Day Out at Iron Bridge

Saturday 7th June 2014

The Iron Bridge

We are off to Ironbridge today and guess what, it was pouring with rain and thundering and lightening, oh what joy!  We set off up to the bridge to get the bus, luckily it was on time, so we didn’t get too wet.  We got a day saver ticket for £6.20 as we could use it to Ironbridge as well, so will get our money’s worth today!   It was about an hour bus ride to Telford and when we got there, it had stopped raining.  We got the bus to Ironbridge, it was only about 20 minutes, so didn’t take too long to get there.  It was still dry, so we walked up to the Iron Bridge, it is the world’s first cast iron bridge and is a symbol of the Industrial Revolution.  It’s magnificent. Walked over the bridge to the old toll house.

The Old Tolls

 

 

It started raining, so we went for coffee in one of the coffee shops, then caught the shuttle bus to Blists Hill Victorian Town, Kev asked the bus driver if our saver tickets were valid on this bus as well and they were, so that saved us a few more pounds!

Lloyds Bank

Went into the Victorian town, it was really good and quite big, lots of old shops, etc.  We went into the Lloyds Bank where you could change your money into pounds, shillings and pence and then spend it in the shops and pub in the town, so we did that, would be a bit of fun paying in old money.  For £10, we got 3 sixpences, 1 thre-pence, 2 pennies, 3 ha’pennies and 2 farthings, wow!!

The Pub

Went into the pub and paid for our drinks with our old money, it cost Kev 1s 1d, shame the exchange rate made it £5.20, I think I like the old money better, it sounds a lot less!,  it took a while to work out which coins to pay with! There was a sing song in the pub, that was good fun, a chap playing the piano and another one singing and getting everyone to join in.

Shopping Street

When we went outside, the sun was out and it was a lovely afternoon.  We wandered around the town, went into the doctors and the school where there was a lesson going on and then onto the mine. 

Steam Engine

There was a small steam engine which went up and down the tracks.

We went into the bakery and bought a couple of things with our old money and then got fish and chips which were cooked the old fashioned way in beef dripping, lovely!!

Caught the bus back to Ironbridge, then back to Telford and then onto Gnosall.  It was a long day, but we had such a nice time.  Ironbridge is lovely and there is lots more to see and do in that area, so we plan to return there in the future.