Arrival

We've arrived at the house in Omnibury, near Craven Arms in Shropshire.  We left Ferndown in the mini bus at about 9.30 and had a good drive; we caught a bit of traffic in Salisbury and Marlborough, but not too bad.  Phil and Carol are in their caravan and we met them at the coffee stop just after Marlborough.  It always takes time to sort out once you arrive, and we all found our bedrooms, tried to  get the heating going; inspecting the swimming pool and tennis court.  Sainsburys delivered our massive load and we struggled to get everything in the one fridge and freezer - we have subsequently found a fridge in the barn near the barbecue for the beer!
So we have had the first cake tasting - Walt made a 'dead fly cake',  a roll of pastry full of whiskey soaked currants ; very good - well done Walt.   Beer has also started to flow along with the red and white wines;  dinner was prepared by Phil, Carol and Lyn; a spaghetti bolognaise followed by gooseberry and rhubarb crumble.

Tomorrow we are off for the walk, hopefully leaving about 8am to drive to the start at Bridgenorth.

Tim has a quiz for this evening.  - it's now after the quiz, and our brains were really taxed.  Try this one, which was quite an easy one  ' what are the next 2 letters in the series O T T F F S S __  __.  Answer tomorrow.
x
 

Stuey enjoying second helpings!

Feeling cold!  The door is the entrance to our house.

The Shropshire Cake and Ale Trail

Saturday 30th April to Tuesday 10th May.


Just setting up the blog for this year; a walk of about 106 miles around Shropshire.  The name of this trail was rather appealing, and it was set up by Bob Bibby who has written the book of the trail.  He took his inspiration from Shakespere's Sir Toby Belch  "Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?"  It seeks to link up towns and villages that have a good pub for lunchtime and a good cafe for afternoon cakes and a choice of pubs for the evening!  We have all been training very hard for this walk by consuming lots of cakes and ale (or wine); so now we need the walk to balance the calories!!

The walk combines parts of Offa's Dyke (walked in 2014); the Shropshire Way; the Jack Mytton Way and other paths. The trail goes through Bridgnorth; Cleobury Mortimer; Ludlow; Clun; Bishop's Castle; Church stretton; Much Wenlock.

Pat came round today and we have ordered the first lot of food from Sainsburys that should arrive on Saturday afternoon.

The players this year are :-
Alison - blogger and food order-er
Steve - Husband of Alison and organiser of  accommodation and other logistics.
Pat - other food order-er and menu organiser.
Steve W - Husband of Pat, and chief games organiser.
Tim - route finder and map reader
Walter - Other map reader and GPS user; also chief taster of pies.
Lin - carrier of the rucksac with everything we need.
Jacqui - photographer and gadget user
John - chief wine drinker, and carrier of the coffee
Alan - head chef  :)
Stuey - chief ski guide - you never know what the weather will bring!
Carol - chief mini bus driver
Phil - Husband of Carol, second mini bus driver.

That's it for today, don't forget to check back each day from Saturday
Alison x