We don't want to go home!!!!!
Monday, 13 June 2016
Sun - one more sleep
It's raining heavily this morning. Liz's foot was very painful walking back from town yesterday. Looks like we are staying in the van today!
Most people are off today anyway. About 30 or so of the 50 vans bid their fond farewells. Glen displayed the results of his moth trapping last night. Several species of moths including 2 or 3 very large, different Hawk Moths species were all imprisoned in plastic cups awaiting release into the local woodland. You know, a lot of fauna just goes completely unnoticed.
A bunch of folk wander off into town in search of lunch. We stay in and read, knit, weave. A quiet day.
A wise decision, early afternoon the rain torrents down and thunderclouds rend the air (baffled our foes, on distant shores --- Stop!! we're not in Scotland anymore!!). Anyone walking back in this would have got soaked.
The evening and a dozen of us gather round Von's awning and swap stories, drink cider and wine. A pleasant evening.
I know what you are thinking, gentle reader - what a boring day! Perhaps you are right, for many folk the simple idea of just reading, doing a bit of craft and chatting with friends might well be the height of boredom. But no TV, no celebrities or politicians, no stress, no hassle. The most difficult decision of the day being "should I go and do the washing up now, or have a cup of tea first". For the curious, the cuppa won. This life may not be for everyone. Occasionally folk can manage to change their lifestyle so they don't need their watch. For the past three months we've also been able to do away with calendar too!!
Had the trip been a success? A wholehearted, resounding, in spades, "YES".
Surely there were times when you got in each other nerves being cramped up in such a small space? Surprisingly, No, not at all.
But you must have missed the creature comforts of home? Well, a microwave or oven would have meant would could have enjoyed the Scottish national dish (pie) but no, not having a TV, computer or reliable internet was not really missed.
So, you'd do it again? Several options for the next trip are already in the planning stage?
Seriously, areyou saying being in the road in the van is better than being at home? Read Monday's blog!
Most people are off today anyway. About 30 or so of the 50 vans bid their fond farewells. Glen displayed the results of his moth trapping last night. Several species of moths including 2 or 3 very large, different Hawk Moths species were all imprisoned in plastic cups awaiting release into the local woodland. You know, a lot of fauna just goes completely unnoticed.
A bunch of folk wander off into town in search of lunch. We stay in and read, knit, weave. A quiet day.
A wise decision, early afternoon the rain torrents down and thunderclouds rend the air (baffled our foes, on distant shores --- Stop!! we're not in Scotland anymore!!). Anyone walking back in this would have got soaked.
The evening and a dozen of us gather round Von's awning and swap stories, drink cider and wine. A pleasant evening.
I know what you are thinking, gentle reader - what a boring day! Perhaps you are right, for many folk the simple idea of just reading, doing a bit of craft and chatting with friends might well be the height of boredom. But no TV, no celebrities or politicians, no stress, no hassle. The most difficult decision of the day being "should I go and do the washing up now, or have a cup of tea first". For the curious, the cuppa won. This life may not be for everyone. Occasionally folk can manage to change their lifestyle so they don't need their watch. For the past three months we've also been able to do away with calendar too!!
Had the trip been a success? A wholehearted, resounding, in spades, "YES".
Surely there were times when you got in each other nerves being cramped up in such a small space? Surprisingly, No, not at all.
But you must have missed the creature comforts of home? Well, a microwave or oven would have meant would could have enjoyed the Scottish national dish (pie) but no, not having a TV, computer or reliable internet was not really missed.
So, you'd do it again? Several options for the next trip are already in the planning stage?
Seriously, areyou saying being in the road in the van is better than being at home? Read Monday's blog!
Sunday, 12 June 2016
Sat - an albino Zebra
Light drizzle to start the day. Not a good omen, but then again this site is on the banks of the Severn so a hot day may be full of insects. In fact the river is only about 20m from where we are pitched and provides a pleasant 20 min stroll into Stourport itself.
Of course there's always the housekeeping to do first. I need to empty the loo (should have done it yesterday, it's heavy now) and wash up whilst Liz decorates a cake. One theme for this 10th anniversary meet was to provide appropriately shaped or decorated cakes. Of course, our peregrinations have rendered making anything somewhat too much of a challenge but Liz had the brilliant idea of buying sprinkle on food colouring and making a paper template based on the Forum's logo. Whilst at my sister's we had access to a printer to print the logo and Liz scaled it to the appropriate size for a Morrison's decorate-it-yourself white iced sponge. The end result of the green logo on the cake was stunning, especially since it was all done in the confines of, and with the limited told and resources of the campervan.
Just about to leave for downtown and Mike popped round with some Farecia G3 and Autoglym polish. For those as ignorant as me, Farecia G3 is a paste with a very fine grit embedded, the idea being too remove the few microns of my van's top coat that has the horrible brown streaks embedded in it and then restore those few microns with a resin polish. Result, several square inches of stripe-free high-gloss GRP and me armed with enough knowledge to do the rest at home. Result indeed!
It's now lunchtime do a meander into Stourport and a possible refreshing point at Wetherspoons. Well it might have been had Stourport Wetherspoons bit been one of the few that has recently been sold. Plenty of other pound but by the time we found Wetherspoons wasn't there any more we'd passed the 2 CAMRA recommended pubs, now on the otherside of town. Still a mooch round, a couple of DVDs and a CD and Liz bought a new pair of shoes in one of the better shoe shops we've seen.
What do we do are these rally/meet things? Not much really, just chill and socialise with friends. Bernard has brought along his home built barrel organ and treats us to a few tunes. It took 4 years of hard work to build, from scratch and is an impressive feat of engineering so, so far beyond my own skillset.
A chance conversation with Colin and Janet this afternoon may have found out next van. It we do Deeside we need something marginally larger the Romahome R30 might just fit the bill. It's only 6" longer but significantly wider and a totally different use of available space. Not that we are looking but ...
The evening is taken up with an American supper, shed loads of food, far too many cakes although I'm sure Graham would say you can never have too much cake. Good conversation, Jayjay brings an amplifier and does a really excellent solo set, trying to entice a couple of us ukuleleists to join in but I've only the electric uke and I can use the excuse that it is too much hassle to mask the real reason, my musical inability. I missed the fact that Glen had rigged up a large screen in his awning to allow watching of the England football. After the match had finished it was dark enough for him to set up a mouth trap - basically a white sheet suspended tautly from a tree and illuminated by a powerful UV strip light. We shall see what he catches in the morning.
An entertaining day.
