During the day the area around the Iron Bridge is packed with day trippers eating ice creams most of whom don’t seem to visit the Museum of the Gorge which is one of the best and biggest museums in the country. The largest shop in town (three shops knocked together) sells stuffed toys made in China, Abraham Derby must be turning in his grave.
In the evening walking back past the bridge after a very nice meal the place was deserted, the day trippers had gone and normal village life returns. As you can see the bridge is lit at night and I was the only sightseer to see it!
This morning as I walked past at 9.00 the shopkeepers were putting out their signs to entice the visitors in on what will have been a manic bank holiday, I was glad I was leaving.
The museum sites extend down the river through Coalbrook Dale where there is a china works, a tar tunnel, the tile factory and up the hill the pipe factory (smokers clay pipes, not plumbing pipes).
Of course there is a “craft centre” where the punters can buy more stuffed teddies but eventually you leave the touristy areas behind and follow the river downstream towards Bridgenorth. Within a mile the valley becomes much quieter, rural and very peaceful.
The Boat Inn has the flood levels marked on it’s door, our local news always claims the flooding is getting worse but this record shows 1946, 1947 and 1960 were just as bad.
On this stretch I met another walker who is a South Korean walking Lands End to John O'Groats over the course of several months, despite his poor English he was keen to chat which we did for some time. I have yet to meet anyone else doing the Severn Way and away from towns the path is sometimes quite overgrown so I guess not many people have walked it in the past year. This suits me fine, I don’t like crowded walks.
By lunchtime I arrived at the mayhem of Bridgenorth on a sunny bank holiday. The town has two parts, Low Town and High Town, there is over 100ft of climbing between them. I am staying in Low Town so dumped my bag and headed up the hill to admire the view from the site of the castle in High Town. Charles I supposedly said the view was “The finest view in all my kingdom” which was quickly recorded by the tourist board of the day and has been repeated by them ad nauseam ever since although he might have been remarking about a good looking woman rather than the scenery. The view is not that great, the biggest attraction is the Severn Valley Steam Railway but in Charles day it was just a field.
The tourist office also insist that the castle keep leans at a greater angle than the leaning tower of Pisa but it is in rather more derelict condition and nowhere near as interesting which is why you have probably never heard of it.
Tonight I will climb back up to High Town to a curry house recommended to me by a couple I met last night but being a mean bugger I will walk rather than pay £2 return for the cliff railway. Tomorrow I have a long walk to Bewdley where I am going to treat my feet to a day off and stay in the same place for two nights.