This week has consisted of a brief and joyous trip to the travel agent to collect my plane tickets (another fun filled fortnight with Jen in Canada!), the arrival of electricians to tear my house apart, and lots of work.

Oh, and I went walking again at the weekend. I bought a book a few days ago called ‘Pub Walks in Shropshire’, which sounded like my kind of walking. One of the walks followed the river around Shrewsbury, stopping at the Boathouse Inn, which seemed like a good one to start with.

I parked up at the station at around lunchtime on Sunday, and headed past the imposing prison gates. The small door in the gate was open, and my morbid curiosity got the better of me. I stood and gawked through the door, hoping to see some hardened crims engaged in yard brawls, but nothing seemed to be happening so I continued.

Following some steps down through a slightly wild garden, which unfortunately seemed to be the local dumping ground for beer cans and pizza boxes, I arrived at the river. The water was lapping at the edge of the tow path, and I worried slightly that the path may be flooded further on.

According to my guide, if I looked behind me as I walked under the railway bridge, I should see Laura’s Tower, the romantic gazebo added to Shrewsbury Castle by Thomas Telford. I walked backwards, trying to see through the trees on the embankment, and eventually saw the tower. Lucky really, as my steps had been taking me closer to the edge of the towpath.

As I strolled on along the river, my book pointed out to me a 13th century arch called Water Gate which was once part of the town wall. On the opposite bank I could see the floodlights of Gay Meadow, the Shrewsbury football ground.

As I approached English Bridge, I could see The Wakeman School, Wilfred Owen’s former school, on the opposite bank, along with truncated tower of the Abbey Church, founded by the Benedictines in 1038 (can you tell I had a guide book?).

After English bridge is the old village of Coleham, which had an iron foundry and tannery. The old workers’ cottages which look out on the river have been converted into attractive, and probably expensive, town houses.

Continuing under Greyfriars Bridge, the towpath widens, and is lined on both sides with majestic limes. On the right, through the trees, I could see the remains of the town walls, built by Henry III (well, he probably had some help) in 1226.

At Kingsland Bridge, I left the river, and walked up a narrow lane, to the top of the bridge. I emerged facing a magnificent terracotta coloured building, complete with flying buttresses and griffins. Apparently this used to be the Shrewsbury Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, built in 1879, but dissapointingly it is now closed. The building is in a bad state of repair, and had a large for sale sign outside. I felt like rushing to the auction house and putting in a bid, but I later found out that it would cost an estimated one million pounds just to make the building safe. What a shame.

I crossed the bridge, and strolled along the other side of the river, past the Shrewsbury School boat house and boating club, and into a tranquil, but highly manicured section of the river. Apparently the parkland there is host to the annual flower show by the Horticultural Society, who also built the nearby Porthill suspension bridge.

I reached my halfway point, the Boathouse Inn, and dashed inside for some much needed refreshment. I was expecting the Inn to be a cosy old pub, with a roaring log fire. I was dissapointed. It is more like a family restaurant, with a bar. I bought myself a pint and sat at a table looking out over the river. I spent about an hour there, sipping my pint and reading my book, before setting off again.

The rest of the walk took me through Shrewsbury town centre, starting with Mardol, the small road up from the river. This is an attractive street, with overhanging gables, and half timbered buildings. Unfortunately it also seems to be the cheapest, filled with shops whose owners can’t afford anywhere else. Stores such as haberdashers, hearing aid specialists, second hand electrical appliances, and the odd charity shop. I also noticed a large number of for sale, and to let signs. I can only assume this decay is due to the frequent flooding of the river.

After walking through the pedestrian section of town, and deciding that doing this walk on a Sunday had been a really good idea, I arrived at Castle Street, which surprisingly enough leads down to Shrewsbury Castle. Here I go into guide book mode again: The castle was built by Roger de Montgomery between 1067 and 1083, on the high mound at the neck of the river. Apart from the Norman entrance, the rest was rebuilt by Edward I in the late 1200s.

Anyway, it was closed, so I wandered across the road to the library, which was also closed, but which has an impressive statue of Charles Darwin outside.

I crossed the railway bridge, and found myself back at the car. I headed home for a cup of tea and a cream cake, happy to have learnt a bit more about my home town.