Of course there's always the housekeeping to do first. I need to empty the loo (should have done it yesterday, it's heavy now) and wash up whilst Liz decorates a cake. One theme for this 10th anniversary meet was to provide appropriately shaped or decorated cakes. Of course, our peregrinations have rendered making anything somewhat too much of a challenge but Liz had the brilliant idea of buying sprinkle on food colouring and making a paper template based on the Forum's logo. Whilst at my sister's we had access to a printer to print the logo and Liz scaled it to the appropriate size for a Morrison's decorate-it-yourself white iced sponge. The end result of the green logo on the cake was stunning, especially since it was all done in the confines of, and with the limited told and resources of the campervan.
Just about to leave for downtown and Mike popped round with some Farecia G3 and Autoglym polish. For those as ignorant as me, Farecia G3 is a paste with a very fine grit embedded, the idea being too remove the few microns of my van's top coat that has the horrible brown streaks embedded in it and then restore those few microns with a resin polish. Result, several square inches of stripe-free high-gloss GRP and me armed with enough knowledge to do the rest at home. Result indeed!
It's now lunchtime do a meander into Stourport and a possible refreshing point at Wetherspoons. Well it might have been had Stourport Wetherspoons bit been one of the few that has recently been sold. Plenty of other pound but by the time we found Wetherspoons wasn't there any more we'd passed the 2 CAMRA recommended pubs, now on the otherside of town. Still a mooch round, a couple of DVDs and a CD and Liz bought a new pair of shoes in one of the better shoe shops we've seen.
What do we do are these rally/meet things? Not much really, just chill and socialise with friends. Bernard has brought along his home built barrel organ and treats us to a few tunes. It took 4 years of hard work to build, from scratch and is an impressive feat of engineering so, so far beyond my own skillset.
A chance conversation with Colin and Janet this afternoon may have found out next van. It we do Deeside we need something marginally larger the Romahome R30 might just fit the bill. It's only 6" longer but significantly wider and a totally different use of available space. Not that we are looking but ...
The evening is taken up with an American supper, shed loads of food, far too many cakes although I'm sure Graham would say you can never have too much cake. Good conversation, Jayjay brings an amplifier and does a really excellent solo set, trying to entice a couple of us ukuleleists to join in but I've only the electric uke and I can use the excuse that it is too much hassle to mask the real reason, my musical inability. I missed the fact that Glen had rigged up a large screen in his awning to allow watching of the England football. After the match had finished it was dark enough for him to set up a mouth trap - basically a white sheet suspended tautly from a tree and illuminated by a powerful UV strip light. We shall see what he catches in the morning.
An entertaining day.
Saturday, 11 June 2016
Fri - a meeting of friends
Once again we return to England. Wales had been interesting for, amongst other things, its language. Welsh was heard on several occasions over the last couple of days and, of course, all the road-signs, street names, information boards etc are bi-lingual. It is a difficult language for the non-speaker, having many letter combinations that don't appear in English and double letters which, unlike English, are, I believe, pronounced differently to their single equivalent. For example I believe D has the same sound as English but DD is more like English TH, and F is like the English V whilst it requires FF to get the English F sound.
Morphing initial consonants depending on case doesn't help. 'Felin' is an often seen word meaning mill, however if you see it in the form 'melin' it's similarity to the French 'moulin' is much more apparent. 'Goch' is red but trying to translate a roadsign requesting stopping at a red light it was probably the mutation 'coch'.
A tie in with French is obvious for some words yglis (church) and ffenestr (window) and where English had borrowed from French then the words sound almost English e.g. ysgol (school).
Of course, phonetics are used for neologisms, hence tacsi, ambwlans, traffig and telefon
Enough linguistics, time to move on through the delightful Elan Valley to Rhayader a small market town with the emphasis on small. One of the claims to fame of the area is that it was the first to reintroduce red kites to the UK and there are a few places where the birds get fed so can be seen as huge, whirling flocks. Today we just saw two in the sky and hundreds on signs, rubbish bins etc as it is the emblem of the country of Powis.
From Powis into England, small very scenic country roads winding around the geography. The law of karma applying here, after a glorious 15 miles with no one in front and nothing in the rear view mirror we get stuck behind a very slow moving lorry for 10 miles. No worries, this is scenery country, Herefordshire and South Shropshire, just like Murray Mints, too good to hurry. Clee Hill just a few miles from Cleobury Mortimer has a fantastic panoramic view spoiled by today's haze. We must come again.
One of the best things that can happen when you get a campervan or small motorhome is discovering the Small Motorhome Forum website. A mine of information and ideas curated by some of the nicest folk we know. It's nice to meet up with friends from across the net so the group has 'meets' a few times a year. This one, today, is a bit special as it commemorates the 10th anniversary of the group. Originally just a web meeting place for a few friends it now boasts in excess of 6000 online members and nearly 60 vans and about 100 people have turned up in a field here in Stourport-On-Severn. It's all a 'do whatever you like' type affair. Tonight has a barbeque, but attendance isn't mandatory and a few folk prefer the option of cooking in their own vans. We don't own a barbecue so blag some space on one, thanks Brian. Tonight was also a bit special because our friends Ian and Sue met up via this group and last month got married. It was nice that we could all get together and present then with a little something.
Morphing initial consonants depending on case doesn't help. 'Felin' is an often seen word meaning mill, however if you see it in the form 'melin' it's similarity to the French 'moulin' is much more apparent. 'Goch' is red but trying to translate a roadsign requesting stopping at a red light it was probably the mutation 'coch'.
A tie in with French is obvious for some words yglis (church) and ffenestr (window) and where English had borrowed from French then the words sound almost English e.g. ysgol (school).
Of course, phonetics are used for neologisms, hence tacsi, ambwlans, traffig and telefon
Enough linguistics, time to move on through the delightful Elan Valley to Rhayader a small market town with the emphasis on small. One of the claims to fame of the area is that it was the first to reintroduce red kites to the UK and there are a few places where the birds get fed so can be seen as huge, whirling flocks. Today we just saw two in the sky and hundreds on signs, rubbish bins etc as it is the emblem of the country of Powis.
From Powis into England, small very scenic country roads winding around the geography. The law of karma applying here, after a glorious 15 miles with no one in front and nothing in the rear view mirror we get stuck behind a very slow moving lorry for 10 miles. No worries, this is scenery country, Herefordshire and South Shropshire, just like Murray Mints, too good to hurry. Clee Hill just a few miles from Cleobury Mortimer has a fantastic panoramic view spoiled by today's haze. We must come again.
