Shrewsbury and Conwy

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Tuesday 26^thJune. Shrewsbury.

Drove into the very pleasant town of Shrewsbury. Parking is always an issue for us here in UK as we are not yet familiar with the local customs so we parked on the outskirts in a “Park and Ride”. Shrewsbury is a bustling small city built inside a loop of the Severn. Many historical building but also a lot of modern commercial activity. We started off at the market. A market hall packed with fruit and veg, butchers, fish, delicatessens and knick knacks. The craft stalls were good quality, locally manufactured and really interesting. As you may have gathered, we love markets and this was one of the best. Our next stop was St Mary’s church. My late uncle, Peter Williams, did a lot of voluntary work here, particularly as an architect with the preservation of the beautiful stained glass windows.

It is quite warm here with the media referring to a blistering heatwave. The locals are certainly feeling it. I think it actually got to 28 C today. We took refuge in a cool converted church restaurant for lunch and I enjoyed a chilled pint of the local dark bitter ale with my chicken and leek pie whilst Alison stuck to her cider.

Wednesday Conwy, Welsh north coast.

Another driving day today. Packed up first thing and drove through the Snowdonia National Park up to Conwy on the North coast of Wales. Snowdonia is spectacular and the road looks quite new and of a much higher standard than we have become used to in UK. Wider lanes, wide verges and spectacular countryside that you can actually see over the hedgerows. We also had no problems finding well signposted public toilets today which has also been an ongoing issue for us.

Conwy has a spectacular 13th century castle and city walls curtesy of Edward 1^st. A little overrun by tourists but enjoyable all the same. We walked around the top of the town walls which gives great views of the estuary, the quay and the town.

There is an original 15th century house run by the National Trust in the centre of Conwy. Aberconwy House is set up with different rooms furnished to represent different usages of the building since its origin. Volunteers manning the various rooms gave a very comprehensive and authoritative talk on the known history of the building. From merchant’s house and shop, to civil war era and finally as a temperance hotel in Victorian times.

I joined the National Trust before leaving Australia as I had previously experienced that the National Trust properties are usually an excellent experience but they can be quite expensive. A membership ticket gives free entry (even for Australians).

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Comments

[Jan Martin]

Sounds wonderful
Just back from Queensland and have binged on the last four entries non the blog. Sounds like you are having a great time and all that planning is paying off. looking forward to reading more....