Our short stay in Shrewsbury turned out to be an unexpected gem. I had imagined it to be a bump in the transit from Oxford to Dublin, but it turned out to be so much more. The town itself is very pretty, with splashes of colour courtesy of the local Horticultural Society. There is plenty of medieval stone, Tudor facades and Georgian architecture interspersed with green areas and open parklands. There was a complete lack of tourists and the crush of crowds pressing upon you as you might take in a pleasant vista or attempt to frame a particlar camera image.
However, it was the warmth and generosity of our hosts that turned Shrewsbury into the best stay on our trip so far. Ian and Vanessa welcomed us like relatives rather than paying guests and last night’s dinner was by far the best meal we’ve had. But, all good things must come to an end and so it was that we had to say goodbye and move onto Holyhead by train to take the ferry to Dublin. Ian saved us the hard slog of dragging our bags on the reverse trip to the station by driving us there and our departure was an emotional hug rather than a warm handshake.
The train trip to Holyhead passed through Wales arriving in the early afternoon. We boarded our ferry, The Stena Adventurer, for the three hour transit to Dublin and enjoyed a transit across a mill pond rather than what I imagined would be present on the Irish Sea. You could have skied across the water it was so placid.
We took a bus into the city centre and walked to our accomodation – tired but excited about continuing our adventures into Ireland.
WAh……good ol’ Dublin. SOoooooo much to do, see, eat, drink, experience. It’s great you are seeing so many different types of things. I recall walking my boots thin in Dublin. I got lost so many times and loved every bit of it. Every time I had had enough roaming about, a friendly local would spin me around to face the city centre and off I’d go again. Seemed like every alley and turn of the corner had something to offer. I brought the BEST knitted scarf from a wee shop way up behind the PO. I love that scarf!