One of the best things that can happen when you get a campervan or small motorhome is discovering the Small Motorhome Forum website. A mine of information and ideas curated by some of the nicest folk we know. It's nice to meet up with friends from across the net so the group has 'meets' a few times a year. This one, today, is a bit special as it commemorates the 10th anniversary of the group. Originally just a web meeting place for a few friends it now boasts in excess of 6000 online members and nearly 60 vans and about 100 people have turned up in a field here in Stourport-On-Severn. It's all a 'do whatever you like' type affair. Tonight has a barbeque, but attendance isn't mandatory and a few folk prefer the option of cooking in their own vans. We don't own a barbecue so blag some space on one, thanks Brian. Tonight was also a bit special because our friends Ian and Sue met up via this group and last month got married. It was nice that we could all get together and present then with a little something.
Friday, 10 June 2016
Thur - Black Books and Girl Guides
Wherever you think of sporting universities I doubt Aberystwyth is foremost. Yet it must breed the fittest students in the UK, having its buildings atop a steep hill on the northern edge of the town (I don't think Aber is a city).
Of course our campsite is in the valley on the southern side of town meaning a steep climb out of the campsite, down an equally steep slope to cross the river and then up again to the National Library Of Wales, fortunately just below the Uni. On reaching the library first port of call is the coffee shop for a rest!
The reason for the slog was a Girlguiding Wales exhibit entitled "Pushing Boundaries", an interesting crawl through the archives of over 100 years of Girlguiding in Wales, including some fascinating home movie footage from 60-70 years ago. A nice display which perhaps didn't push quite as many boundaries as we'd expected.
There are 4 ancient books of Wales. We saw 3 of them: The Black Book Of Carmarthen, The Book Of Taliesin and The Book Of Aneirin. It was fascinating to see 13th and 14th century hand written books in such fantastic preservation. They made the printed Civil War books and Shakespeare First Folio seen positively modern. Curiously the one we didn't see, The Red Book Of Hergest is the only one I personally own a part translation of, as it contains the famous tales of the Mabinogion.
Back down the hill for a mooch around town. Well a mini-mooch (cue Cab Calloway) as we'd spent so long in the library it was now 4pm. Too late to ride the fenicular but we did take the air along the promenade. Personal note to daughters, I took Mum to the Welsh Gold Shop, stood her in front of the window and offered to buy her shiny things. She said there was nothing she wanted. I tried (and now have the evidence documented here)!
There is no doubt that of all the places we have visited this area of mid-Wales has the friendliest folk. A simple shopping transaction inevitably leads to a conversation and everyone is eager to help. Well almost everyone; the group of half a dozen or so 14 year old schoolkids I stopped and asked directions to the Library seemed most bemused that this old git didn't know where such an obvious landmark was. We did, it's just we were standing directly under a signpost to it which pointed 180° opposite direction. Some jolly, drunken, student jape, no doubt.
A very pleasant Italian meal (and despite a busy restaurant, a 5 minute conversation with the waitress re campervans since her hubby did conversions) and then the inevitable pub.
Night, night.
Of course our campsite is in the valley on the southern side of town meaning a steep climb out of the campsite, down an equally steep slope to cross the river and then up again to the National Library Of Wales, fortunately just below the Uni. On reaching the library first port of call is the coffee shop for a rest!
The reason for the slog was a Girlguiding Wales exhibit entitled "Pushing Boundaries", an interesting crawl through the archives of over 100 years of Girlguiding in Wales, including some fascinating home movie footage from 60-70 years ago. A nice display which perhaps didn't push quite as many boundaries as we'd expected.
There are 4 ancient books of Wales. We saw 3 of them: The Black Book Of Carmarthen, The Book Of Taliesin and The Book Of Aneirin. It was fascinating to see 13th and 14th century hand written books in such fantastic preservation. They made the printed Civil War books and Shakespeare First Folio seen positively modern. Curiously the one we didn't see, The Red Book Of Hergest is the only one I personally own a part translation of, as it contains the famous tales of the Mabinogion.
Back down the hill for a mooch around town. Well a mini-mooch (cue Cab Calloway) as we'd spent so long in the library it was now 4pm. Too late to ride the fenicular but we did take the air along the promenade. Personal note to daughters, I took Mum to the Welsh Gold Shop, stood her in front of the window and offered to buy her shiny things. She said there was nothing she wanted. I tried (and now have the evidence documented here)!
There is no doubt that of all the places we have visited this area of mid-Wales has the friendliest folk. A simple shopping transaction inevitably leads to a conversation and everyone is eager to help. Well almost everyone; the group of half a dozen or so 14 year old schoolkids I stopped and asked directions to the Library seemed most bemused that this old git didn't know where such an obvious landmark was. We did, it's just we were standing directly under a signpost to it which pointed 180° opposite direction. Some jolly, drunken, student jape, no doubt.
A very pleasant Italian meal (and despite a busy restaurant, a 5 minute conversation with the waitress re campervans since her hubby did conversions) and then the inevitable pub.
Night, night.
Wednesday, 8 June 2016
Weds - another country
I did warn you the blog might get a bit sporadic. It's all about when time permits. Unlike proper writers I don't have the luxury of waiting for the muse to inspire byt have to shoot from the hip when time permits.
Monday and Tuesday are spent visiting my sister in Ellesmere (where? it doesn't matter, it's in Shropshire but irrelevant to the blog because we didn't really do much there) Tuesday we ran my brave young fireman nephew Peter to the last of his training exercises. To be fair, the poor bloke doesn't drive and somehow had trained to be a firefighter with all the training 35 miles away in an area but known for its public transport. My hat off to him!!!
To save my sister Alison any hassle we kipped in her floor first night and in the van the second. One thing that has impressed me with modern technology is how much harder they can make floors these days. Back when was a youth kipping in floors wasn't too uncomfortable. Now, due no doubt to the wonders of modern technology, I find them much harder!
One highlight was, whilst taking Peter to his training we took the opportunity to visit Bridgnorth which has the UK's only inland cliff railway. There are only about 25 or so fenicular railways in the UK. We'd already done Folkestone and the one at the Centre For Alternative Technology at Machynlleth but at Bridgnorth found a guide to them all. Possibly next year's quest!
Fast forward to today. A beautiful sunny drive down from Shropshire to Aberystwyth. Since we didn't need to arrive until 5pm we could stop at points en route: Welshpool, Newport and Llanidloes. All charming towns particularly the latter where I met a barber's shop with a Sten Gun in the window. Don't ask!!
It's different here. Driving down the Elan Valley you could well be in Scotland but go into the towns and everyone is so chatty and helpful. Not at all like the more reticent Scots. In Llanidloes they had an arts centre with an exhibition on wool and willow. We didn't think we'd get away!
Passing the Girlguiding training centre at Broneirion we carry on to a lake where red kite are fed. At least two dozen are in a flock over the waters, most impressive.
