretton seen from the Long Mynd during our visit in October 2021. Hopefully we’ll be able to get to walk places like this again, but the weather forecast doesn’t look too promising, so it’s time to pack the waterproofs!

14:00.

We’re on our way! We had a few chores to finish before we departed so we didn’t leave Halifax until 12:30. Right now we’re on a busy M53 heading towards Chester after traversing the M62 and M6 – which were chokka with traffic – and wet, which added to the fun!

Now the skies are clearing…

16:10.

We resisted the temptation to stop en-route, which has meant we’re now settled into our home from home here in Church Stretton. We stayed in the same place in April and loved it so much we promised ourselves we’d return. Here’s Bigland Towers in exile.

The 1st floor living room has a view looking acoss to the Long Mynd.
Looking in the opposite direction towards the kitchen and bedroom.
Our hosts left us a welcoming treat – and there’s even a couple of real ales in the fridge!

20:10.

And relax! Having established ourselves in our new surrounds it was time to walk into town in order to explore, pick up some shopping – and stop for a drink in our favorite pub, the Kings Arms.

Wooden beams aplenty. The pub is an old gem – but the narrow frontage belies just how big it is inside.
The pub is run by Joules, a brewey based in Market Drayton, here’s a selection of the real ales on offer.

The pub also serves food, which seems very popular. We were tempted by the battered onion rings which turned out to be fish-flavoured as they’d been fried in the same oil as previous foods. It certainly made for an ‘interesting’ combination of flavours!

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Cheers!

Shropshire. Day 3.

24 Thursday Apr 2025

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The 3rd day of our adventure saw us staying local to Church Stretton for most of the day, taking the chance to enjoy the dry weather and improving forecast in order to explore some of the excellent walks around the area. What’s great about staying in the town is the walks are literally on your doorstep, there’s no need to drive anywhere. Ours started by heading uphill from where we’re staying. En-route we passed this lovely little fairy grotto someone had installed in a tree.

At the top of Hazler Rd we left tarmac to head off into the hills and climbed up to our first port of call – Gaerstones. It’s not too strenuous a climb and it’s well worth it for the views.

The lone sign…

Moving on along past the stones we dropped down towards the valley between the stones and heavily wooded Helwith Hill which was full of bluebells. Skirting the edge of the woods we crossed over the steam at the bottom of the valley to begin our climb up Caer Caradoc. Despite the dry weather we’ve been having this area was still very muddy. That soon changed as we began the very steep climb – the toughest part of the walk – to get as far as here, Three Fingers Rock. It’s at the Southern end of the ridge so has great views over Church Stretton.

The rocks are at 360m above sea level, which means you gain just under another 100m as you walk along the ridge to get to the top of Caer Caradoc, which is the site of an old hillfort. Whilst walking between the two I caught this shot of a Transport for Wales service heading through the valley on its way from Cardiff to Manchester.

Whilst the weather was dry and not too windy there was a significant amount of haze which reduced visibility – as you can see from this next few looking North from atop Caer Caradoc.

Looking over to the Lawley (left) with Yell bank to the right.

We chose to descend via a different route which was another steep drop to little Caradoc then along the eastern base of the hill to gain access to footpaths which took us over the busy A49 and the adjacent railway to access All Stretton village and a blissfully flat walk along the road back into Church Stretton where we stopped for a well-earned drink before heading home.

That wasn’t the end of our day as we decided to explore further, only this time in the car by driving to nearby Much Wenlock in order to explore the town. It’s a pretty little place with some amazing half-timbered old buildings like this, but it was dead. All the shops seem to shut at 4pm, leaving the place bereft of life. Whilst looking pretty as a picture, it’s not a place I could imagine living as there’s little to do there. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be a teenager growing up in such a place. Still, it allowed me to get a few useful pictures like this.

Much Wenlock Guildhall dates from 1540. Sadly, it was closed when we arrived as the rooms inside sound fascinating (see link). The area underneath is still in regular use for the town’s market.

