A week in the Shire(s)

The shires in question were Shropshire and Worcestershire to be precise. It was my birthday week and with big plans to celebrate my birthday itself with rhinos, we needed to stay relatively near to where the rhinos live, just outside Kidderminster. (I've already mentioned some of what we did in my round up for March as we were away on the cusp of the month.)

We opted for a cottage rental on a working farm and horse racing stable just south of Bridgnorth. We had a couple of trips into Bridgnorth itself. It's a nice small town with some lovely little shops including Booka, a fab independent bookshop, and some historic buildings.

Bridgnorth is blessed with interesting railways. We rode on Shropshire's randomest railway (the Bridgnorth cliff railway), and also took some photos of steam engines at the Severn Valley Railway terminus as well.

Spotter spotted!

Across the county border, we went to a falconry centre in Hagley. This was exceptional value, with two flying displays included in the admission price. All the birds get to fly daily and they all seemed very well cared for. 

One of the flying displays went amusingly awry when a peregrine falcon decided to fly off leaving the presenter in the lurch. He did a good job carrying on talking to the audience while the peregrine resolutely didn't come back. 

I put some pics from the falconry centre in the March round up post. But here are some more...

I had a fun week of football, with trips to Ludlow Town and AFC Bridgnorth before a Good Friday game at Shrewsbury Town, the day after my birthday. Salop were playing Tranmere and won! The three points were a great belated birthday present.

My friend Paul had come up from Cardiff and came to sit next to me in the second half. Here we are looking suitably thrilled during the match. (Thanks to Podge and his super zoom lens from the other end of the ground!)

I also saw my friend Jim and his son, Nick, at the game. Jim is the friend I went to Malaga with back in February. I made them pose for a selfie.

After the game we had a family pizza evening at my brother's house. I even had balloons to remind me of my advancing age.

And so, after a week that went by very quickly, we departed the shire(s) and returned home to Wales.

My March 2026 round up

March kicked off on St David's Day and I went to the celebratory parade in the city centre. The parade finished in Cardiff Castle, where I got a pic of this handsome Draig Goch.

I've been busy on the blog again this month. My book of the Month was A History of Wales, my album of the month was by Garbage, and I even posted a throwback snack of the month too. Meanwhile my monthly Blood Bowl game was a Battle of the Undead (!) and we battled away while munching on Easter Crisps.

It was another month with lots of traveling. I had a work trip to London where I got to see the new workwear: fleece tops (just in time for summer!)

It had been a while since my last trip to London and the Paddington Bear Shop in Paddington Station has a big Lego model in the window now. It's really nicely done.

I went to Shrewsbury and spent (most of) Mother's Day with my mother. We got her a 6-player version of her favorite game, Rummikub.

Me and mum also went out on the Saturday night as it was Mother's Day Eve. It was also Pi Day (3/14) and I had a pie. (But I ate the pie without taking a pic. Social media fail!)

At the end of the month, we were back in Shropshire for a few days. We took a ride on the Bridgnorth cliff railway for notalgia's sake. We also went to a birds of prey centre and a couple of football matches.

It's been a mixed month on the political campaigning front. One of the Plaid Cymru candidates in our area stepped down from the election race. On a more positive note, I completed all the stations in our constituency when we went to Cathays on the last Thursday of March.

We also had canvassing sessions in various bits of Cardiff, including Butetown where we were joined by Plaid Cymru's leader, Rhun ap Iorweth. I got a selfie with him.

Butetown

Plasdwr

Cathays station

While out canvassing I also saw this defiance against the fun police!

Cathy and I had a couple of cinema outings. We went to Cardiff Bay to see the new Disney Pixar film, Hoppers. We enjoyed it.

And on our trip to Shropshire, we went to a vintage OG cinema in Bridgnorth and watched The Magic Faraway Tree. We both liked it, and the cinema. I particularly liked this big M&M in the lobby:

I had a decent month of football, getting to 6 games. That included watching Shrewsbury Town play Cheltenham in the company of my brother and our friend Kate.  On the way in, Kate and I worked out we have been friends for over 30 years. 

Later in the month I hit some Futbology milestones at 3 games in a row, including game number 650 at Cardiff Dracs and stadium number 150 in the very next game when I saw Ludlow Town. 

I was the only Futbology user to check in at Ludlow - but I wasn't there on my tod. I had the real pleasure of Cathy's company at the game.

And then on the 31st March, I made it three games in a row with a Futbology milestone badge, when I collected two at AFC Bridgnorth!

The ground in Bridgnorth hasn't changed in the 30+ years since I used to go there with my Dad. It still has the slope and the tea bar. It was a very nostalgic evening for me, and Bridgnorth won!

Futbology triple whammy

Last week I blogged about getting a badge for my 650th game logged on Futbology. What I didn't expect was for my next game to be a milestone badge as well - with Ludlow Town's stadium becoming my 150th football ground.

A couple of days later and I went to watch AFC Bridgnorth v Chelmsley Town. Back in the 90s I used to go and watch Bridgnorth Town - the previous iteration of AFC Bridgnorth - with my Dad. More than 30 years later I hit two milestones at Crown Meadow - 10 matches there and 10 matches with Bridgnorth's main football club in both its guises.

Purists might say that AFC Bridgnorth and Bridgnorth Town aren't the same team, but I don't care. It's my list and I'm counting it as 10 games!

I think this is the first time I've had milestone badges at 3 games in a row. Which make me a happy football nerd.

Riding Shropshire's randomest railway

We took a trip to Bridgnorth, and as is tradition when taking a trip to Bridgnorth, we took a ride on the cliff railway.

Not gonna lie, I love this quirky Victorian mechanical survivor. It connected the 'high town' at the top of the cliff with the 'low town' river wharfs by the bridge with it's funicular runway. 

It's unique in being the only inland cliff railway in Britain. It's also the steepest incline of any British cliff railway. A real niche one of a kind gem tucked away in a back street in Bridgnorth.

You get a view too!

Monthly round-up - September 2024

We are clearly heading into Autumn now. It's getting colder. At the end of the month, the Friends of Grange Gardens had a work-day and we ended up shovelling a lot of leaves!

Speaking of leaves... I had a week's annual leave and we spent it in Shropshire. Our week started with a lengthy wait in an A&E because Cathy had a poorly leg. But it got better after that. We had a night in Wolverhampton on our wedding anniversary and went to a Terrorvision gig - read my blog post here. And we had some nice times with family and pootling around Shrewsbury, Ironbridge, Bridgnorth and Much Wenlock.

I also did quite a bit of travelling for work, including going up to North Wales to attend a charity fashion show, and a midweek two-day trip to London. The train journey to London was chaotic due to a fatality on the line at Didcot, so I ended up diverted to Bristol Temple Meads. It meant I saw some different bits of the railway network than I normally do.

Football-wise I went to four games this month. I've blogged about my double dose of "Corinthian" football in the middle of the month. I also saw Cardiff Draconians play a cup match and made my first visit of the season to the Meadow to watch a Shrewsbury home game. I was in the safe standing section with my friend Jim and his son Nikolai.

When we were teenagers, Jim and I used to stand on the Wakeman End at Shrewsbury's old ground, Gay Meadow. So it was a bit of a throwback to thirty years ago when we both had more hair and possibly more optimism about Shrewsbury's chances of winning. With a bit of luck we might well still be watching football together in another thirty years time. 

My Futbology totals at the end of September: