Thursday 26 September - Hereford

The forecast was for cloudy weather in Shrewsbury and some drizzle in Hereford. We decided to go to Hereford anyway. 

Hereford - The train was a two banger at least and not a puddle jumper like yesterday.

One big improvement in the trains now is the addition of a cleaner who goes through the train picking up garbage and emptying the litter bins. The one on our train got off at Ludlow with a big sack of garbage, presumably to go back on the next train to Shrewsbury. The stations are also kept cleaner than in my day.

There was a short walk into the town centre. The one business of note was a model shop which had a good stock of OO scale locomotives and equipment.

After a stop for latte we made for the cathedral. It is a magnificent building that has remained pretty much as built in the 1100s. I was staggered at its sheer size. It is also in good condition and the stained glass is excellent. 

We visited the mappa mundi at the library of chained books. The Hereford Mappa Mundi is unique, it records how thirteenth-century scholars interpreted the world in spiritual as well as geographical terms. Recent research suggests a date of about 1300 for the creation of the map.

It is drawn on a single sheet of vellum (calf skin) measuring 64" by 52" (1.58 x 1.33 metres), tapering towards the top with a rounded apex. The geographical material of the map is contained within a circle measuring 52" in diameter and reflects the thinking of the medieval church with Jerusalem at the centre of the world. Superimposed on to the continents are drawings of the history of humankind and the marvels of the natural world. These 500 or so drawings include around 420 cities and towns, 15 Biblical events, 33 plants, animals, birds and strange creatures, 32 images of the peoples of the world and 8 pictures from classical mythology.

The map has not been restored but the ink is excellent and the writing clearly legible.

Chaining books was the most widespread and effective security system in European libraries from the middle ages to the eighteenth century, and Hereford Cathedral's seventeenth-century Chained Library is the largest to survive with all its chains, rods and locks intact.

A chain is attached at one end to the front cover of each book; the other end is slotted on to a rod running along the bottom of each shelf. The system allows a book to be taken from the shelf and read at the desk, but not to be removed from the bookcase. The books are shelved with their foredges, rather than their spines, facing the reader (the wrong way round to us); this allows the book to be lifted down and opened without needing to be turned around - thus avoiding tangling the chain. 

The illuminated pages on display are beautiful and the inks are vivid even though they are so old.

One of the four copies of the 1417 Magna Carta was also on display.

The visit to the cathedral was a wonderful experience - by far the most beautiful and impressive we have seen on this trip.

The Cathedral garden

We sought out the River Wye and walked along the banks with great views of the cathedral which is otherwise difficult to take in. The school kids were out on cross country runs and it looked as if they would be wet before they finished.

The cathedral from the Wye Bridge

The Cathedral and Bishops Palace from across the river Wye.

The Cathedral and Bishops Palace from across the river Wye.

 

 The duck pond revealed many Mallards and one beautiful Mandarin duck. It was now drizzling heavily and we retreated to The Grapes for a snack, a Wye Valley Brewery, Hereford, bitter and Robinson's flagon cider. The beer was good, medium dark in colour but light in taste and with an excellent flavour. The cider was excellent if a little sweet.

 

We walked around the centre town pedestrian precinct in the drizzle and made our way back to the station. There were a large number of Polish shops in one street - three or four selling Polish products as well as a Polish restaurant. Advert in a shop window " Eyebrow Threading" - a term we don't use in Canada.

Signs at the exit from a car park.  Hereford has had a stormy past so perhaps the aggressive gene has been passed on to pedestrians.

Hereford - this is the first freight train I have seen since we arrived in Shrewsbury over three weeks ago.

The railways use a two pipe air brake system, far better than the single pipe system used in Canada.

No sooner had I photographed the first freight when a second ran into the freight line at Hereford.

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By the time we had reached Leominister it had stopped raining and Shrewsbury looks as if it has been dry all day.

This evening we ate at the hotel dining room. We were the only ones there but the meals were excellent - scallops, mushroom and blue cheese tartlet and duck.

Wednesday 25 September - Whitchurch and Ha Ha Holmes

Back bacon like this is normal breakfast fare here.

Walking down to the station takes about 7 minutes but I always pause to look at the fried food stacked in a shop window on the way. Great hunk of pork with the crackling, sausages, chips etc.

Next door there is a cobbler with several mechanical dolls in the window - a cobbler (identical to one on rue des Abbesses in Paris) and a locksmith (there is a third showing a happy man.)

This one car puddle jumper took us to Whitchurch

We took the train to Whitchurch through a misty landscape. The hedgerows were in varying shades of black and grey depending upon how far away they were.  A church, surrounded by trees appeared out of the mist and disappeared just as quickly. We passed three swans flying in our direction, we only passed them slowly so they must have been travelling at about 40 mph.

It is a little way into town and we passed  the Joyce Turret Clock Company.  The company claim to be the oldest clock manufacturer in the world, originally established in 1690. William Joyce began in the village of Cockshutt making longcase clocks. The family business was handed down from father to son and in 1790 moved to High Street, Whitchurch. In 1904 J. B. Joyce moved to Station Road, Whitchurch. In 1834 Thomas Joyce made large clocks for local churches and public buildings.  The firm made large clocks for many public buildings, both at home and overseas, and for some of the principal railway companies. Since 1945 the company installed over 2,000 large public clocks in Britain and Ireland, the majority being the synchronous mains controlled type and a high proportion installed in churches

Whitchurch has been hit by the recession and several shop fronts were empty, including several pubs. St. Alkmunds church is very impressive with some very large windows, stained and clear, which let in a lot of light.  We were shown graffiti carved in one of the pews, dated 1794. 

