#Ironbridge2014: Day 4 (April 16th)

Original image found here.Today started with a whole debate over whether or not it was time to get up. I could have probably slept for longer but the elephants wearing boots were awake and stampeding along the corridor so getting up was less painless.

I had fruit loaf for breakfast which had been bought at Blists Hill Bakery. I also had supermarket pretend Shreddies. Also threatened to attempt to steal the papaya from Chris’s cereal however the pieces were that small it made more sense to stick with the raisins in the fruit loaf.

While at breakfast another family were packing up getting ready to head home, the Mum of the family offered us a bottle of milk that they’d bought but hadn’t opened. I think she was on a mission to pack down as much as possible and not take home what they didn’t need to. (Our usual trick was that Mum would give us the milk and cups if needed and Rich and I would work our ways through it! One year I ended up nursing the bottle for about an hour because I kept letting out the hugest burps ever!)

We got on the road and headed for Bridgnorth. We tried a pay and display car park but it was a small fortune to park so we managed to find some free parking in a residential street and walked back to the town centre. I think I worked out I was aiming for 2k steps on my Fitbit before we even really had started the day.

To get from where we had parked the car to the town centre we had to walk down a huge hill. (Later it would turn out this was part of the route between the High Town and Low Town anyway).

We worked our way along the High Street looking at the shops and had a look in a few of them. We went into the Town Hall for a look round. It was really interesting especially the hall which I guess is used for council meetings now but historically was used as a court and people could be sentenced to death from there. We also had a look in the Northgate Museum – it was interesting but was so warm and stuffy that I did it quickly and went to wait outside. I sat on the stairs outside while the boys finished.

We went on the Cliff Railway from the High Town to Low Town. Chris and I both enjoyed it but Our Sidekick wasn’t too happy about it as he’s not a fan of heights. At the bottom we sat next to the river and watched the ducks. At one point Our Sidekick’s phone rang so while he talked to his friend, Chris and I sat doing a commentary to a little duck trying to swim against the tide across the river (and also sounded random comments at the phone to wind Our Sidekick’s friend up!)

We decided it was time to find some lunch but decided that we’d have lunch in reverse so stopped at an ice cream parlor for ice cream first before getting the cliff railway back up the hill. I had lemon meringue in a cone and Our Sidekick had mint choc chip in a cone. Chris then showed off and had a Knickerbocker Glory.

Following our Ice Cream stop, the boys decided to race the Cliff Railway while I rode it. Funnily enough they won, especially as a lady arguing about her ticket was delaying the carriage from going. At the top I stopped to take a photo for a family who had been on the train. The grandparents had local accents but the son (or the dad of the children who were there) had a really thick Kiwi accent.

We then walked a round the “mound” to find the remains of the castle. From the history lesson I got, the remaining section of what was Bridgnorth Castle leans at a 15 degree angle which is four times that of the Leaning Tower of Pisa). At the end of the path as you get to the castle gardens you can see out across the town and you can see the Severn Valley Railway. My Dad had been sending me info about it via text message. Our Sidekick and I sat in the castle gardens and chatted while Chris went to get us some lunch, when he came back we decided to head down to the railway. I guess it we’d thought about it more we could have spent more time in Kidderminster and got a different train back but unfortunately we had mis-planned it and had to get the next train back but it was still a fascinating trip. The carriages were being pulled by a train called Erlestoke Manor. It was a racing green steam locomotive.

At Kidderminster, we bought a postcard for Our Sidekick to write to his Mum. My purse has the trains pattern by Cath Kidston on it and the lady in the gift shop commented on how she really liked it. We then went to find some seats on the return journey – in the end the train was probably 80-90% empty so we played musical chairs depending on where on the route we were. At one point a train stopped alongside us while sorting out the signals. I moved chair and chatted to a little girl and boy who were stood up against the window on the other train watching. The little boy was about 18 months so couldn’t really join in but his sister was making up for all of that!!

When we got back to Bridgnorth we walked back to the car and headed for the hostel. When we got back Chris cooked curry for us which was really good but I wasn’t entirely hungry so after about less than half I had had enough. I feel so bad throwing away the food but we just don’t have any where to store it. I guess we could have brought Tupperware or storage boxes with us but again we’re limited on fridge space in the hostel.

After tea, Chris and I hung out in the lounge but I was feeling really shattered and thought I was going to fall asleep on the sofa so decided I needed to get into bed so that if I did doze off it wasn’t the end of the world.

Read about our other adventures while on this trip here.