Day 34 - Knighton to Welshpool ( by train)
My toe convinced me overnight that a 27 mile stretch to Welshpool today was seriously not on the cards. So the alternative of travelling by train loomed.
I went to the station for the 9:23, one carriage train to Welshpool via Shrewsbury. As I stood on the bridge, I realised that I was being presented with the precious option - one that most of us don't ever take - of NOT getting on that train!
Well! With hours to kill before the next train, this gave me the opportunity to discover Knighton.
The town has a small selection of independent shops, a hardware store, a music shop with a great range of guitars and ukuleles and if anyone was in to model railways, then this is their town, they'd be spoilt for choice.
At The Offa's Dyke Centre, there's a really good set of informatiin boards explaining what is known and what is conjectural about the dyke. I met a number of very helpful volunteers and the manager, Jenny.
She described how the award winning building had been designed....
to represent the extent of the dyke - with slate from North Wales, oak beams from mid Wales and steel from South Wales. A simple idea but brilliant!
At the top of the town, near the clock tower
there are some very atmospheric, narrow paved streets. Many of the premises are quiet or looking closed now but you can only imagine how these streets must have been when Knighton was the busiest sheep market in the UK.
Next stop, Knighton Museum which is THE best museum I have ever been to.
It is genuinely an Aladdin's cave.
Some of the highlights for me....
- It was a tradition to bury a baby's shoe in the wall of any new building to ward off evil spirits. In fact one had only recently been found in the wall of the Swan pub where I'd stayed last night.
- Shin kicking clogs - two protagonists would lock arms and then kick at each other's shins until one fell. Apparently they would allow steel toe caps and even nails to be added and the description of the injuries through which battles would continue are gruesome. Apparently it was a back-street spectator sport on which people gambled. Absolutely ghastly!
- a 1780 fire engine - of which this is one of only two in the country.
The engine would have been pulled up the steep main street and then filled and refilled with buckets of water from the river by a human chain. The water would then be pumped by hand. Many of the older buildings in the narrow streets are still timber framed and you could imagine the panic that a fire would have induced.
Time for a quick coffee next door at the Tower House gallery - effectively an extension of the museum. Lovely welcome, good coffee and the toilet HAS to be visited. I'd never heard of 'toilet twinning' before but this one rightly deserves its place on the list with a toilet in Nepal - including a map reference for next time I'm caught short. There's even a sign on the door.
There is charm, innocence and integrity wherever you look in Knighton. Long may it remain!.
Heading back to the station, I passed Tref y Clawdd (Town on the wall) rugby club
In the one carriage there were two groups tucking in to the prosecco. One hen party on their way to Liverpool for the weekend and another group of ladies "of a certain age! " - probably their grans keeping an eye!
I had a ringside seat and was even offered a pink plastic glass-full so I dutifully toasted the bride to be!.
Safely delivered to Shrewbury, I had over an hour to kill before the connecting train to Welshpool so I made my way to a good cafe on Castle St. Where I could sit in the window.
I suspect few people now go to Aberystwyth for a hen weekend so the connecting train to Welshpool was relatively disappointing!!! No more prosecco for the time being.
I had a lovely relaxed evening in Welshpool, ate well, enjoyed some good conversation and retired early in anticipation of another day off tomorrow.
Aaahhh!
email: David.LL.thomas@gmail.com
mob: 07850 109 100
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