St. Alkmunds church

Graffiti from the 1700s

The Town Vaults Hotel was where Edward German was born. We had a drink in the room where he was born.

The plaque was hidden behind the plants.

The Gents toilet is the only grade two listed toilet in northern Shropshire. I felt privileged to go in here

Double Hop pale ale from Market Drayton was very good, well hopped but light. Good for lunch time.

A quick walk around the town revealed additional signs of the economic problems. Some pubs were open but had few customers. Businesses had been forced to move into new accommodation as landlords tried to raise the rent. Several homes were for sale and not many people were around.

A Joyce clock in the town square

We found the White Bear, tucked away from the main street. It had a number of local ales, Woods, Titanic and Salopian but I chose a Three Tuns (Bishops Castle) Triple X, a well balanced beer with a good hoppy flavour.

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This evening we went to a performance of Ha Ha Holmes at Theatre Severn.  We had dinner beforehand at the Glutton Club which is very close.  The food was good, especially the thrice cooked chips.

We had expected a farce but it was more of a comedy revue with a lot of participation from the audience responding to certain trigger phrases while a number of men were "invited" to participate on the stage.  It was a great evening, full of laughs.  The three actors and the pianist brought it off well.  The timing of some of the jokes was excellent.  There was a long tongue twister about a snake that didn't have a pit to hiss in. At the break we broke down and joined the crowd eating chocolate coated ice creams on a stick, the rest had a nice cup of tea.

Tuesday 24 September - Llangollen

We took the train to Ruabon then bus to Llangollen. The first thing we saw on getting off the bus was a taxidermy studio.

The station was close by and we took the first train of the day which was pulled by a GWR 2-8-0, a type I was familiar with at Reading. (I drove one from Basingstoke to Reading.) These do not have a copper band around the chimney so there was less to polish. The crew told me they do not use Welsh coal because this produces too much heat and will melt the firebars. Instead the coal comes from Europe.

At Llangollen

The brass safety valve cover was well polished

The journey is through really pleasant country alongside the river Dee. There were several fishermen spread along the banks. The beats from the engine were typical GW - crisp and square. When the regulator was closed I could hear the click, click, click of the crosshead driven vacuum pump.

Carrog

Running round at Carrog.  Those tenders with riveted sides were much more difficult to clean than the straight sided ones.

3802 ran round it's train at Carrog and returned us to Llangollen.  It had been misty but the sun came out for a pleasant day. 

Llangollen, looking towards the station

Llangollen

Llangollen was full of tourists, mostly old people with walking sticks and in coach parties. The stores catered to these people with Welsh souvenirs from tea towels to chutney. Llangollen is a strange place.  It is, in many ways, the cultural capital of Wales being the home of the International Eisteddford yet it is set on milking the coach parties.  I didn't hear any Welsh spoken although some of the English was pretty hard to understand.  We had a sausage roll and some not very good ice cream and decided to seek out the Llangollen canal wharf. On the way we were passed by a big tour bus full of old women and one old man.

The canal wharf is high above the town. Its location must discourage many tourists and it was very pleasant. The water seems to be running quite fast for a canal. Unfortunately the times of the canal tours did not allow us to take one, the Pontcysllte aqueduct tour would have been interesting.

Llangollen Canal wharf

Llangollen Canal

We took the frequent bus service back to Ruabon in time to scout out the place and quickly found four promising pubs but not much else. A pint of Thwaites (Blackburn, Lancashire) Wainwright (very good but not too assertive) and a cider at The Vaults and we took the train back to Shrewsbury.

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The afternoon was warm and we went down to the Boathouse by the river for a cider and a Purple Moose bitter, a smooth dark beer from Portmadoc. The rowers were out in force along with the trainers. The ducks were trying to pick up the bread thrown to them and there were a couple of close calls. Steering the tour boat was occasionally difficult with the additional traffic.

 

Monday 23 September - Hilary visits Shrewsbury

Hilary and her guide dog, Yalena, came up from Newport to visit today.  She had booked assisted service on the train but the station staff allowed us on the platform to meet her.
We first visited the castle then went on past St. Mary's church and stopped for coffee on a bench outside Starbucks by the old market building. On the way up from the station we met two young girls who were training a guide dog.  We stopped to chat and Yalena and the trainee dog rubbed noses.

Yalena was good but we had to point out curbs and any uneven surfaces. We were also describing what we could see as Hilary can make out vague shapes and outlines.
The Quarry park was a great place to let the dog run around and roll over to her heart's content. She enjoyed being off the lead but didn't wander far and always came back when called.  She is amazing - understands "left" and "right" etc.  We put her back on the lead to go into the Dingle because we didn't want her to go after any ducks.

We had lunch at The Armory where we had booked a table. The staff were very good and gave Yalena a bowl of water. She was very good and spend a couple of hours under the table while another dog made a lot of noise. New Zealand sauvignon blanc and Woods Shropshire Lad was drunk.
There was just enough time to let the dog run around the park before getting on the train. The staff took us on to the platform and handed Hilary over to the conductor. Yalena obviously considered that we were part of her pack because the didn't want to let us go when the train came in.
Afterwards we were able to get into St. Mary's church to admire not only the stained glass windows but also the carved wooden ceilings.
This evening we went into the Three Fishes where I tried yet another new beer on the pumps.

Double Mash is a Derby beer.  It is very dark, nice hoppy flavor but no citrus aftertaste.

 We got into conversation with a young couple, he was from Oswestry and she was from Toronto.  She was visiting and was returning to Canada in a few days.  They met in Thailand.