An idiots guide to an idiot: Shrewsbury.

Hottest day of the year on the 19th July and I was on my North Wales & Shropshire run. It's a big driving day which wasn't too bad as it happens. I spent alot of the time in an air conditioned car!
Anyway, overnight at The Lion in central Shrewsbury, I've stayed before so I already know it's quite good there. Quick shower & to the bar for a well earned pint (though I say so myself!) of Wye Valley Breweries 'Butty Bach' a very pleasant amber coloured brew with some nice citrusy notes to it. Slipped down a treat I can tell you!
Unfortunately the restaurant was fully booked so had to slum it on the bar menu which was just as good though not as extensive. Went boring and predicable this evening and had fish and chips, and very nice it was too! Good crisp batter and thick cut crisp chips, crushed peas and home made tartare sauce. Had a pint of a local Shrewsbury beer by Salopian Brewery called Shropshire Gold which again was quite light in colour but not light enough to be a blonde beer, could have been a quaffing beer I think.
Dinner done thought I'd go for a walk to cool off as the temperature was still very high & humid. I wondered through the church yard of St Chad's , as I tend to do, & found a grave to Captaine John Benbow , a Royalist Officer shot in Shrewsbury Castle. His story is an interesting one. Originally an officer for the Parliamentarian Cavalry he was part of an attaching force that took the town from the Royalists in 1645, for his part he was promoted from Lieutenant to Captain. He served until the end of the Civil War and then appeared to change sides! Not a very healthy option you'd think. When Charles II returned to Britain in 1651 with an army Benbow became an officer in the Royalist army however this army was routed by Parliament at the Battle of Worcester with Benbow eventually captured and tried as a traitor. On the 16th October 1651 he was shot by firing squad at Shrewsbury Castle which six years earlier had been the scene of his greatest action. He was buried locally at St Chads his grave falling into disrepair until it was renovated in 1829.
Got back to the hotel feeling hotter than when I started & went to my room, eventually to sleep as the room too was pretty hot!