Going down to the river with The Boss

“Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true?”

Ironbridge Gorge, a World Heritage Site wonder of the world, 4th April 2023 (Author’s Collection).

It was as long ago as my last years in school and my first collegiate years that I constantly inscribed the top of my workbooks with the Bruce Springsteen lyric “Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true?” and the obvious question, rhetorical or not, would be why?

Was it because I was in the first flush of a youthful fandom for The Boss?

Was it an inspirational message to oneself?

Perhaps it was due to the fact that “The River” was my favourite song?

A plain old simple favourite lyric?

Or was it because I was an angst riddled teenager who despised school and found college too easy, that I yearned for the school bell to join my mates for an impromptu game of football or cricket, or that I simply couldn’t stop admiring the majestic and beautiful Anne, a young lady who sat across from me in our Accounting classes and enchanted me into distraction?

The only significant change from these insignificant questions is that “The River” is no longer my favourite song of his. Now please don’t mistake this for no longer loving this song as that would be sheer unadulterated lunacy. This song has kept me company for nearly four decades now and I’m usually crying by the third verse. But “Thunder Road” has long been my favourite now and not just because I start weeping earlier than “The River”. Blimey. I usually tear up on the opening bars of Springsteen’s harmonica, let alone before a screen door slams, “Mary’s dress sways” and Roy Orbison is “singing for the lonely”. My goodness what a song!

But we don’t have time, not today, for elongated stories that detail how I’ve long associated this majestic song with a dearly missed mother who adored Roy Orbison and the young teenager who always feels the need to leave somewhere as he’s never found a home or regrets the picture book ghosts of a life lived, but seemingly always in ethereal abstract. Nor do we have time for Anne and her “lucky cigarette”, the upside down lucky charm constantly in her cigarette packet, or that night together representing the college in a city wide tournament, or our random meeting later in life, set up by friends who didn’t know of our college days, as a “blind date” of sorts.

We simply don’t have time for those stories today as we have the pictorial delights of Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge, Jackfield and Coalport to get to, all river side villages with English and World renowned heritage. Thirty one images follow as we ramble alongside the River Severn on a beautiful sun filled afternoon stroll as Spring has finally sprung here in the heart of England, and I can never, ever resist this walk.

With added lyrics from Bruce Springsteen and all photographs taken today by a dreamer who went down to the river.

“I come from down in the valley
Where, mister, when you’re young
They bring you up to do like your daddy done
Me and Mary we met in high school
When she was just seventeen
We drive out of this valley
Down to where the fields were green
We’d go down to the river
And into the river we’d dive
Oh, down to the river we’d ride”

Your first view of the River Severn as seen from “Ironbridge Rowing Club” (which is actually in nearby Coalbrookdale!) flowing and winding toward the World Heritage Site at Ironbridge.

A reverse view of the River Severn meandering its way toward Shrewsbury and your first bridge of three during this sunshine filled ramble, the “Albert Edward Bridge”.

The river is still 4/5 feet higher than normal due to the recent heavy rains that peppered the end of March and beginning of April. The ducks largely ignored the bread today and must have already been fed this morning!

From an ostensible “viewing platform” that affords a beautiful view of the river winding its way toward the world’s first iron bridge. Squint your eyes and you’ll just be able to make out the “Grand Old Lady” of Ironbridge as the river narrows toward the top of the picture!

Sunshine on the River Severn.

A final approach to beautiful Ironbridge with the “Grand Old Lady” emerging to your right.

“Then I got Mary pregnant
And man, that was all she wrote
And for my nineteenth birthday
I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse
And the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle
No flowers, no wedding dress

That night we went down to the river
And into the river we’d dive
Oh, down to the river we did ride
Yeah, yeah”

The first of several images of the world’s first iron bridge and centrepiece of a tiny, world famous village that I have long dubbed “Toytown” and has been my spiritual home for over two decades.

“Well there she sits buddy, just a gleaming in the sun”.

A statue of commemoration to the men and women of Ironbridge who lost their lives in the two World Wars.

A view from the site of the commemorative statue to the two World Wars.

St Luke’s Church, Church Hill, Ironbridge.

View from the church grounds high above Toytown.

St Luke’s Church in all her glory. Whenever you are within earshot of her bells, you’ll find yourself in a different time zone and different century entirely.

Welcome to Ironbridge and a magnificent view from the centre of the bridge — Part 1.

Welcome to Ironbridge and a magnificent view from the centre of the bridge — Part 2.

Welcome to Ironbridge and a magnificent view from the centre of the bridge — Part 3.

A view back toward to the town itself from one of its many riverside walking trails.

View from a fishing “peg”. Not a bad backdrop for a spot of fishing!

View from the bridge itself and back toward Coalbrookdale — Part 1.

View from the bridge itself and back toward Coalbrookdale — Part 2.

View from the bridge itself and onward toward Jackfield and Coalport — Part 1.

View from the bridge itself and onward toward Jackfield and Coalport — Part 2.

“I got a job working construction
For the Johnstown Company
But lately there ain’t been much work
On account of the economy
Now all them things that seemed so important
Well mister they vanished right into the air
Now I just act like I don’t remember
Mary acts like she don’t care

But I remember us riding in my brother’s car
Her body tan and wet, down at the reservoir
At night on them banks I’d lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she’d take
Now those memories come back to haunt me
They haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true
Or is it something worse
That sends me down to the river
Though I know the river is dry
That sends me down to the river tonight
Down to the river
My baby and I
Oh, down to the river we ride-ide”

A long dis-used canal but a stunning backdrop afforded us from the world famous Coalport China factories and museums.

A beautiful return view from midway along the dis-used canal in Coalport.

Stunning reflections filled return view along the entirety of the dis-used canal in Coalport.

View from the “Jackfield and Coalport Memorial Bridge” back toward Ironbridge.

View from the “Jackfield and Coalport Memorial Bridge” and onward toward Coalport itself and the highly recommended picturesque town of Bewdley in thirty or so river miles.

“They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old, age shall not weary them nor the years condemn, at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them”.

A view from “Coalport Bridge” toward Bewdley and the first pub I ever visited when moving to the region over two decades ago, “The Woodbridge Inn”.

“Coalport Bridge” and back from whence we came.

“Coalport Bridge” as seen from the grounds of “The Woodbridge Inn”.

Thanks for reading. I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed this pictorial stroll in the sunshine along the River Severn. My three most recently published articles are linked below or should this type of article have tickled your fancy, please refer to the “UK Travel” section of my library:

“John Wick” — Chapter 4 (2023)

A productive waste of time

ChatGPT and the slow death of humanity