Ironbridge
Heather and I have left the boys behind for a three-day-weekend and gone to Shropshire for something a little different. We flew into Birmingham very early this morning and picked up a very cute little rental (a "Passion" or something) and tonight we're staying near Ironbridge.
The eponymous "Ironbridge" in the photo above is really interesting. It was the original first bridge made of cast iron (cast at Coalbrookdale nearby) and since it was made before people had invented rivets and other standard metal fastening techniques it was constructed using carpentry techniques - dovetail joints, mortise & tenon, etc. Also, despite being very near Telford, which was named for the engineer, the bridge was not designed by Telford.
Today was museums (and rain) and tomorrow more museums (and more rain, I expect) and maybe we'll get to see a bit of Shrewsbury, then home on Sunday to see what the boys have managed to do while we've been away! Hopefully they want us to go away again, and everything will be spotless and perfect.... yeah, right!