The campsite at Aberystwyth is a huge complex with bars, entertainment etc (i e. not us) but it's low season so they have a bargain deal of £10 per night which includes WiFi and electricity. That really is cheap! We go into town. The students have left for the summer and the summer tourist trade has yet to materialise. It's quiet. Still we find good pubs (was there any doubt?), and have a pleasant evening.
Monday and Tuesday are spent visiting my sister in Ellesmere (where? it doesn't matter, it's in Shropshire but irrelevant to the blog because we didn't really do much there) Tuesday we ran my brave young fireman nephew Peter to the last of his training exercises. To be fair, the poor bloke doesn't drive and somehow had trained to be a firefighter with all the training 35 miles away in an area but known for its public transport. My hat off to him!!!
To save my sister Alison any hassle we kipped in her floor first night and in the van the second. One thing that has impressed me with modern technology is how much harder they can make floors these days. Back when was a youth kipping in floors wasn't too uncomfortable. Now, due no doubt to the wonders of modern technology, I find them much harder!
One highlight was, whilst taking Peter to his training we took the opportunity to visit Bridgnorth which has the UK's only inland cliff railway. There are only about 25 or so fenicular railways in the UK. We'd already done Folkestone and the one at the Centre For Alternative Technology at Machynlleth but at Bridgnorth found a guide to them all. Possibly next year's quest!
Fast forward to today. A beautiful sunny drive down from Shropshire to Aberystwyth. Since we didn't need to arrive until 5pm we could stop at points en route: Welshpool, Newport and Llanidloes. All charming towns particularly the latter where I met a barber's shop with a Sten Gun in the window. Don't ask!!
It's different here. Driving down the Elan Valley you could well be in Scotland but go into the towns and everyone is so chatty and helpful. Not at all like the more reticent Scots. In Llanidloes they had an arts centre with an exhibition on wool and willow. We didn't think we'd get away!
Passing the Girlguiding training centre at Broneirion we carry on to a lake where red kite are fed. At least two dozen are in a flock over the waters, most impressive.
The campsite at Aberystwyth is a huge complex with bars, entertainment etc (i e. not us) but it's low season so they have a bargain deal of £10 per night which includes WiFi and electricity. That really is cheap! We go into town. The students have left for the summer and the summer tourist trade has yet to materialise. It's quiet. Still we find good pubs (was there any doubt?), and have a pleasant evening.
Sun eve - it's hot
Well the festival has just finished. Eddi Reader comes to the end of her 90 minute set, looks at the clock and says ”I'm supposed to be off in 5 minutes, but I can't be bothered with all that going off and coming back on stuff ", she consults her set list and says " I've got 6 more numbers, if that's OK with you, no one got
a bus to catch, eh" and does an extra 30 minutes. A two hour set, without an interval in a very hot auditorium.
Brava, Eddi, Brava!!
She finishes with a comedy routine about her family parties with all the relatives singing which culminates in her singing Moon River. A great ending to the set and the lyrics give me the name of the next blog: ”Two drifters, off to see the world" (there's such a lot of world to see). It's funny though how a lot of acts in the modern folk circuit borrow very heavily from what might in the past have been labeled "lounge music"
One song that certainly wouldn't be hotel lounge material was San Jose sung by the duet Barlow Cree. About the 2010 Chilean mining disaster where 33 miners were trapped underground for 69 days it is the single most haunting song I've heard in a very long time. I heard them do it last year but they've changed it and added some electronics to provide echoes to the chilling cries of "Hear Me". It is moving and disturbing.
One thing this festival does which is a bit different is it has a " Meet the artist " session. This is in an intimate, small, folk club style room where the artists get questions thrown at them and hopefully also add a few songs into the mix. Jez Lowe and his 3 Bad Pennies played an extra half set this way, of stuff the audience requested. Pretty impressive considering just how huge Jez's repertoire is. At least 2 of the songs, the newest member of the band, the bass player had never played before, so was winging it. In fact one request Jez said he couldn't play because of not having the instruments and 2 out of the 3 backup musicians didn't know it. He obviously spent part of the afternoon transposing it and readjusted his official set especially to include it, again my sort of musician.
Flossie Malaville had a different approach to the Meet session and spent most of the hour amusing us with her life story in a very charming French/Geordie accent. She's got a great voice though and I'm quite sad I missed most of her main set (we were just about to leave for it when 3 delegations wandered over and wanted tours of the van!).
a bus to catch, eh" and does an extra 30 minutes. A two hour set, without an interval in a very hot auditorium.
Brava, Eddi, Brava!!
She finishes with a comedy routine about her family parties with all the relatives singing which culminates in her singing Moon River. A great ending to the set and the lyrics give me the name of the next blog: ”Two drifters, off to see the world" (there's such a lot of world to see). It's funny though how a lot of acts in the modern folk circuit borrow very heavily from what might in the past have been labeled "lounge music"
One song that certainly wouldn't be hotel lounge material was San Jose sung by the duet Barlow Cree. About the 2010 Chilean mining disaster where 33 miners were trapped underground for 69 days it is the single most haunting song I've heard in a very long time. I heard them do it last year but they've changed it and added some electronics to provide echoes to the chilling cries of "Hear Me". It is moving and disturbing.
One thing this festival does which is a bit different is it has a " Meet the artist " session. This is in an intimate, small, folk club style room where the artists get questions thrown at them and hopefully also add a few songs into the mix. Jez Lowe and his 3 Bad Pennies played an extra half set this way, of stuff the audience requested. Pretty impressive considering just how huge Jez's repertoire is. At least 2 of the songs, the newest member of the band, the bass player had never played before, so was winging it. In fact one request Jez said he couldn't play because of not having the instruments and 2 out of the 3 backup musicians didn't know it. He obviously spent part of the afternoon transposing it and readjusted his official set especially to include it, again my sort of musician.
Flossie Malaville had a different approach to the Meet session and spent most of the hour amusing us with her life story in a very charming French/Geordie accent. She's got a great voice though and I'm quite sad I missed most of her main set (we were just about to leave for it when 3 delegations wandered over and wanted tours of the van!).
Sunday, 5 June 2016
Sun - by popular demand
It rained yesterday, whilst we were in the concert. First time in a while and the petrichor was wonderful. There, it's not everyday you learn a new word from Ralph McTell, is it? In fact the last week we have been treated to delightful weather and my phone is predicting 26 degrees for today. Even after the rain, last night meant leaving windows and sunlight open to get enough cool air in to allow sleep. Somewhat of a contrast to the start of this adventure, which is a useful reminder if just how long we've been in the road
The site here in the heart of the industrial Wirral borders on to a small patch of woodland. Not just any woodland but proper, original, English ancient woodland that goes back centuries. Camping for vans is around the perimeter of the site so we are next to these venerable trees. What a delight to be awakened to the many and varied woodland birdsongs. A rare treat.
