Saturday, 13 September 2014

We said goodbye to Veronica and the couple from Alberta and two women (one from Troy, OH) who where hiking. They made arrangements for their luggage to be transported from town to town while they walked. Veronica suggested avoiding Birmingham by staying away from Warwick. We fussed with the TomTom for a bit then decided to take the recommended route for a while, then look for something other than the motorway (read interstate).

Side bar. The TomTom has been great, especially with roundabouts. Tells you which direction you are headed and which exit to take off the rotary. Most of the time it works. Sometimes it’s hard to count the exits – like this afternoon. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We had decided to skip Warwick Castle and head for Ironbridge. Rick Steves has an overnight there, but we were going to press on for Conwy in north Wales. I decided to follow the TomTom for while then enter a waypoint that was off the motorway. She got us to Kidderminster, then she decided there was a shortcut – back on the unnamed roads with no centerlines. Poor Michael.

There are several museums and other attractions at Ironbridge. Most of the historical re-enactment sites in the US are focused on Colonial times – Plymouth, Sturbridge Village, Jamestown, Williamsburg, etc. Ironbridge is focused on the Industrial Revolution. One museum is a Victorian village set on a site that produced pig iron back in the 1800s. There was a coal mine with iron ore and limestone deposits nearby. And a canal to transport goods to the sea. Perfect.

Some of the original equipment, including the ironworks, the blast furnaces, and the mine are still standing. There are re-enactors for the general store, print shop, candle maker, plasterer, blacksmith, chemist, etc. We walked into the general store. I was admiring the cash register – large and silver. The owner was very proud of it – it was a National cash register.  as in NCR of Dayton. I informed him that it was made near the town I was from. It had been sitting somewhere and was rediscovered in 1971. Fun coincidence.

That's an NCR cash register

Dentist chair

Millinery shop

There is also a clay mine and a museum of china and clay pipes. You could easily spend a day visiting all the museums.

Blast furnaces at Blists Village

Grabbed lunch and set off for Conwy in North Wales. About halfway there we decided to pull over and let me drive, since it would be mostly divided highways to Tal-y-Bont, where we were staying. After sitting on the left for 4 days, I had less trouble switching and driving – and the lanes are wide on the divided highways. Unfortunately, there was a serious accident on the A55 and we were stuck for 30 min then put on a 5 mile detour. No worries, we got in about a hour late, but we got here. And Michael was only slightly terrorized.

North Wales  - at least where we are - is beautiful. We had a glimpse of the Irish Sea before we made the turn south. Dinner choices were 10 minutes from now, or 8:15 – we took 6:15. Goat cheese starter and roast lamb shoulder main. Nice end to the day.  Tomorrow we will visit a garden and wander around Conwy. The woolen mill is not open Sundays so it will have to wait until Monday.