EUROPE 2019
Page 6
03 October- Shrewsbury to Chester to Wrexham to Llangollen to Ruabon to Chester. Today was a good day. After 11 days of rain Hughie turned off the taps and, although it kept threatening, it stayed dry. I was thinking of a way to bring back some clouds, but it would probably be impractical. And the government would slap an import duty on them.
Not many photo's from Shrewsbury town. It was pissing down yesterday and I didn't feel like getting soaked. The King's Shropshire Light Infantry museum was worth the visit, though. Situated in the old castle, they have artefacts going back to the 1780's. A little late for the period I'm researching, but still impressive. The KSLI was formed from the Childer's Reforms, when the 53rd Foot (Shropshire Regiment) was amalgamated with the 85th Foot (King's Light Infantry), from neighbouring Hereford.
The regiment has the usual county regiment history, serving around the world. It was also part of 28 Commonwealth Brigade in Korea, so was brigaded with 3RAR and 1RAR, before returning to the UK in 1952.
Anyway, I caught the train up to Chester and booked into the Crowne Plaza just after 1200. After going up to Debenhams to buy a new pair of jeans I caught the bus to Wrexham bus station, got another bus to Llangollen (which is pronounced as you'd expect- "Glangokgen"). A few paces got me to "Books and Cafe", which is a 2nd hand book shop that also sells beer and coffee. I managed to pick up a couple of books, had a look around town and realised I left the camera at the hotel. Got the bus to Ruabon and train back to Chester.
A nice, relaxing day.
04 October: Off to Chester zoo by bus, with another order to get photos of penguins. Back to Chester and off to the Cheshire Regiments' museum. Off to Manchester tomorrow.
05 October: Gary, an old mate of many years, and his lovely wife Chris took me to tea last night, to welcome me to Manchester. Then it was guided tour of Manchester today with Gary acting as both guide and interpreter. Saw the Roman ruins, talked about how to breach them (using contemporary methods, not HE), discussed the history of Manchester and the impact of the Industrial Revolution, relationships with London and other things.
06 October: Today we took off to Leeds and Marston Moor. As you will see, it was a bit dampish but the sun broke through by 1330. Marston Moor came first- there's a monument to mark the battle, it's placed along the lane that separated the Royal and Parliamentarian armies. It's interesting terrain, with the Parliamentarians (aka "Roundheads") occupying the critical terrain, giving them a further advantage over their outnumbered enemies. After a bit of a "staff ride" and discussion with Gaz (Roundhead by inclination) I had a better understanding of why the battle sounded Charles 1's doom.
Then to Leeds and Royal Armouries. So plenty of weapons, armour and artefacts and also a chance to fire a crossbow (got two bulls, five scorers and one non-scoring hit from eight quarrels, so not good shooting on my part). But fun.
