Welshpool

Tuesday 13 August

Yes it is an actual place and not a character in a Marvel movie. Nearby Buttington was to be our starting out point on the Offa’s Dyke Path the following day so we returned to the Shrewsbury Station and, after a very good coffee nearby, boarded the train to Welshpool.

Might we say here that the standard of coffee in the UK had improved immensely since our days of living there.

While waiting at the train station in Welshpool for our taxi Lori actually sent me into the old train station where an outdoor shop now existed. Why she then acted shocked when I came out with a cheap excellent hiking fleece?

Our cabbie took us to our accommodation so we could drop our bags and then kindly dropped us back at the city gate of Powys Castle. We had visited Powys several times in our time in the UK, the most memorable being for a performance of Handel’s Water Music on the terraces as we sat on the grand lawn. But we had never visited by the city entrance, which meant we got to walk up via the spacious castle grounds.

The castle originally built in the 13th century by a welsh prince, owes its grandeur (unfortunately) to Clive’s and the British East India Company’s spoils from India, some of which were on display at the castle. It is now in the care of the National Trust.

The gardens, as before, were glorious.

We then made a visit into Welshpool itself. Something we had not actually ever done before. We had chatted with our cabbie earlier that it was somewhat odd that Welshpool doesn’t attract as many visitors as the far more popular Llangollen (which we would visit later) as it has many of the same features (and more): a canal, various old buildings and pubs, a railway and even some standing stones. When we mentioned to the cabbie that we didn’t recall seeing the standing stones when we were here many years ago he commented “That’s because I remember when the council put them up”.