A long weekend in Ironbridge

At the end of July 2022, six Efoggers travelled to Ironbridge for a long weekend, staying at the Coalport YHA. Negotiating the dreadful motorway service stations (Warwick for Brian and Cherwell for Eileen) Brian’s group stopped at Kinver Edge, a NT property. Here, houses are built into the rock. After a tour, and tea at the café on top, we climbed the adjacent hill to the top where there were remains of a hill fort and glorious views.

That evening we decided to walk from Coalport to Ironbridge, which was longer than expected. A meal later – no, we won’t give a good review for the White Hart Inn – and we decided a taxi back would be preferable.

On Saturday we walked up Silkin Way to Blist’s Hill Victorian World and bought annual passes covering all the sites around Ironbridge. A bargain. Several hours later we walked back to the YHA and popped into the adjacent China museum. We went to the Shakespeare pub near the YHA in the evening. The food was good but the clientele that night was noisy, shriekingly so. Ears deafened, we staggered back to bed.

On Sunday we visited the Darby houses, where some of us dressed up in Victorian costume, the Museum of Iron and the Enginuity museum, all very close to each other. Enginuity was designed for kids so we had a wonderful time. In the afternoon we visited the Tar Tunnel, a tunnel in a tar seam. Stomachs straining after a weekend of eating out, we had a modest meal at the YHA in the evening watching the England women winning the Euro final.

On Monday we set off home, visiting another NT property, Basildon Park, on the way to have lunch and break up the journey.

Brian U. 4th October 2022