We slept very well but both hated the alarm at 8:05 (This was our honeymoon for crying out loud) We had a nice looking breakfast and were all packed up and on a train at 9:30. (well Starcross is a very minor station and this was the best train to catch.) We changed at Exeter to a train for Newport. We were obviously still tired cos neither of us remember Exeter station at all and both fell asleep again on the way to Newport. Something woke us up at Newport station and we both tumbled off the train in rather a hurry.

Newport looked nice, even from the station and we decided to look for the transporter bridge straight away since this was the reason for coming. We headed for the river since it seemed logical that we would be able to see it from the riverbank. On the way we found some really nicely decorated subways with murals of carved stone and tiles, including a series of shop fronts and most impressively, one of trains and boats leaving the coal mines. We got some photos and carried on to the river but couldn't see any sign of the transporter bridge.

Slightly confused :-S we headed back into the town centre via a shoe shop so Jo could get some more comfy shoes. (She has only brought sandals and her feet were hurting from the walk to Starcross on Sunday evening.) We found tourist info in the square and they showed us where the bridge was. (It was further down the river, round quite a sharp bend which is why we couldn't see it.) In the square we also found a cool clock, it was 2 towers that looked like they had fallen over. On the hour they stood up and opened and you could see little elves inside pulling the chimes. In the corner was also a nice cafe where we had an ice cream since it was so hot. Phil had coffee ice-cream (no surprise there then) and Jo, blueberry cheesecake. This was followed by toasted baguettes. (yes we know the ice-cream is supposed come after the sandwich but we were hot, it was our honeymoon and we don't care anyway :-) )

Then we wandered off to the riverside walk where we found another steam train. This one, (the strangely marked "Newport Docklands and Railway"), was on display in the middle of a park. We had a play on it before carrying on (well we had to, it was a train). At the end of the riverside walk Jo got a first glimpse of the transporter bridge. She pulled Phil back for a look and his eyes lit up. The rest of the walk there was through an industrial estate and one of these annoying situations where the bridge never seemed to get any closer, however much we walked.

Eventually we got there and to celebrate we did 3 crossings on the bridge. Phil, obviously, was very excited by it all and eventually got to climb up to the control tower and ask the guy running the bridge lots of questions. Apparently, it's very stable, even in strong winds. In fact the wind actually helps by speeding it up. Afterwards we had a look in the visitors centre at a model and a video all about how and why the built the bridge. It was interesting and all the staff were really helpful and obviously enjoyed their jobs.

After that we took a bus back to the town centre (Jo didn't remember much about it, being asleep for most of the journey). We got an ice lolly cos we were still hot and headed to the station where we had fun with trains - there was someone causing trouble on the one on the platform so we had to wait for that one to go before our train could arrive. Thankfully it wasn't anything major and we only had to wait about 10 minutes. The train to Shrewsbury took an hour longer than expected but we determined that was because Jo hadn't written the times down very clearly and not because the trains were crap.

We got to Shrewsbury and walked to the Lurcroft hotel. We went up to reception to find a bell and a card saying "back in five minutes"We rang the bell anyway but got no answer. After waiting 20 minutes with further ringing of the bell and even a phone call, we gave up and started wandering round Shrewsbury. We walked around various random streets including one that turned out to be a private housing estate and eventually got a local guy to recommend somewhere. He pointed us towards the "cheap and cheerful" stuff, one of which was full and the looked grotty and possibly even closed down. There was another place nearby with a big sign outside saying "rooms available" so we looked it. It was a bit expensive but it was getting late so we went in. It was called the Lion and Pheasant and was a very odd place with lots of small, random flights of 4 or 5 steps and lots of funny slanty-floored corridors and Jo kept getting lost. We looked at the food in the hotel but it was expensive so we left, eventually finding a wetherspoons (for some reason everything else stopped serving food really early) where we had 2 meals, 2 drinks and a dessert (who could that possibly have been for) for less than the cost of a main meal at the hotel. Jo got rather drunk after having 4 shots in the pub and another one when we got back to the hotel, since we found some nice people to talk to and they bought us a drink too. When we got to our room, the shower was nice but nothing special and the bed was comfy.

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