As you have all been such dedicated readers of this humble blog we have a reward, a world exclusive on our potential next venture. Sept 24-Oct 2 is Shetland Wool Week with many workshops about yarn craft and particularly knitting. It is just a thought at the moment but would tie in well with the Radio Society Of Great Britain's convention in Milton Keynes on Oct 9.
The festival is good, very good. Sadly, like most folk festivals the audience is mature but it is great to see new bands on the scene like Granny's Attic which is 3 students. Also last night's Oysterband session inspired a lot of dancing in the aisles, mainly from young ladies a 1/3 of my age, so perhaps there is hope that this musical genre will indeed have a future.
The site here in the heart of the industrial Wirral borders on to a small patch of woodland. Not just any woodland but proper, original, English ancient woodland that goes back centuries. Camping for vans is around the perimeter of the site so we are next to these venerable trees. What a delight to be awakened to the many and varied woodland birdsongs. A rare treat.
As you have all been such dedicated readers of this humble blog we have a reward, a world exclusive on our potential next venture. Sept 24-Oct 2 is Shetland Wool Week with many workshops about yarn craft and particularly knitting. It is just a thought at the moment but would tie in well with the Radio Society Of Great Britain's convention in Milton Keynes on Oct 9.
The festival is good, very good. Sadly, like most folk festivals the audience is mature but it is great to see new bands on the scene like Granny's Attic which is 3 students. Also last night's Oysterband session inspired a lot of dancing in the aisles, mainly from young ladies a 1/3 of my age, so perhaps there is hope that this musical genre will indeed have a future.
Saturday, 4 June 2016
Fri etc - Coming to the end
Not the holiday which has another week to run but this blog is slowly winding down.
This weekend we are at Wirral Folk Festival all weekend and days will all be similar: mooch around and listen to music. The more curious amongst you can use Google to see who we've been listening to and I'm not sure I'm sufficiently experienced in the art to turn this blog into a music critic's column (although Ralph McTell was rather good last night!). And there be no rants about people, all the people here are lovely, friendly and helpful. They really are!
Monday is off for two nights with my sister in my home town of Ellesmere, in north Shropshire, followed by 2 days in Aberystwyth where Liz wants to see some Girlguiding archives on display at the National Library.
The adventure finally ends at a gathering of friends at the Small Motorhome Forum's 10th anniversary meet at Stourport-On-Severn next weekend before rushing home the following Monday. Or old life meets us both with a bang - we both have calendar entries for next Monday evening.
Keep checking back, if anything noteworthy happens I'll document it here. There's likely to be at least a couple more posts but not one every day.
This weekend we are at Wirral Folk Festival all weekend and days will all be similar: mooch around and listen to music. The more curious amongst you can use Google to see who we've been listening to and I'm not sure I'm sufficiently experienced in the art to turn this blog into a music critic's column (although Ralph McTell was rather good last night!). And there be no rants about people, all the people here are lovely, friendly and helpful. They really are!
Monday is off for two nights with my sister in my home town of Ellesmere, in north Shropshire, followed by 2 days in Aberystwyth where Liz wants to see some Girlguiding archives on display at the National Library.
The adventure finally ends at a gathering of friends at the Small Motorhome Forum's 10th anniversary meet at Stourport-On-Severn next weekend before rushing home the following Monday. Or old life meets us both with a bang - we both have calendar entries for next Monday evening.
Keep checking back, if anything noteworthy happens I'll document it here. There's likely to be at least a couple more posts but not one every day.
Friday, 3 June 2016
Thurs - going the back Waze
Even though we are back in England it's still well over 300 miles to home and about 150 to our next destination, the Wirral Folk Festival just outside Ellesmere Port.
An early awakening this morning. About 5:30am there is a rapid tapping noise on the van. This is a worry, has one of our camping neighbours spotted a problem? Have we slept through some disaster?
No, it's not a neighbour but a murmuration of starlings setting up camp on our roof. I get up to suggest an alternate venue and they move on. Not before one of them has made a political statement about the fact that England should embrace Scotland's more liberal Land Reform act by defecating all over my sun roof. So if you were wandering the road near Dalston, Carlisle at 5:30 this morning your eyes were not playing tricks. That really was the top half of a nightshirt attired bloke poking out from his campervan trying desperately to reach bird poo with a sponge tied to the end of a large plastic serving spoon!
Before leaving let's sing the praises of this Carlisle campsite. Location isn't great, although if you are happy to walk a mile down a treacherously fast road the Spinners Arms makes up for it. What the site does have is the best facilities, bar none! It is a Caravan Club certified site so limited to 5 pitches. Each is a huge bay of rolled stone hardstand with its own electric and water and adequate grass for awnings. Overkill for our tiny van of course. But what really makes the site special is the toilet and shower. OK so there is only one of each but they are superb. Well heated they are cosy warn and just like you might expect in an expensive large house. The shower itself is nearly the size of our van, and that's just the wetting bit, the palatial changing room is complete with huge radiator, comfy chair, hairdryer and sink. Luxury I tell you! Certainly better than what we've been used to on the road and even bettered then my own humble facilities back home! Definitely worth the £14 a night!
Back roads for a while until the inevitability of the M6. At least the motorway tedium is alleviated by Bill Bryson reading from his biography of Shakespeare. However LPG would be good and there are a couple of likely candidates in the Kirby Longsdale area so the tedium is broken as we leave the M6 in search of gas. That was easy. A full tank of LPG, the entire trip around Scotland has used just 2.64l of gas, at a replenishment cost of £1.55. I reckon the tank holds about 4.5l so we can defer filling until the dial is firmly in the yellow. At least now we can test running the fridge off LPG and see how much that uses. Will be trying that this weekend.
Onward into Kirby Longsdale but just outside the town centre we stumble upon a Booths supermarket. Oh, frabjous day, callooh callay, out favourite food shop. Imagine the best of Waitrose, M&S and huge well-stocked off licence all in one building. Well, Booths is better!
Some more back roads and then the M6 again. We leave early, close to Warrington because Liz has 4 phonebox libraries earmarked. I'm glad to get off the motorway onto roads with a little shade. It's a glorious sunny day and just a little hot in the van. Air con would help but the real concern is the sun on my bare arms as I drive. Amazingly all 4 of the boxes are easy to find, even more amazingly all are easy to park at too. Mission accomplished as was a short, uninspiring visit to Northwich.
