2002 Blair Atholl Patrol Jamborette
Touring Day 4 - July 12th
British Heritage Motor Centre
and
Ironbridge Gorge
The Iron Bridge at Ironbridge
 Moses, Matt and an Austin 7 |
The British Heritage Motor Centre's collections span the history of British motoring, with a special emphasis on the vehicles made by the companies which eventually were merged into British Motors - Rover, MG, Austin, Standard (Triumph), Morris, Wolseley, and others. |
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| The hit of the morning for the Scouts was a ride in a brand-new Land Rover through a tortuous proving course. Once again, they wouldn't let me drive *sigh*. |  |
After the BHMC visit, we drove to the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, Ironbridge Gorge near Telford. |
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 The candy shop at Blist's Hill |
Ironbridge Gorge is a complex of museums clustered around the first iron bridge, made in 1779 (at top of this page). We spent most of our time at Blist's Hill Open Air Museum, a reconstructed Victorian industrial village. |
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A short walk from the village leads to the Inclined
Plane (left) which lifted canal boats from the River Severn
to Blist's Hill on the ridge above.
At right, Zach and James see the scale of 19th century iron manufacture - a huge nut and wrench at the Blist's Hill ironworks. |
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We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant in
Shrewsbury. After dinner, we found a note on the windscreen of one
of our vans saying, "imperative you call the police
immediately." It turned out that someone had broken into one of
the vans - amazingly, only cash was stolen, and the thief had
already been caught. Nonetheless, the Shrewsbury police sent a lab
technician to dust for prints (left), giving our Scouts a
good demonstration of British policing at its best. Even I was
impressed as a perfect palm print appeared under the fingerprint
dust. Brother Cadfael of Shrewsbury Abbey would have been
proud.
We spent the night at Broneiron Girl Guide Centre in Llandinam, Wales. Broneiron was the palatial home of a Victorian railroad engineer, which was acquired by Guides Cymru in 1992, and the grounds were spectacular. We stayed in the "Brownie House" which was the playhouse on the estate - a "playhouse" much larger than any house I've ever owned. |
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