Friday 15 September - Mary's special day and coracle racing

Only in Shrewsbury could you find a pansy growing happily and in flower in the sidewalk

For her special meal Mary couldn't decide whether to go to the Armoury or the Henry Tudor House. I suggested we compromise and have lunch at the Armoury and dinner at the Henry Tudor House (HTH). The Armoury was very good and we had a relatively light meal.  The HTH was very good and I enjoyed a glass of Shropshire Gold which is almost as good as Timothy Taylor's Landlord.

Seared Scallops

Lamb

Pineapple upside down cake with clotted cream

Chocolate tuile with black cherry sorbet

In between meals there was the World Championship Coracle Races at the Pengwern Boathouse. This was a lot of fun and was primarily to raise funds for charity.  Many local firms entered teams in the event.  It was a four person relay race with one person steering a coracle from the boathouse dock to the end point where another member would assist getting the person and the coracle out of the water when the two would race along the footpath back to the start and number two would then go in the coracle - and so on.  The number four had to get the coracle out of the water and touch a pole to finish.  One or two of the races were so tight that a photo finish was used at times.

A rescue team were standing by at the downstream finish and were frequently brought into use to help the many capsized coracles as well as the few who could not control their craft and were floating helplessly downstream.

The boathouse before the action started

Practising

Racing in full swing

The finish area with the rescue team ready to spring into action - the vessel on the right is out of control

One of the rescue team swimming out to help a coracle way out into the stream and out of control

A kayak assisted the rescue team