Wednesday 17th October

From Leek we headed off to Shrewsbury where we had booked a site for two nights. As the site was right by the Park and Ride into town we took advantage of its reasonable price and headed into the city to explore a little and see how it had changed. We had lived in Shropshire back in the 1980s so had visited Shrewsbury frequently then, it was good to see how little the city centre had changed in the intervening years. We also said hello to some friends (Hi Mark and Misako) from Wellington who had opened a shop selling Japanese food and culinary items back then and still trading in what used to be the Shrewsbury Infirmary, since converted to apartments and shops. Setonaikai is the name if you are ever in area. Mark loves Lotus cars and is proud owner of a 1968 Lotus Elan and a 2006 Lotus Europa, not that I am envious at all.

After two nights at Shrewsbury we headed to Malvern and returned to the site there, well, actually the one next door as the Caravan Club and the Camping and Caravan Club sites back onto each other. With a visit into Worcester by bus and some walking around the area our four nights here passed quickly and we are off to Slimbridge in Gloucestershire tomorrow for two nights before heading to deepest Exmoor to meet a couple of friends at the Dulverton Caravan Club site. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us there.

Hanley Swan village centre with duck pond and pub beyond

It's remarkable how quickly this month is going. Although we are only passing the time until we head off to Spain on 8th November we can't believe that we have already been away for nearly three weeks and although we haven't done anything particularly exciting we have enjoyed our time immensely.