Paul Downes at Dorking Folk Club

Bill and I went to see Paul Downes (Other Val being at Farnham Maltings to see Last Night’s Fun). Steve Winchester was also there as a floor spot, which was a pleasant surprise.
Paul is an excellent guitarist and performs some great songs. He played ‘The Moth’ my favourite from his repertoire, also ‘Cursed Anna’ which was Bill’s favourite. He had everyone singing with ‘There but for Fortune’ (written by Phil Ochs) and ‘On a Monday Morning’ by the late Cyril Tawney.
Also caught up on the gossip about Show of Hands – apparently one of the songs Steve Knightley wrote for ‘The Path’ (concept album about the South-West Coastal Path) was originally going to be called ‘Spaniard’s Knob’ after a well-known landmark along the way! The other gossip was that Paul’s ex-wife is one of the ladies from ‘Dangerous Curves’ – wonder which one? Bet Other Val would know.
Nice music, shame about the beer in the club that night - tired Ringwood Best.

Canal Weekend

We were invited to spend last weekend aboard a narrowboat with our friend Patrick, who is a bit of a canal expert. It was not his boat, just one he was looking after, usually home to a lady called Nikki whom we have never met. The narrowboat was 52-foot, battleship grey (easier to maintain that way, apparently) and tastefully furnished, and came complete with a young cat, Amy! Amy was somewhat disconcerted with 3 people aboard her habitat, none of which were her owner, but was unfazed by the change of towpath scenery each night.
We met Patrick at Wolverhampton, and found the Great Western pub where we sampled some delicious Holdens beers. We settled in, slept, ate bacon sandwiches next morning, then sallied forth towards Stourbridge. Bill settled in to the steering and lock-opening straight away, but it took me a little while to become confident once more. A pleasant day and some nice pubs in Stourport, my favourite of those we visited being the Royal Exchange.
The next leg was up Delph locks (with short break for baguettes and Bathams at the Vine) towards Birmingham. There was a bit of drama as Pat nearly got himself squashed in a lock trying to retrieve a hat I'd thrown towards the boat and missed! Luckily Pat only got his shirt wet.
We arrived about 6pm and Patrick was dismayed to find a canal festival near where he'd planned to moor, but it was in the process of packing up. Bill and I had our plans for getting home thrown, as a bus did not turn up and we had to walk 1/2 hour to the station, not getting home till past midnight.
A wonderful, relaxing weekend despite it being hard work at times!

Hobbs Farm Music Festival, Saturday

I got a lift down to Hobbs Farm, near Yapton in West Sussex, with Matt and Other Val. It’s always a pleasure to travel through the downs – I navigated Val through Petworth and over Duncton Hill, fantastic views. The farm was a pretty, typically Sussex place with flint stone walls, oak beams etc – there were a few craft stalls, a real ale bar with ales from Gribble, cheese stall, music stall, hog roast and corn roast (for the veggies!)
We arrived, put the tent and deckchairs up, then we immediately tucked in to some of my Westons Dry Cider, aarrr!
First music session we went to was a French band with Breton pipes, hurdy-gurdy and melodeon. It was all French dance tunes, no singing, so I became slowly hypnotised by the turning disc on the hurdy-gurdy. Next there was a young man on his own, playing acoustic rock – we sat outside in the sunshine and listened from afar, as he was rather loud. Eating cheese and fruitcake and supping Val’s Hogsback Autumn Seer was very pleasant indeed!
Next up was Nick Burbridge, playing with Mal Simms (bodhran), to my surprise and pleasure – Mal used to attempt to teach me bodhran at Fareham and Gosport Folk Festival. Poor Mal seemed to be struggling to keep up with the fast tempo of Nick’s songs, which made me laugh! The crowd was a bit thin, but then if you don’t put it on the gig list on your website, Mr B (or Mr B's webmaster)!
Nick played a lot of my favourites including ‘Refugees’, ‘Darkness and Sail’ and ‘Dicey Riley’, finishing of course with Dirty Davey. Perhaps ‘Summer Song’ was not such a good idea with so many kids in the audience – hope they didn’t get any nightmares! Nick came up for a chat afterwards, as me, Val and Matt were cooing over some piglets, probably because I was wearing a McDermott’s 2 Hours t-shirt, but he may have recognised me from Glastonwick. He’s a nice chap, and it’s good when someone you admire likes you! I also had a chat to Mal as we were in the queue for the hog roast – half of his band Legacy had moved to Eire but he had a new band – and Tim Cotterell, the violinist, was touring with Martha Tilston.
Next were a not-very-good Irish band and more bands of talented youths, so I voted to slope off to the Good Beer Guide pub in Yapton, the Maypole. Had some very nice Berrow S’Port (appropriate for England on the way to winning the Ashes), then it was time to catch the train to Shirl’s.

