The Talbot Inn was very comfortable, and after a cooked breakfast I left at 8.45.

My route took me past the Guildhall, the scene of a minor epic many years ago.  In 1976 Linda and I had a camping holiday in the area and stopped in the town to find a campsite and to get some provisions.  Like most newly married couples we did not have much money, I seem to remember that we subsisted mainly on liver and onions with mashed potato and carrots.  While Lin did the food shopping I went to the Tourist Information which was in the Guildhall. When I was ready to leave I discovered that the door was locked and as the windows were barred I could not get out.

I went up into the council chamber and luckily managed to call down to Lin and explain what had happened.  She eventually tracked down the person responsible who was not very happy about having his lunch disturbed!

The walk over to Ironbridge was in thick mist and I managed to make a small navigation error leading me to walk 360 degrees around a field before finally finding the exit.  Bentall Woods above Ironbridge has many footpaths and can be confusing: I would have done better to just follow the Shropshire Way signs rather than the book.

Ironbridge finally came into view and crossing the famous bridge I stopped for coffee at the YHA hostel in Coalport.

After climbing up beside the Hay Incline and crossing a golf course I entered Brockton, a very pretty village. I met a delightful young lady riding a horse and we chatted away for a while before she turned into Brockton Grange, an enormous Georgian house.  She stopped at the large decorative gates and used her mobile phone to dial in the code to get them to open!!

I carried on to Shifnal arriving at the station 3.01 pm. Unfortunately Karen was at the station car park and it took a few minutes to sort things out. We finally met up and went for tea and cakes at a garden centre where Karen had the most enormous piece of Victoria sponge that we had ever seen.

Arriving at Karen’s house she very kindly cooked us a delicious dinner, which we enjoyed with a bottle of Malbec.  Despite this we remembered to change the clocks.