July 28, Bridges to Shrewsbury

I decided to do Stage one of the Shropshire Way since I had omitted it where it properly belonged for taxi reasons!  It's always about the taxis.  This time, since I was already in Shrewsbury and staying here another two nights, I got a taxi—the same excellent company SDJ in case you are ever here and need them—to pick me up at 5:45 to ferry me to Bridges, (a location hard to find on Google maps, a pub being the only thing there).  So at 6:15, boots to the ground, I headed north back to Shrewsbury, some fifteen and a half miles away, fourteen by taxi. And there was no schlep in my step today!

The first hour or so was exceptionally pretty, although I have no photos to show for it, but it was rolling woodlands, streams, nice dirt paths, just super enjoyable walking and perfect weather.  Then, of course, there was this:

which is still pretty darn nice.

And this, which is less nice:

And corn, of course:

Which is nice when there is a path through it, and there was.

There was road walking, but none of it awful.  Especially when you are not down there:

The animal life is always a delight.

Meet the fam:

OK, maybe not the fam because Dad is likely not in the picture.

He's beefing up:

I felt really sorry for a bunch of these behind -the-bars moo-ers:

Black faced sheep on the move:

Getting closer:

And closer still!

They are not to be confused with spotted sheep:

which I do not think I have seen before.

Once I was a great big tall majestic tree:

Cute name for a street:

                                    

Yeah, book it right away if you want to stay someplace from which your chances are emerging are, shall we say, slim:

OR, book for someone you don't like at all, as, you know, as a surprise.

July 27 Wellington to Shrewsbury

One word describes today's route:  BORING!

Too much of this:

And too much of this

A little bit of this:

And way too much road walking.

But you still get to see stuff, such as this ad:

YES!  Moms and Dads!  Get your kiddies out there on the field at 18 months!!  And not a day later!  (Can you just imagine teaching those "classes?" And it is an academy, yet!)  I wonder what the competition is.

For all the cat lovers out there!

Now this was a mystery:

Solved at the far end end of the field

Barker was tied up!! (Baruch haShem...Thank God)

FINALLY, a beautiful view!  

Every town has a memorial:

At least this horse's face is free of flies:

OMG!!

It gets worse:

And worse:

And worse!

And even worse:

OK, WOW!

Are we done yet?

Just FYI and BTW there were lots more of those wellness posters.  They totally ruin the walk.

I guess these little ladies didn't take tall that advice or if they did, this is what it did for them:

 

July 26, Oakengates to Lillehsall to Telford

At about 5:35 I headed out to the train station to catch the 5:53 to Oakengates, an eight minute ride away.  A good thing I gave myself a few extra minutes because navigating these train stations, even a small one such as the one at Wellington can be tricky.  Max, FYI, I purchased my £2.70 ticket on line! 

A half hour into the walk the rain started but not a deluge or anything, just enough so that you had to don all your rain gear. Walking along trails, though parks, on some town streets, and a few fields, I thought about what must have gone into designing this trail (any trail, when you get right down to it).  The Telford T50 does take in a lot of green spaces thus making a remarkably enjoyable route.  I did cheat a teeny bit and turned around to start the second phase of the route about 1/3-1/2 mile short of the top of Lillesshall because a trudge on asphalt up a big hill in the rain to then just turn around and go down the same hill when there were still many miles to go, seemed just not worth it.  

This is what not nice people do:

Carved animals in a park:

A not carved animal.  Poor, poor horsie!

OK, everybody!  Time to rock and roll!

Roses:

Geese and chicks:

This IS the best ketchup:

The official route begins and ends in Telford Town Centre. yes, the very Telford that gives the walk its name because in addition to the 50 miles, the town, in 2018, decided to celebrate its being a New Town for 50 years. What it means to be a New Town, I have no idea.  I also do not know how to describe the town centre.  But imagine, if you will, a ginormous shopping mall partly outside and partly inside and then magnify that image to about three times what you are already imagining, and add a huge outdoor carnival affair for kids, and you will begin to get the idea. It was something to see!

Anyway, from there it was about a mile to the train station.  For a while Google Maps did its thing, but then there were just huge parking lots and construction, sites, and scaffolding, and it was so vast.  I must have asked five people how to get to the train.  Each helped me get a little bit closer, what with the bridges and the steps and all.  I was so tempted to take a taxi—there was a taxi rank, I forget where—but the challenge of getting to the station was in my blood; I would not be deterred!  The last person who helped me was a youngish man who was going to the station to pick up his date.  He was very nervous about meeting the girl/woman.  He must have been very very nervous to be telling me!  (I hope it went well for him.) Happily, Telford Station is large enough to employ a person who gives information and sells tickets. There would be a train to Wellington in 8 minutes:  all I had to do was purchase the ticket ✅ and then go up the stairs ✅ ,  cross the bridge ✅ ,  and go down some other stairs ✅ , hopefully ending up on track 2!  Not only did I make the train, but I exulted in the fact that I would be on the train for two stops (instead of one).  All in all, I walked about 17 miles today, no serious hillage, though.

July 25, Wellington and environs

Because  Offa's Dyke (minus a couple of stages) and the Shropshire Way (probably  minus one stage due to taxi issues) were not enough, I had to add the Telford T 50, which, guess what, is 50 miles long...but not all the stages of the Telford T50 because some of them overlap with the Shropshire Way.  Anyway, today I did three of those stages: A circular walk around Wellington (beautiful), then south to Horsehay (pretty nice), and, for the finale, five and change more miles to Oakengates...where I was glad to be done because it got hot.  Bus back to Wellington.   I never know how many miles I REALLY walk because my watch is not a good recorder, but this collection of routes add up to about 16 but easy on the hills. 

It is a huge relief to walk on overpasses above roads like these:

But it is ever so lovely to walk down an aisle, between trees who seem like soldiers at arms:

I should put something like this on my garbage can:

Is this a great tree identifier sign, or what!

There were some stone chairs with a marine (or is that a baseball glove?) theme:

A big patch of pink flowers on an island:

Shy (or itchy)  (or tired) swans, also in the water!

Fat geese not in the water:

Still sour, desafortunadamente:

But working on ripening.

Bad drivers just have to go somewhere else:

Way marking is surprisingly good for a local path, but when you get to a junction where the streets are named: Hardshell Street, Hardshell Avenue, and Hardshell, it kind of throws you off. 

All in all it was a pleasant day of walking and surprisingly off road for most of it.