You might recall that I attempted this walk last Friday (27 June). Due to setting off late and the ominous looking weather that appeared as I was walking I took a shortcut home.

Today, 2nd July 2025, I walked the complete route starting the walk from the nearest place to my home which is the underpass near to Leegomery Pools. I enjoyed the walk in this order because it started and finished on some of the best bits of the route. I took my time and sampled many of the benches that line the walk

I am not sure what is happening with the historic locks on this route. Not long after they had been (recently) repaired and reinstalled they were walled off with wire barricades and allowed to become completely overgrown! Not the best way to showcase or preserve the towns history.

The photos are in the order I walked the route and from both of my walks.

As I set off for my afternoon walk I wasn’t undecided on which way I would walk. Would my destination be Apley Woods, Leegomery Pools, Dothill Nature Reserve or maybe a route around Wellington. I opted for Leegomery Pools, my choice led to me to find a new pathway linking my previous walks together.

The Pools where surprisingly quiet (as were all the pathways I walked). The lack of fisherman around the pools led to me  enjoying an opportunity to explore new viewpoints of the pools. At one point I was privileged by the presence of a Robin sitting on a branch close to me. He observed me for a while before flying down close to my feet. What a joy that was

For today’s walk I retraced my steps after my planned circular walk picking up a prescription for my mum did not work out according to plan yesterday. I took time to look at the finer detail leading me to some childhood memories rather than the circular walk I had planned. I loved every minute of the walk

Here follows the tale of my walk to the pharmacy.

On arrival at the pharmacy to pick up mums prescription I noticed that there were a lot of people in front of the building. I stopped on the corner of the road to put on a face mask and then started to make my way down the path to the pharmacy. As I did so I heard continuous coughing behind me and turned to see a man coughing and blowing his nose with his mask up and down. Not wanting to take any chances I stepped aside to let him past me.

As I joined the queue for the pharmacy it became apparent there were two queues. There was another queue of people waiting for their Covid vaccine at the medical practice next door. The two doors are next to each other which led to chaos and people joining the wrong queue.

Eventually it was time for me to enter the pharmacy, only to find that mums prescription had been not been made up. I had to wait outside whilst the prescription was made up.

As I was waiting I listened to the saga of two men that had turned up expecting to be vaccinated and were turned away. I found out later from the local newspaper that there had been an administrative error. Text messages had been sent out to advise that Covid vaccines were available without an appointment when this was not the case. I didn’t hear the full tail of their woes…

My mums name was called out, her prescription was ready. What I received seemed to differ from what she told me had been prescribed to her leading me to take it round to her straight away rather than later in the day on my evening visit.

Rather than my circular route I walked the direct route home to pick up my car! To add insult to injury it started to rain as I made my way back home.

Thankfully when mum and I looked at the bag of pills and paperwork they were what she had ordered.

]]> http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/index.php/2021/02/07/the-best-laid-plans/feed/ 4 http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/index.php/2019/12/08/demolition/ http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/index.php/2019/12/08/demolition/#comments Sun, 08 Dec 2019 01:49:41 +0000 CherryPie http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/?p=22498 … of the cooling towers

On Friday I climbed the Wrekin Hill, as did many other local people. The Wrekin was a good vantage point to watch the controlled demolition of the iconic cooling towers that have been prominent in the Ironbridge Gorge since the 1960s.

I am sad to see them go, they were part of our industrial history. The valley will not be replanted with trees but filled with houses, so not really an improvement to the landscape.

The photos of the towers collapsing were taken by Mr C, I just wanted to soak up the atmosphere of the historic moment in time.

Photo taken by Mr C

Photo taken by Mr C

The Ironbridge cooling towers were demolished at 11 am on the 6th of December 2019. This photo is from a similar viewpoint (of the photo above) from the last time I climbed the Wrekin. It was taken at a similar time of day in early December 2005 before the power station had been decommissioned.

I met with a friend for lunch in Attingham Park. Lunch was followed by a leisurely stroll around the walled garden, woodland and deer park. By the time we left Attingham I had reached my target of 10000 steps for the walking challenge that I am taking part in.

Following my planned walk in Attingham Park I had a second unplanned walk.

After dinner we phoned my mum and got the automated reply “the person you are calling is unavailable please try again later”. We phoned several times and got the same message. We thought that she had done that thing that she sometime does with her phone where she has forgotten to press a button after a call. We had to go and check to be sure!

Thankfully she had done that thing with the phone button and it was nothing more problematic.

The second walk boosted my step count to over 14600, I am sure I can make 15000 steps before bedtime

As 2014 came to a close, nature provided a glorious sunset.

The Churches Concervation Trust guide book for St Andrew’s Church at Wroxeter provides and informative introduction to both the Wrekin and Wroxeter.

The name Wroxeter appears to mean ‘fort by the Wrekin’. This hill, which is prominent for miles around, has an Iron Age fort at its crest and the Celtic name for it is thought to have been Wreocen. When the Romans came they founded a large fortified town five miles (8km) away from the fort and close to where Watling Street crosses the River Severn. This ‘castrum’ supplies the second half of the name.

The Roman name for Wroxeter is Viroconium, also an echo of Wreocen. Their town was one of the largest they built in England, smaller only than London, St Albans and Cirencester, and became an important provincial capital. It extended to the Severn beyond the church and nearly as far in the other direction towards the present A5 road.

In his article in the June 2013 edition of the Wrekin News, George Evans refers to ‘The Wrekin’ as ‘The little mountain with many secrets’.  The article explains how he persuaded the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) that The Wrekin was worthy of being included in their 100 best walks in Britain.  His article mentions the local folk law, history and geology of the surrounding area. He explains that the hill still retains some of its secrets.

The Calendar stones are an enigma. They don’t look natural but I’m told no archaeologist has ever investigated them. Surely it’s not accidental that a shaft of light shows each equinox is it? The hill-fort was started about 3,500 years ago (we think), extended 2,500 years ago and disused after the Romans invaded. That’s 1,500 years. How was it built, who used it and for what purpose? There’s a nice little story to tell about the Magic Tree in the Druid’s Circles on the Little Hill and there are tales about the Devil’s Coach-house, where the four winds meet and King of the Wrekin.

• George’s walk – A little mountain with many secrets
• More from me on The Wrekin  - The Wrekin Hill

The Wrekin.

Oliver Wendell Holmes. JR (1841 – 1935)

I recommend you click on the picture it looks much better when viewed large.