August 23 - 24 Travel Ottawa to Shrewsbury

Formerly the Station Manager's office in the Reading railway station

The Air Canada flight to London leaves very late in the evening but we had a good flight and arrived at Heathrow over 30 minutes early. Immigration took a long time but even so we had caught the bus and taken the hour long ride into Reading by 1230. Reading is another place that has been killed by the car - it is now a very unpleasant place.  

I had booked tickets on the 1415 train onwards so we had some downtime to get a meal and recover from the flight.

The original GWR station is not now used for railway purposes as the new structure has been built around this listed Great Western building.  It is now the Three Guineas pub, a Fuller house. The name Three Guineas, comes from the prize from the competition for suggesting the name of the crack GWR express train the Cornish Riviers  

A full English breakfast with a pint of London Pride set me up for the rest of the day. It seemed strange eating in this place which had been the Station Managers office where I had spent much time as Assistant Station Manager.

Painted on the wall of the stairway

The 1415 to Wolverhampton was on time. Good job I had made seat reservations as it was full and standing for most of the two hour trip. The connecting train to Shrewsbury was very full but quickly emptied out so we could sit back and enjoy the pleasant Shropshire scenery as we made our way through Telford and Wellington, past the iconic Severn Valley signalbox, now the largest interlocking lever frame in the world and into Shrewsbury station.

We met our delightful landlord, Richard Tudor, and quickly refamiliarized ourselves with our home for the next month. A quick trip to Waitrose to pick up a few necessities such as coffee and milk with a stop off on the way back at the Three Fishes. Wendy greeted us with a big smile and I had a pint of Timothy Taylor's Landlord Ale while Mary sampled a large glass of white Zinfandel which is actually a rose.

Great end to a very long day and a great start to our time here.