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;

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.

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.

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