New Year Trip 24/25

Dec 31st 2024 to Jan 2nd 2025.

Market Drayton, Shropshire.

We are staying at Orchard CL Camp site within walking distance of Market Drayton, we were last here in July 2023.

For Dec 31st , Peter had booked a table for lunch in The Red Lion in Market Drayton at the Joules Brewery so we walked from the site along a farm track ( for want of a better description) this brings you to the edge of town.

Like many market towns there are lots of interesting buildings.

We had some time to spend before lunch so the inevitable visit to charity shops ensued, seemed to be about the only shops open, where both Alison and Michelle found items to purchase.

Again we had a very pleasant lunch, accompanied by their beer, at the Red Lion in the Mouseman Room, there’s plenty of info on the website plus our blog from last July showing the carvings in more detail.

Feeling replete we had a slow walk back to the site , we had been accompanied by blustery wind all day and as we arrived back it began to rain. The rain lashed down from then until about 7 am this morning.

Thankfully although the road had deep puddles the grass area is very firm.

After lunch today, New Year’s day we went for a 4 mile walk, initially along a country lane, growing in the fields around the area was a grass like crop, which I discovered later was reed grass.

This grass is grown on wet areas of farmland, it can be used as animal feed, animal bedding, as biomass fuel and even in fibre board for construction, very versatile.

The lane led to the Shropshire Union Canal at Tyrley lock.

We continued our walk by following the tow path which was extremely muddy and after a short while at a bridge the towpath and the canal were blocked off. We managed to scramble up a bank and onto a footpath which we followed across fields keeping the canal nearby until eventually the road was blocked by a farm gate. We climbed over and followed a farm road past a large poultry farm until we reached the main road back, sadly that was blocked by a large tall gate but thankfully a kind local resident let us through.