Ironbridge

Despite the gloomy weather, this was a great day. An interesting walk in the morning in the Wrekin Forest,around areas of the Wrekin, Ercall, Maddock's Hill and Lawrence Hill that I used to know as a boy many of which I haven't been back to for these 40 years. Places that I used to go fishing, tracks we used while on wide games with the scouts up in woods, places we went to when studying the geology of the area, limekilns we used to explore. We came across a sheep trapped by brambles and had to do a detour to the nearby farm to let them know.

In the afternoon we went to Ironbridge for lunch which is where this shot was taken. I think all Shropshire people are proud of this bridge and this area as it represents the place where the whole Industrial Revolution began and is still celebrated today with a plethora of museums in a World Heritage site.

After lunch we went to the Jackson Tile museum, on the south bank of the River Severn. What a magnificent museum this is. Tiles are still made here after 200 years of production. The company specialise in making tiles to restore old installations including the Palace of Westminster. I didn't expect such and interesting and informative exhibition which was easy to take in and easy to understand. And that's just one of 10 museums in the Ironbridge area.

We went back into Ironbridge after leaving the museum hoping to see the Christmas Lights while we browsed the local shops, but unfortunately the Ironbridge lights are not being switched on until next weekend. But the shops were interesting in the gathering gloom.