Sunday 19th June 2011

And so our holiday drew to an end. We set the alarm and were up at half six, packed, breakfasted and ready to go by seven fifteen. We said goodbye to the cottage's owners, settled the bill and she presented us with a cake.

A quick drive to Shrewsbury, as we were to meet a friend from one of my Flickr groups, and due to an accident, it was the same day as Shrewsbury's carnival, which would mean it being very crowded. We decided to hotfoot it out of town at midday to avoid the road closures, as it was a five hour drive home, and otherwise it would be nearly dark by the time we got home.

We used the Park and Ride, and so were in the town centre by eight fifteen, and walking round the empty streets with me snapping apparently every building. Unlike Chester, the timber-framed buildings here all were authentic and some looking like they were in the process of falling down.



At half eight we made our way to M&S to meet my friend, Ann. And she was waiting for us. After our hellos made, we started wandering around, but found all places we tried to enter, closed. Looking at my watch i saw it was still not nine; maybe that explained it.



we went for a coffee so some time would pass, and its always good to have coffee, especially fine Italian ground coffee. We even resisted the temptation to have second breakfast!

Time then to wander the streets some more, we ended up at the castle, and then the skies darkened, and the heavens opened. We sheltered under a tree whilst the worst of the rain eased. As we walked back into town, the skies darkened again, and we took shelter in a cafe in a converted church. This time we succumbed to food, Jools and I had hot buttered scones whilst the rain hammered down outside.



Back outside the rain stopped; we went back to the churches we had tried to get into, and they were open. St Mary's was wonderful, so big it was almost cathedral-sized. I snapped it good, including using the macro lens in snapping the details.

Sadly, time was beating us, and so at midday we made our way to the bus stop, as we climbed aboard the Morris Dancers had begun dancing, the temptation was to stay, but we really had to be going.



And so, the long journey home began, down to Bridgenorth, Kidderminster and then onto the motorway. Down to Oxford and onto the M25, round London and then through Kent to Folkestone and then to Dover.

We had to do some grocery shopping, and did it before heading home, which meant no Tescos on Sunday, and just relaxing. and gardening. And washing. But we will collect the cats!