By now it was time to head home after a tiring an enjoyable day in order to enjoy a quiet night at home and recharge our batteries for another hill walk the next day.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Shropshire. Day 2…

23 Wednesday Apr 2025

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This morning the weather was less than kind to us here in Church Stretton. We were greeted by low, grey clouds over the Long Mynd along with sporadic showers, so we were in no rush to get out. When we did the plan that developed was to drive down to Leominster across the border into Herefordshire. It’s a town I’ve never visited although I’ve passed through by train many times.

Our experience of Leominster was mixed. Architecturally it’s fascinating with building design spanning hundreds of years. The layout of much of the town centre is still mediaeval, although many buildings have been replaced (not always sympathetically). But, compared Ludlow to it’s very shabby. Many of the buildings are in a poor state of repair. Plus, there’s a lot of vacant properties. But what the town centre does have in abundance is seamstresses and antique shops. Hence Drapers Lane.

Here’s another couple of pictures from Leominster.

I love the old shop windows here.
Talk about in need of some TLC. Subsidence is a real issue for old buildings in this neck of the woods.

Escaping Herefordshire and its bad roads (noticeably different to Shropshire) we headed back to Ludlow for lunch and a mooch around a town which we really like. It’s far better maintained and more affluent than Leominster, although you can see a common heritage.

The last original gate in the former walled town of Ludlow, with a handy pub outside.

Today was one of the market days so a good time to have a wander. At lunchtime lunch we we ate at Kin Kitchen on Old St, which is a modern cafe bar in an old building they’ve refurbished. If the weather’s good there’s a great garden at the back. Both of us opted for the Meze plate which was really tasty.

After lunch we continued our exploration of the town. The variety of old buildings is fascinating – as are the nooks and crannies with cottages tucked away in the most unlikely places. Whilst the properties look amazing I’d hate to think what the maintenance costs must be as it’s obvious Ludlow suffers similar subsidence problems to Leominster. We stopped for on last drink in what’s allegedly the oldest pub in Ludlow, the Rose and Crown. It’s another Joule’s brewery pub which offers a good range of ales and also serves food.

Back at Church Stretton we had a relaxing evening at home. Dawn cooked another amazing veggie meal whilst I nipped out to get a couple of pictures at the railway station.

A Transport for Wales Class 150 calls at Church Stretton whilst working 2V30, the 1835 Shrewsbury to Swansea service via the Heart of Wales line.
One of Transport for Wales hired-in Class 67s thunders through the station non-stop on 1W96, the 1722 Cardiff Central to Holyhead.

Tomorrow we’ll be staying local to enjoy the improving weather and local walks.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Rolling blog. Off to Shropshire…

22 Tuesday Apr 2025

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11:10.

We’re currently putting the finishing touches to our packing before heading off to Church Stretton in Shropshire which will be our new home for the next four nights. It’s an area I know well and one that we’ve explored before – but a town the two of us haven’t actually stayed in previously. Shropshire is a underrated and undiscovered county by many, which makes it more enjoyable as it’s not rammed with tourists, yet it has some fantastic walking, picturesque towns and historic sites.

I’ll blog (on and off) through the day so feel free to pop back to see how the day unfolds. Here’s a view of Church Stretton taken from the Long Mynd during our previous visit in 2021.

16:30.

Arrived!

It took just over two and a half hours to drive here via the M62, M6, and M54, then across country following the A49 for most of the way. The motorways (especially the M62) were mad. Traffic was heavy, and the standards of driving appalling. Undertaking was endemic and indicating an optional extra. At one point, some daft woman driving a mini threw a length of toilet roll out of her window, which stuck to the front of our car! Thankfully, the A49 was a lot calmer.

Right now we’re settling into our accommodation, which is gorgeous.

20:20.

We’ve returned to Bigland Towers in exile after spending the afternoon exploring Church Stretton town centre – which wasn’t hard as most of it had already shut for the day at 5pm! That didn’t stop us window shopping or admiring the architectural variety of the town, with buildings from the Tudor, Victorian and Edwardian era much in evidence. There’s some real gems too. On a more modern note, the town boasts a large and well provisioned Co-op where we managed to pick up the supplies we needed, after which we popped into the oldest pub in town, the Kings Arms – which dates back to 1593. This gem of a pub serves beers from Joule’s, a brewery based in Market Drayton and one I’d not encountered before.

