I took a huge risk last night, I had dinner in one of my favourite restaurants in Shrewsbury, Umai which is Japanese. Why the big risk? To save weight in my rucksack I only have one smart shirt and one pair of nice trousers, eating with chopsticks is a messy business but fortunately I stayed clean.
A late start this morning as it was raining and the forecast said it would improve. As I only had 10 miles to do there was little point in getting wet first thing.
I started at Welsh Bridge passing the mooring for Sabrina, a pleasure boat which entertains tourists in the summer. Sabrina is the Roman name for the river supposedly after a Princess who was the illegitimate child of King Locrine.
When he divorced his wife she retaliated by having Sabrina murdered by drowning her in the river which then took her name to remind the King of his infidelity. The boat is large and the river is now quite a substantial size although the Sabrina is the only commercial boat there are plenty kayaks and rowing boats.
There are two river crossings in Shrewsbury, the second is called English Bridge and is next to the Abbey whose monastery was destroyed during the dissolution but was “revived” in the books of Ellis Peters which are set in the 12th century featuring Brother Cadfael who was played by Derek Jakobi in the TV version.
I could not resist photographing the most unhelpful signpost ever, the other two sides were just as bad, it seems you can go anyway but down.
Next to English Bridge used to be a field called Gay Meadow, presumably used for recreation rather than somewhere for gays to meet. A showman called Robert Cadman had, on a number of occasions stretched a rope from the top of St Mary’s Church across the Severn to Gay Meadow, he would then walk the tight rope from the meadow to the spire (whilst his wife carried round a donations bucket) and as a finale he would then slide back on a grooved breastplate. Unfortunately on February 2nd 1739 the trick went wrong and he didn’t make it. His engraved obituary stands outside the west door of St Marys which also has some fine stained glass windows, it is no longer used as a church.
The picture below shows his route, from the spire on the left across the river to where the houses are on the right.
In 1910 Shrewsbury Town built their football ground on the Gay Meadow site. It was famous for flooding every time the river burst its banks, Shrewsbury FC now have a stadium outside the town and well away from any water. Houses have been built on the site of the old ground, how they get insurance against flooding is beyond me. Below is a 1947 picture of someone rowing a boat down the isle of the Abbey which is close by.
From the English Bridge the river meanders across flood plains which means after a 9 mile walk I was only 4 miles from where I started. It would have been impossible to do the walk a month ago as the river was 20ft higher and all the fields underwater. The picture shows a duck house washed 15ft up a tree, no idea what happened to the ducks.
I am now staying in the only hotel in Atcham in a huge and very grand suite which was a bit of a surprise as whilst it is the most I have paid so far on the trip it is not too expensive, I guess my one night stay just slotted in. Next door is St Eata’s church, it is Saxon but much of the stone came from the Roman city of Wroxeter which is close by, the reason there are few remains in Wroxeter is the ruins were an ideal source of ready cut stone for later builders to use.
The picture below is taken from the churchyard, I watched the fisherman for almost an hour, he did not catch anything.
I have now been walking for a week and my body is getting used to the idea of a large breakfast followed by a lot of exercise. On the first three mornings my legs were very stiff first thing and my feet and knees hurt, my feet have now been forceably moulded into the shape of my new boots and the aches and pains seem to have gone. Fingers crossed it stays that way.
80 miles complete only 130 to go!.