Time is pressing now, we are a little later than hoped (the 45 mins in Booths being the main culprit) and it will be rush hour as we try and negotiate Chester. Still everything seems to be moving well.
Alas! TomTom tells us it is 0.6 miles in this non-moving traffic to the roundabout where we turn left towards Chester. We ask Waze for a second opinion and it confirms that and also adds that at least the next two miles or so towards Chester to connect with the M53 have an average speed of 6mph. Oh bother! Waze has a cunning plan, don't turn left towards our destination but at the roundabout go right, totally the opposite direction. This is double good because everything is going left on the roundabout which means as we approach we can pull out into the oncoming lane and drive up and pull back into the unoccupied right turn lane and almost instantly get around the roundabout. But we are definitely heading away from our destination! Then we are directed into a small back road, just wide enough for two passing cars, then another, then a short stretch of B road, another country lane, a mile of so of A road, another back road and there are signs to Cheshire Oaks, next for to our destination. Now we are back on main roads, well clear of any traffic and almost there. Absolutely fantastic. Bravo Waze!!
It's been a good day today and the evening's sing around as a precursor to the Folk Festival rounds it off nicely. This is a lovely friendly Festival, large enough to mainstream Ralph McTell, The Oyster Band, Eddi Reader et al but small enough for the Folk club to have a packet of biscuits (packet not box) as one of its raffle prizes.
Oh and this is Merseyside, Deeside, everyone is cheerful and friendly and speaks to strangers. My sort of town!
An early awakening this morning. About 5:30am there is a rapid tapping noise on the van. This is a worry, has one of our camping neighbours spotted a problem? Have we slept through some disaster?
No, it's not a neighbour but a murmuration of starlings setting up camp on our roof. I get up to suggest an alternate venue and they move on. Not before one of them has made a political statement about the fact that England should embrace Scotland's more liberal Land Reform act by defecating all over my sun roof. So if you were wandering the road near Dalston, Carlisle at 5:30 this morning your eyes were not playing tricks. That really was the top half of a nightshirt attired bloke poking out from his campervan trying desperately to reach bird poo with a sponge tied to the end of a large plastic serving spoon!
Before leaving let's sing the praises of this Carlisle campsite. Location isn't great, although if you are happy to walk a mile down a treacherously fast road the Spinners Arms makes up for it. What the site does have is the best facilities, bar none! It is a Caravan Club certified site so limited to 5 pitches. Each is a huge bay of rolled stone hardstand with its own electric and water and adequate grass for awnings. Overkill for our tiny van of course. But what really makes the site special is the toilet and shower. OK so there is only one of each but they are superb. Well heated they are cosy warn and just like you might expect in an expensive large house. The shower itself is nearly the size of our van, and that's just the wetting bit, the palatial changing room is complete with huge radiator, comfy chair, hairdryer and sink. Luxury I tell you! Certainly better than what we've been used to on the road and even bettered then my own humble facilities back home! Definitely worth the £14 a night!
Back roads for a while until the inevitability of the M6. At least the motorway tedium is alleviated by Bill Bryson reading from his biography of Shakespeare. However LPG would be good and there are a couple of likely candidates in the Kirby Longsdale area so the tedium is broken as we leave the M6 in search of gas. That was easy. A full tank of LPG, the entire trip around Scotland has used just 2.64l of gas, at a replenishment cost of £1.55. I reckon the tank holds about 4.5l so we can defer filling until the dial is firmly in the yellow. At least now we can test running the fridge off LPG and see how much that uses. Will be trying that this weekend.
Onward into Kirby Longsdale but just outside the town centre we stumble upon a Booths supermarket. Oh, frabjous day, callooh callay, out favourite food shop. Imagine the best of Waitrose, M&S and huge well-stocked off licence all in one building. Well, Booths is better!
Some more back roads and then the M6 again. We leave early, close to Warrington because Liz has 4 phonebox libraries earmarked. I'm glad to get off the motorway onto roads with a little shade. It's a glorious sunny day and just a little hot in the van. Air con would help but the real concern is the sun on my bare arms as I drive. Amazingly all 4 of the boxes are easy to find, even more amazingly all are easy to park at too. Mission accomplished as was a short, uninspiring visit to Northwich.
Time is pressing now, we are a little later than hoped (the 45 mins in Booths being the main culprit) and it will be rush hour as we try and negotiate Chester. Still everything seems to be moving well.
Alas! TomTom tells us it is 0.6 miles in this non-moving traffic to the roundabout where we turn left towards Chester. We ask Waze for a second opinion and it confirms that and also adds that at least the next two miles or so towards Chester to connect with the M53 have an average speed of 6mph. Oh bother! Waze has a cunning plan, don't turn left towards our destination but at the roundabout go right, totally the opposite direction. This is double good because everything is going left on the roundabout which means as we approach we can pull out into the oncoming lane and drive up and pull back into the unoccupied right turn lane and almost instantly get around the roundabout. But we are definitely heading away from our destination! Then we are directed into a small back road, just wide enough for two passing cars, then another, then a short stretch of B road, another country lane, a mile of so of A road, another back road and there are signs to Cheshire Oaks, next for to our destination. Now we are back on main roads, well clear of any traffic and almost there. Absolutely fantastic. Bravo Waze!!
It's been a good day today and the evening's sing around as a precursor to the Folk Festival rounds it off nicely. This is a lovely friendly Festival, large enough to mainstream Ralph McTell, The Oyster Band, Eddi Reader et al but small enough for the Folk club to have a packet of biscuits (packet not box) as one of its raffle prizes.
Oh and this is Merseyside, Deeside, everyone is cheerful and friendly and speaks to strangers. My sort of town!
Wed eve- England, my England
8 weeks ago we visited the Spinners Arms just a mile from the campsite and so it was our port of call again tonight. Walking the 3/4 mile from the bus stop we skirted the Pirelli works and as the sun set low in the sky we hear the plaintiff cries of the bowling side seeking the umpire's complicity during the local cricket game.
We sit here now in a 1930's pub, awarded CAMRA heritage status because of how little has changed architecturally since that time ( both fireplace's have wonderful period tiles)
To the left three generations of a family have dragged out a formica board on which to shuffle their dominoes. Just like my old Dad the, probably not quite legal aged, son is being introduced to alcohol in a controlled and sensible manner.
To our right a group of musicians are playing for no applause nor reward, just their pleasure in playing. And, of course, they are so much the better for that.
The bar in front of us may now offer several cask dispensers but 3 plain wooden hand pumps bear the identification of the local Carlisle Brewery's beers, brewed until very recently behind the pub. And very good beer it is too.