Whilst quaffing an IPA (or in Dawn’s case an alcohol free lager) the pair of us planned the next few days adventures and explorations around the area which will be a mix of exploring market towns and countryside – with plenty of walking thrown in.

Here’s a few pictures from our stroll.

The pub’s been tastefully refurbished in recent years, keeping the original features whilst adding sympathetic new touches.

Tomorrow we’ll wake up to this view from out living room window which looks out across town to the Long Mynd.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Rolling blog. Another Shropshire sojourn..

01 Thursday Dec 2022

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11:10.

I’m working in Shropshire and North Wales tomorrow but it’s going to be a long day with an early start, so I’m making my way from West Yorkshire to Shrewsbury as I’ll be staying this evening in readiness for the first trip of the day. I’ll be meeting up with an old friend and colleague as it’s a two-person job. Right now I’m on my way to Chester aboard the direct train from Sowerby Bridge. Northern introduced hourly direct Leeds – Chester via Halifax trains in October 2019. It’s a very useful service as it provides a direct connection with the West Coast Main Line (WCML) at Warrington Bank Quay, as well as making it easier to get to North Wales. My service is worked by a pair of 2-car CAF built Class 195s, which are staple traction on the route. Modern trains like this add to its attraction. I’ve a table so set up the mobile office. Sadly, this particular unit isn’t in the best of health. There’s no working power sockets and the passenger information system’s lost! It’s half a dozen stations behind where it really is, so it’s announcing we’re about to arrive in Sowerby Bridge whilst our next stop’s actually Manchester Victoria! I’m travelling in the front car of the leading unit. Loadings are good, between 65-70% from what I can see, although I expect that figure to drop after Manchester.

The weather’s still grey and gloomy this side of the Pennines. Hardly ideal for photography as skies will be completely washed-out in pictures. Even so, I’ll be stopping off a couple of times en-route on my roundabout way to Shrewsbury in order to get some pictures, so expect a few shots to appear later.

11:30.

We’ve just left Newton-le-Willows and my train’s busy again thanks to a goodly number of people joining us at this rebuilt station. The facilities have really improved since the new building and lifts replaced the long staircases that used to be the only way to reach the platforms, but it’s sad to see the original building boarded up and unused.

12:00.

During our stop at Warrington Bank Quay I grabbed the chance to move tables and found working power sockets. Hurrah! The Only downside is I’m now sat over the leading bogie. The 195s are known for rough-riding and this unit (007) is no different. I’ve already had a couple of spine-jarring thumps as we’ve passed over rough track joints. Passing the freight yards at Warrington was rather a sad sight as they’re nowhere near as busy as they once were as the coal traffic that provided a lot of their business has disappeared – as have the rakes of hopper wagons that moved the stuff. Now many of the sidings are disused, the deep patina of rust on the railhead giving away the fact they’ve not been used for a long time.

14:00.

Well, that’s been a busy couple of hours. I’m still at Chester and will write more about my experiences later when I’m on the move again. In the meantime, here’s a few photos showing the variety I’ve observed. Right now I’m having a few minutes in the warm as it’s bleedin’ Baltic out on the station!

A pair of Transport for Wales Class 153s, aka ‘Dogboxes’ sit in one of the bays underneaththe truncated station roof before working a service to Liverpool Lime St.
An old friend. This class 150 used to work Silverlink services on my local line in London before moving on. First to GWR, and now Northern. In the background is a Merseyrail electric class 507.
The venerable Class 507s were introduced by British Rail back in 1978 but like many old BR fleets they’re living on borrowed time. Covid delayed their demise, but you won’t see sights like this for much longer.
New CAF built 3-car 197101 in between test runs, having worked in from Llandudno Junction.
Freight along the North Wales coast has been a rarity for many years now, so seeing stone trains from Penmaenmawr return is a welcome sight. Here’s Colas 60076 working a loaded train to Tuebrook in Liverpool.
The obligatory ‘but no-one’s travelling by train, they’re all working from home’ shot. A TfW Class 158 swops hordes of passengers en-route to Holyhead.

