weekend

I’m not exactly a poster child to endorse a weekend morning sleep in; however, after much coaxing from a still jet-lagged husband, my efforts resulted in a late start to the Shropshire yesterday. Despite a mediocre weather prediction, the day was sunny and hot, which made the 2-hour journey more unbearable when contending with other leisure – very passive – Saturday drivers, which also included a slow steam-powered tractor on an undivided road.

A view of the countryside:

In attempt to assure we’re getting our money’s worth on our English Heritage membership, our first stop was Stokesay Castle. The visit was worthwhile with the pretty English wildflowers and a walk along the once-before moat.





The rave reviews for the City of Ludlow from both our Lonely Planet and the 1,000 Places to See Before You Die guidebooks were the main reasons for our visit. While it was nice to have a classical guitarist playing Pachelbel’s Canon as we wandered along the cobblestone streets visiting from one shop to another, we both agreed that when you have visited one historic market town in England, you really have seen them all!





Some more photos here.

Our Sunday consisted of two trips to Darley Abbey: once for a run and the other for a Parisian picnic lunch. We meandered to the Abbey pub (after lunch, and not during the run!) and enjoyed a half-pint while trying to learn the rules of cricket – the game not the insect. Although I resisted not to say "swwww...ing batter, batter, batter, batter", I questionned why the teams were indistinguishable from each other in their white uniforms and why they were high-fiving when they seemed to spending most of their time shooting the breeze. After 30 minutes, enough was enough, and we walked along the River Derwent, where we found another cricket match taking place.