Shrewsbury Holiday Part One

Travel Day

I have been back from my holiday in Shrewsbury, Shropshire for about a week now, so it's about time I wrote some blog posts about it.  So they aren't too long I will split them up into a few, so each day will most likely have a blog post of its own.  Starting with the travel day.

Wednesday, September 18th

The past few days my anxiety has been really bad, so bad that I even almost cancelled my holiday a few times even though it would mean that I would lose the money I'd already paid for the apartment and train.  I made myself go, knowing it would most likely be better for me to go instead of staying home where I would beat myself up for not going, for wasting the money and I would spiral down even more.  I think part of it was that I was working myself up about the train journey because when I went to Edinburgh last year I ended up with a migraine a few hours after arriving.  I don't think that I ate and drank enough in the morning or on the train then, so this time I was making sure I did better.

The train to Crewe was uneventful, I was sat at a table with a man who was reading a language book on Gaelic and a lady who was studying her Bible. I got my connection to Shrewsbury and was sat next to a charming lady from Virginia, in the USA who was tagging along with her grown-up daughter who was on sabbatical from work for the month of September. She was using her time off work to research their family history and they had already been to Edinburgh, had a day trip to the Scottish Highlands, were halfway through their journey and on their way to Swansea, Wales.

I arrived in Shrewsbury with no dramas and more or less on time. Goggle maps estimated the walk to where I was staying to be about twenty minutes but that estimated time wasn't pulling a suitcase so I knew it would take me a little longer.  I have been here before a few years ago but as I was travelling in my car at that time, I forgot how many hills Shrewsbury has.  Why do I always pick holiday places with hills?!  

The owner of the apartment was away so his son-in-law let me in and showed me the open plan and compact apartment.  They had very thoughtfully provided; tea, coffee, sugar, milk, orange juice, a fresh loaf of bread, a slab of proper butter and a small selection of individual jam portions.  I unpacked my rucksack so I could go round the corner to Asda and do a food shop for the next few days.  There are lots of lovely places to eat out here, but it's cheaper to eat in and I wanted to make packed lunches while I was here.

The apartment is beautiful and perfect for just me.  It's advertised as sleeping four but you'd need to really like and get along with the other couple you'd be staying with and toss a coin as to who sleeps where because as I said, it's open plan and the sleeping options are either the queen bed or the sofa bed.

When I got back from shopping I put the food away, made a brew, got into my comfies and unpacked my suitcase.  Then I spent the afternoon chilling, drinking more tea as well as water, snacking and planning the next full day in Shrewsbury.  I had a list of things that I wanted to see and do, some were museums and others were just taking photographs of things.