The other day I got to experience something I’ve been very excited about since moving to Stratford.
When I was in America, Sam and sent me a birthday card saying that we were going to celebrate my birthday together when I was back in England and that the day would involve climbing trees and drinking cocktails. So the other day we finally celebrated my 25th birthday together!
Unfortunately, the night before there was a HUGE rainstorm so climbing trees was out of the picture so we had to substitute that activity with another one I’d been itching to try: renting a rowing boat!
We had a very late start to the day with Pomegranate Margaritas. Recipe at the bottom of the post!
For some reason most of the cocktails that we make are this shade.
After a few drinks, and a bottle filled up with some of the extra brew we made our way down to the river to the nearest dock. (It’s literally 4 minutes from our doorstep so it really is “local”.)
Sam surveying the various boats that we had a choice of.
In Stratford everything is Shakespeare related. And all the boats are named after women from Shakespearean plays. Including several women that were either shipwrecked or drowned. Call me superstitious but I don’t want to take the “Ophelia” out on the water!
Sometimes I look at Sam and know I really am lucky.
Sam was in charge of getting us away from the dock whilst we went downstream toward the weir. Once we were on our way down, we switched places and I took over the oars while Sam navigated.
A natural rower I was not!
Once we approached the weir, we had to spin the boat around and row back upstream. I made a gallant attempt but we ended up getting further and further downstream. If you can’t tell by these photos I wasn’t the most talented rower. Downstream, fine. Upstream? Forget about it.
I did get freakishly close to bumping a swan though!
I think this photo looks like it belongs in a museum. It looks like an action shot from a rowing competition in the 1980s.
I know some of you might be worried, but don’t fear: The Gremlin made an appearance on this epic day. (For those of you who don’t know who the Gremlin is you can read about it here, here and here). Our friend the Gremlin made an appearance once I demonstrated the name of our mighty vessel.
Juliet and the Gremlin
So Sam was much better at rowing than I, but that didn’t stop us from hitting a houseboat. Oh wait, that had nothing to do with Sam’s skills rowing and everything to do with my poor skills as navigator. Wah- wah. Oh well.
Really glad that the owners of this boat didn’t witness us pushing off it.
Once we finished rowing we beelined through the weekend market to the churros and chocolate stall. They didn’t hold a candle to churros from New Mexico but they were still delicious!
Yea, these were devoured in 2 minutes?
Pomegranate Margarita Recipe
Ingredients:
(Per one glass)
2 oz Grand Marnier
1 1/2 oz tequila
2 oz pomegranate juice
2 oz lime juice
1 1/2 oz simple syrup
course salt for the rim
lime twists and pomegranate seeds for garnish
Instructions:
Run a lime wedge around the rim of your glass then dip in salt. Fill your glass with ice. In a shaker combine all your liquid ingredients and shake well. Pour over the ice. Garnish with the lime twists and pomegranate seeds.