On the edge of the bar the 1930's assert themselves again: a sofa syphon and a jar of pickled eggs. The latter being an important supplement to the pub's food menu, other delicacies on offer are crisps of various flavours and peanuts. No, there is no waitress service, all food orders must be given at the bar.
There's a couple of blokes on the bar stools. Of course, the conversation can only be football, even in this midst of cricket season. Next to them, a women in her thirties with her border collie. The lad from the dominoes family uses the time between games to throw a bone for the collie to scamper after
I just need John Betjeman on my Kindle and all would be perfect with the world. Or maybe just one more pint of Carlisle Nut Brown Ale.
We sit here now in a 1930's pub, awarded CAMRA heritage status because of how little has changed architecturally since that time ( both fireplace's have wonderful period tiles)
To the left three generations of a family have dragged out a formica board on which to shuffle their dominoes. Just like my old Dad the, probably not quite legal aged, son is being introduced to alcohol in a controlled and sensible manner.
To our right a group of musicians are playing for no applause nor reward, just their pleasure in playing. And, of course, they are so much the better for that.
The bar in front of us may now offer several cask dispensers but 3 plain wooden hand pumps bear the identification of the local Carlisle Brewery's beers, brewed until very recently behind the pub. And very good beer it is too.
On the edge of the bar the 1930's assert themselves again: a sofa syphon and a jar of pickled eggs. The latter being an important supplement to the pub's food menu, other delicacies on offer are crisps of various flavours and peanuts. No, there is no waitress service, all food orders must be given at the bar.
There's a couple of blokes on the bar stools. Of course, the conversation can only be football, even in this midst of cricket season. Next to them, a women in her thirties with her border collie. The lad from the dominoes family uses the time between games to throw a bone for the collie to scamper after
I just need John Betjeman on my Kindle and all would be perfect with the world. Or maybe just one more pint of Carlisle Nut Brown Ale.
Wed - crossing the border
Driving the scenic route back to England. We should stop and look round Dumfries but we are hoping to see Carlisle instead. So, Dumfries is confined to a quick trip to an out of town shopping precinct. Whilst in Oban we stumbled across Sue Reid Sexton's book Writing On The Road where she details trips through Scotland and France in a Romahome. One of the photos showed 30cm cube boxes as a way to organise the van's over-cab Luton storage area. We've got some IKEA ones at home but if we could find some cheap this would be an excellent opportunity to see how weill they fit, especially since storage space in the van is now very limited. Guess what, B&M are discontinuing then so they are on sale at £1 each! Perfect we take all that Dumfries has to offer - 2.
Gretna, and another distraction. Not the blacksmith's forge where I suspect for some outlandish fee we could have a mock ceremony to remake our wedding vows but a huge outlet village full of brand name stores that, under normal circumstances, would have us running in the opposite direction. But there's an M&S outlet and Liz needs some new under garments whilst I still haven't found the 1/4 zip heavy fleece I want for cold evenings in the van. Even at outlet prices Berghaus is still beyond my price range, and didn't have what I wanted anyway. Trespass and Mountain Warehouse similarly came up blank. I had hoped outlet stores would have clothing that had been on sale back in September when I'm sure the sort of top I'm after might have been in the shelves. But who knows, even outdoor clothing is more about fashion than function so maybe this winter such garments weren't around. Still Sports Direct have bought the Karrimor brand and had exactly what I was looking for - sorted.
Time is short and so perhaps we should run to Carlisle as fast as possible but no, we stick to alternatives to the motorway. For several miles we run on a pleasant A road with almost no other traffic, parallel to and just a few tens of metres away from the M6 and all its chunner.
The campsite is a little confused. The owner is away but by phone tells us to pick a pitch, #4 being free, #3 might be free too but we should take #4. Driving on to pitch 4 we see the electric hookup has been used by the guy in pitch 5 because pitch 5's own hookup has been taken by a caravan parked on the turning bay. We take 3 to save hassle and hope almost will be sorted on our return from Carlisle.
Fortunately we meet the owner as we leave, all is OK and we get to pay rather than have to waste time tomorrow.
The bus stop outside the camp seems to only have buses every hour but a mile and a half away is a much more frequent route. Actually a mile and a half is probably half way to town! Still it gives a miserable bus driver the opportunity to announce sternly that there's no such thing as a return to town but I need a dayrider. To be fair the bus stop was in the midst of a housing estate and I suspect we were the first ever out-of-towners to catch a bus from there.
It's too late to take in the sights of Carlisle, just head to Wetherspoons for dinner, via a city centre B&M for 2 more of those storage cubes. Fed and watered it's back towards the campsite, we have an evening appointment with another brewery
Gretna, and another distraction. Not the blacksmith's forge where I suspect for some outlandish fee we could have a mock ceremony to remake our wedding vows but a huge outlet village full of brand name stores that, under normal circumstances, would have us running in the opposite direction. But there's an M&S outlet and Liz needs some new under garments whilst I still haven't found the 1/4 zip heavy fleece I want for cold evenings in the van. Even at outlet prices Berghaus is still beyond my price range, and didn't have what I wanted anyway. Trespass and Mountain Warehouse similarly came up blank. I had hoped outlet stores would have clothing that had been on sale back in September when I'm sure the sort of top I'm after might have been in the shelves. But who knows, even outdoor clothing is more about fashion than function so maybe this winter such garments weren't around. Still Sports Direct have bought the Karrimor brand and had exactly what I was looking for - sorted.
Time is short and so perhaps we should run to Carlisle as fast as possible but no, we stick to alternatives to the motorway. For several miles we run on a pleasant A road with almost no other traffic, parallel to and just a few tens of metres away from the M6 and all its chunner.
The campsite is a little confused. The owner is away but by phone tells us to pick a pitch, #4 being free, #3 might be free too but we should take #4. Driving on to pitch 4 we see the electric hookup has been used by the guy in pitch 5 because pitch 5's own hookup has been taken by a caravan parked on the turning bay. We take 3 to save hassle and hope almost will be sorted on our return from Carlisle.
Fortunately we meet the owner as we leave, all is OK and we get to pay rather than have to waste time tomorrow.
The bus stop outside the camp seems to only have buses every hour but a mile and a half away is a much more frequent route. Actually a mile and a half is probably half way to town! Still it gives a miserable bus driver the opportunity to announce sternly that there's no such thing as a return to town but I need a dayrider. To be fair the bus stop was in the midst of a housing estate and I suspect we were the first ever out-of-towners to catch a bus from there.
