Messing about on the River!

My OH and 5 friends decided to enter the local Raft Race this year.  Organised by the Rotary Club, the event is held every year on the River Wye starting in Monmouth.   Their raft looked much the same as many of the 60+ crafts in attendance on the day.  But when it came to it, it was surprising how much difference there was. 

Apart from the serious racing rafts which set off first, they all placed their rafts in the river in turn and set off.  As ours was almost the last to set off we watched with anticipation as rafts broke apart when contestants got on or up-turned completely when fully loaded.

 If there was a prize for the best turned out raft, this one above should have won it by a mile.

 Thankfully, it was quite stable, easy to manoeuvre and went well.

 Off they go to the first bridge where onlookers 'traditionally' throw things like eggs and flour at the competitors!! Fun eh?!!  Incidentally, it rained most of the day - not that it bothered them, they got wet anyway.

 Rafts heading for the half way bridge, where this pic was taken from, and another dosing of eggs/flour bombs.

 This was also the location of an optional pit stop (a pub standing right next to the river) and the place we went to meet up.  The raft-park above with a clamber up muddy bank to the pub.

 See how many costumes you can spot.  It's still raining but no-one cares by now!!

Here they are on the home straight.  Two of them had just gone in for a dunking with one still struggling to get back on here.  We watched, incredulous, as the 2 just appeared to jump in one after the other!  They told us afterwards that they had to 'go in' because they were coming to the finish line and the others had all gone in at some point (one had even dived in after some dropped chocolate!).  That's male logic for you!!

We all sang Happy Birthday to my OH as he came dripping out up the bank at the end (he's getting too old to be doing things like this :-)  )  and then we finished off the day by erecting a BBQ and gazebo (while the men dried off and changed) for some very welcome refreshment.

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After a couple of quieter weekends, it's back to the post-summer routines, so apart from the raft race on Sunday I had my monthly quilting club day on Saturday and went to the local theatre to see a Queen tribute band on Firday evening (which we enjoyed only because they were so bad they were hilarious).

Bye for now

Teresa x