We are spoiled by the central heating because we didn’t realise how cold it had been overnight until we had to wash the ice off the front of the car. The news had been full of the economy and government cuts to the military. When John filled the car up the woman said they had been very busy so people may be expecting tax increases.

We set of for Nottingham as, although cold, the sky was blue and the weather was meant to be clear for the day . Driving east from Shrewsbury was a new direction for us and the river Severn looked lovely as we drove over it. After a quick trip for the first 100km we were then caught up in traffic because of road works and we had a slow trip for about 8 km. Then it cleared and we got to Nottingham before midday.

We arrived into an area with a new university and it was very attractive. As we moved into the centre it was more stressful for John driving as we seemed to continually hit red lights. Our only set aim was to go to Trent Bridge cricket ground. I had left the guide book behind so although I did remember there had been a Robin Hood attraction I didn’t know anything about it and even had an idea it was closed. In fact we found ourselves near the castle with some Robin Hood attraction advertised but decided not to bother. We were lucky and got a park outside Trent Bridge and John was able to get photos.

We set off for an area near the remains of Sherwood Forest to try to do a Robin Hood cache . However, it didn’t have enough information so rather frustrated we did another cache then had lunch at the Robin Hood pub. The fire was welcome and the landlord both friendly and efficient so we felt much happier especially as the lemon sponge pudding was delicious.

We had a good drive back as the sun did make the views from the car good, especially with the trees starting to show autumn colour. We prefer A roads to motorways but the views from most of the motorways here have been good and much more interesting than most of the ones in Europe.

We had time to call into a supermarket to get food for tea and also to look at a feature in the nearby service area. It is a steam hammer, invented (probably!) by James Nasmyth, a Scot, in 1838. It was developed in response to a plea from the chief engineer of the Great Weston Steam Company who was struggling to find machines big, powerful and controllable enough to build the SS Great Britain. Nasmyth liked to demonstrate his new toy by using it to smash an egg placed in a wine glass, obviously without smashing the glass. It is also used to advertise the Ironbridge museums. We went to the Victorian village after our previous stay here and hope to get to some of the other museums in the next few days.