15:30.

I left Chester aboard another train which is reaching the end of its current career. In fact, unless DfT start making some sensible decisions it may even be the end of its career. Here’s Avanti West Coast ‘Voyager’ 221107 at Crewe, where it carried me to from Chester. These trains are only 20 years old but they’re soon to be rendered surplus by new-build bi-mode trains from Hitachi.

Ivwasn’t in Crewe long, less than 20 mins as I caught TfWs 15:09 to Milford Haven which will take me to Shrewsbury. Sadly, the weather remains grim. The sun did threaten to break through at Chester, but not here. This service is a 3-car Class 175, yet another fleet soon to be displaced. It’s packed, so yet again i’m exiled to a vestibule. What I found interesting was my fellow travellers. I’m sharing the vestibule with a young lady who’s just flown in from Malaysia. Meanwhile, the saloon luggage racks are rammed with suitcases carried by an extended family who’ve also just arrived via Heathrow. Why they’ve chosen this train’s a mystery…

16:00.

Journey’s end for me for the moment. Now it’s time to check into my hotel. Relax for a while and meet up with Pip…

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Back in Yorkshire…

08 Friday Oct 2021

Posted by in Railways, Shropshire, Travel

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We’re now back home after a brilliant week in Shropshire. We left this morning but took most of the day to come back in order to prolong the holiday. First off we nipped back down to Ironbridge for breakfast in the hope we’d see the place in the sunshine that was predicted. Sadly, that wasn’t the reality. Low cloud and mist cloaked the area leaving the light looking flat. Even so, we enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the town – and a decent breakfast of smashed Avocado and poached egg on toast at a cafe overlooking the bridge.

Bidding adieu we decided to ignore the motorways and cut across country in order to explore. As much as we’ve enjoyed Shropshire we’ve noticed a marked difference to home as we’ve toured the county. Many country pubs are derelict or are intact but remain closed, meaning it’s hard to find somewhere to stop for a drink or bite to eat. In contrast, most of Yorkshire’s establishments have reopened. Why there’s such a disparity is impossible to fathom. We know some of our locals are struggling to find staff. Is the situation worse in Shropshire, and if so – why?

Heading back the first major town we looked at was Market Drayton. As the name suggests it’s a market town. There’s some fine old half-timbered buildings but we weren’t tempted to stop as we’d been spoiled earlier in the trip when we’d visited marvelous Ludlow (and also Shrewsbury). So, we kept driving across country. Passing through Loggerheads (no, really!) to skirt Stoke and pass through Leek before hitting the Peak District. The weather improved the farther North we got, so much so that by the time we arrived in Buxton the temperature felt more like June rather than October! It was so good we decided to take a break and found a pub with a beer garden where we could sit and soak up some rays over a drink and watch the world go by.

Buxton is known for its waters (bottled and spring) but for people with an interest in railways the area’s also known for its rail connected quarries which ship stone all around the UK. Dawn was happy to drive past the one at Peak Forest in order than I could grab a couple of library pictures as the weather conditions were perfect. Here’s a sample.

An empty DB Cargo train backs into the loading area at Peak Forest. Each one of those wagons can carry almost 78 tonnes of stone. There’s 22 of them in that formation. Loaded, they’ll carry 1,700 tonnes. In contrast, an 8-wheel HGC road vehicle can carry just under 20 tonnes, meaning each train like this is taking 85 8-wheeler lorries off the roads. Oh, and that’s before we even think about the amount of Co2 saved, not to mention all the other environmental benefits.

The rest of the trip home was in weather akin to what you can see in the picture. Sadly, it’s not forecast to last, but hey-ho. We’ve had a great break in Shropshire which we both thoroughly enjoyed – and we’ve still got the weekend to look forward to (and a busy week after that)…

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!