It's too late to take in the sights of Carlisle, just head to Wetherspoons for dinner, via a city centre B&M for 2 more of those storage cubes. Fed and watered it's back towards the campsite, we have an evening appointment with another brewery
Tues - the flavour is orange
The Castle Douglas campsite is council owned and part of a larger municipal park alongside the loch. It is mainly for long term, seasonal caravanners and pitches are quite cramped. We elect for one on hard-standing, i.e. one end of a tarmaced place that at one time might have been a car park.
There had been an interesting thread on Small Motorhome Forum recently about being forced to have electricity if that is the only pitch available, and the fixed cost per night versus a metered cost. This site has electricity to all pitches and it is metered. But the metered use is only for seasonal hires, for tourers there is a fixed nightly rate should you elect for electric. To enable the electric the warden had to come along and insert his card, so if you don't pay for it your electric point is disabled by default.
Tuesday we take the couple of minutes walk into town. It seems a much more interesting place now all the shops are open. The shops look small but once inside you really many go back a long way and are really quite considerable retail spaces. The art and wool shop being a good example, where, at last, Liz found the bamboo needles she's been searching for since Orkney.
Castle Douglas' claim to being a food town is now more evident, 3 or 4 small bakers, a similar number of independent butchers and a couple of fishmongers, shops that it is generally rare to find even one of in most towns. From one baker we buy a brodorinsky loaf, bread of Russian origin that we'd not encountered before and the whole-food shop provided us with some Cuban coffee beans.
Off in search of some LPG, a local garage not too far away is supposed to be Gaslow direct-fill friendly. Alas we'll never know, it's one of those tiny family run petrol stations of yesteryear and the LPG retailing is the sole domain of hubby who won't be back for another hour or two. Unfortunately it'll be a lot longer before we are back, we must press on to Kirkcudbright, the artists town. A pretty little town, but then again artists tend not to colonise tower blocks. Like St Ives it is not only arty but also seaside-touristy so a mix of shops. Nothing really to captivate us but we did get a more than decent lunch in one of the coffee shops.
We had planned one or possibly two National Trust visits but time is getting on and we have an appointment with a brewery. Now, lest anyone should deem it necessary to tar me with the sobriquet "old soak" I should explain that one of the great joys of traveling for me is finding small brewers whose wares are unknown to my palette and sampling such wares. Apart from last night's sneaked half pint, Sulwath Brewery was such an unknown which is a surprise as it is one of the UK's oldest microbreweries, having been in existence 20 years. It is also one of the few that still uses real hop flowers. Most brewers have moved to compressed hops in the form of pellets or even hop oil. Using flowers possibly limits Sulwath to more traditional style beers with English Hops such as Fuggles or Goldings rather than the new higher alpha acid (i.e. more bitter tasting) US or New Zealand hops that are so prevalent in many UK beers. In any case I'm not sure what it is but most Sulwath beers aren't to my palette, there's a raw graininess that just doesn't work for me. With the exception of Solway Mist, described as a wheat beer the style is closer to Belgian Wit (think Hoegaarden). Sulwath's version has a hint of banana that characterises most wheat beers but that is totally overpowered by a beautiful spicy orangness. Delicious and perfect for a hot summers day (well it would be if it wasn't quite so strong at 5.5%). If you are ever that way try it, don't be put off by the murkiness, wheat beers are normally cloudy.
So after the orange tasting beer back to the van for dinner, Bavarian sausage with orange butternut squash and sweet potato - another whole lot of orangness. No potatoes, we have that unusual brodorinsky loaf. It's a rye sourdough with coriander and had a distinct sharp orange tang to it
The flavour of the day was indeed orange.
There had been an interesting thread on Small Motorhome Forum recently about being forced to have electricity if that is the only pitch available, and the fixed cost per night versus a metered cost. This site has electricity to all pitches and it is metered. But the metered use is only for seasonal hires, for tourers there is a fixed nightly rate should you elect for electric. To enable the electric the warden had to come along and insert his card, so if you don't pay for it your electric point is disabled by default.
Tuesday we take the couple of minutes walk into town. It seems a much more interesting place now all the shops are open. The shops look small but once inside you really many go back a long way and are really quite considerable retail spaces. The art and wool shop being a good example, where, at last, Liz found the bamboo needles she's been searching for since Orkney.
Castle Douglas' claim to being a food town is now more evident, 3 or 4 small bakers, a similar number of independent butchers and a couple of fishmongers, shops that it is generally rare to find even one of in most towns. From one baker we buy a brodorinsky loaf, bread of Russian origin that we'd not encountered before and the whole-food shop provided us with some Cuban coffee beans.
Off in search of some LPG, a local garage not too far away is supposed to be Gaslow direct-fill friendly. Alas we'll never know, it's one of those tiny family run petrol stations of yesteryear and the LPG retailing is the sole domain of hubby who won't be back for another hour or two. Unfortunately it'll be a lot longer before we are back, we must press on to Kirkcudbright, the artists town. A pretty little town, but then again artists tend not to colonise tower blocks. Like St Ives it is not only arty but also seaside-touristy so a mix of shops. Nothing really to captivate us but we did get a more than decent lunch in one of the coffee shops.
We had planned one or possibly two National Trust visits but time is getting on and we have an appointment with a brewery. Now, lest anyone should deem it necessary to tar me with the sobriquet "old soak" I should explain that one of the great joys of traveling for me is finding small brewers whose wares are unknown to my palette and sampling such wares. Apart from last night's sneaked half pint, Sulwath Brewery was such an unknown which is a surprise as it is one of the UK's oldest microbreweries, having been in existence 20 years. It is also one of the few that still uses real hop flowers. Most brewers have moved to compressed hops in the form of pellets or even hop oil. Using flowers possibly limits Sulwath to more traditional style beers with English Hops such as Fuggles or Goldings rather than the new higher alpha acid (i.e. more bitter tasting) US or New Zealand hops that are so prevalent in many UK beers. In any case I'm not sure what it is but most Sulwath beers aren't to my palette, there's a raw graininess that just doesn't work for me. With the exception of Solway Mist, described as a wheat beer the style is closer to Belgian Wit (think Hoegaarden). Sulwath's version has a hint of banana that characterises most wheat beers but that is totally overpowered by a beautiful spicy orangness. Delicious and perfect for a hot summers day (well it would be if it wasn't quite so strong at 5.5%). If you are ever that way try it, don't be put off by the murkiness, wheat beers are normally cloudy.
So after the orange tasting beer back to the van for dinner, Bavarian sausage with orange butternut squash and sweet potato - another whole lot of orangness. No potatoes, we have that unusual brodorinsky loaf. It's a rye sourdough with coriander and had a distinct sharp orange tang to it
The flavour of the day was indeed orange.
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