Whilst the weather makes a weekend at the boat a very tempting proposition, we will leave you all to enjoy the canals and the wonderful weather and take a bit of time out to do other things.
Music, especially live, may not be our first love, but it comes a very close second, and last night we travelled to Shrewsbury for an 80's flashback with Billy Ocean. The venue was
The Buttermarket, a relatively small, but ideal venue, reopened in 2012 after a £2 million refurbishment. The punters were in early and the tickets were sold out.
A fantastic couple of hours rolling back the years followed. Big arenas are good, but somehow the intimacy of small venues is really appealing and the crowd were really into the show from the start. Banging out the hits, the crowd singing and dancing along and Billy and his band with huge smiles on their faces all night. The 80's was such a great era for music. Ive pinched a couple of pics from the website as they're better than mine.
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| The man himself |
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| We're in there somewhere...can you spot us ?? |
Another beautiful day today, and before we headed for home, we took the option of a cruise on the River Severn aboard 'Sabrina'. A 45 minute cruise form Welsh Bridge, around the town to English Bridge and back, made all the more pleasant with a pint and a G&T...how very civilized !!
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| 'Sabrina' is the patron goddess of the River Severn |
On the way back upstream, the Captain gave an extremely interesting commentary about the history of landmarks, bridges, churches etc. Famous Shrewsburians (is that a word) include Charles Darwin, and Percy Thrower whilst John Peel Michael Palin and Michael Heseltine were educated here.
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| At first we thought it was a Stegosaurus but it's called 'Quantum Leap' |
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| St Chads church built 1792. Darwin christened here in 1809. The large house in the centre used to be home to Percy Thrower but now HQ to the Shrewsbury Flower Show. |
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| English Bridge. Originally built in 1774 and rebuilt in 1926 |
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| The 'tide mark' is the height of the river in recent floods |
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| The Old Brewery...now luxury apartments |
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| Shrewsbury Boys School and their Boathouse. £30,000 a year !! |
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| Statue of Hercules.....cover your eyes children. |
What a shame that the River is not navigable as far north as Shrewsbury. We were quite taken with it all. Lets hope Mr Ocean decides to return for another gig in the future.