Wallingford Bunkfest - Sunday

Bill and I visited Wallingford Bunkfest in Oxfordshire for the first time, just for the Sunday as we'd visited George and Eileen on the Saturday. The weather was fantastic (at first) and the atmos was friendly.
A 'Singing Train' on the Wallingford Bunk line was included in the ticket price, so we tried that first - it just went one stop, but very slowly, taking an hour (no change from modern train services, you might think). The music consisted of a singaround, but due to the carriage being long and narrow you had to be sitting with the musicians in order to hear properly. The best musicians were a violinist and a woodwind player who also sang harmonies, but they had a small child with them who kept trying to talk to them through the performance!
Next Bill went to the main tent and I disappeared to see 3 Daft Monkeys on the Singing Boat, for which I had to pay £5 extra. But I had heard good things about them on www.otf.org.uk and thought it would be worth it to hear them and to escape the stifling heat on the River Thames. And indeed it was! Also met up with 2-in-a-VW and Riff-Raff from the OTF board and caught up on the news. Was very impressed with 3DM and bought both their albums (£15 bargain).
I then joined Bill in the main tent for Cloudstreet, the Aussie duo we'd seen at Bridgnorth, and Eliza Carthy and the Ratcatchers who were brilliant as ever. Jon Spiers kept winding Eliza up, as she was out of tune on (Mr. Boden's) violin, which was amusing - she has inherited a fair amount of Waterson scariness!
Fininshed off the might with Mad Dog MCREA, an Irish/Bluegrass band and had a bit of a dance - but the stifling heat became a spectacular storm. Bill had to drive home through the pelting rain and lightning which was entertaining. It took us a bit longer to get home but we made it!

Bridgnorth Folk Festival 2005

Had a good time in Bridgnorth, where we met up with Other Val and Matt, Viv and Harry, Claudine and other friends from the folk scene. Can’t remember all the bands that we saw but Bellowhead (John Spiers, John Boden with Benji Kirkpatrick with a brass band and other random accompaniment) and ColvinQuarmby were the highlights. It was a shame the tent was so packed I couldn’t get out from my seat to dance! Show of Hands also packed out the main tent – they’re always good but were a bit more subdued, less chatty than normal. Blue Horses (folk-goths) playing in Bridgnorth High Street were also very good – youngsters were pouring out of the pubs to see them! Also bought the Meridian CD, ‘Prime’ – mainly because of Anna Tabbush’s stunning voice, and the beautiful ‘At the Break of Day/The Glimmering)
Got to meet Jerry Colvin again – and stroke his shirt – woo hoo! Other Val kindly prepared us a meal and we and the others shared beer, wine, cider and snacks – great fun, I almost wished we’d camped! But the lovely landlady of Bearwood Lodge b&b took pity on us on the last day and gave us a lift to the festival, saving us from walking down and up Bridgnorth’s formidable hills. Then Matt gave us a lift all the way back home – star man!

Porthmadog

Gareth kindly dropped us off at Llechwedd Slate Mining Museum near Blaenau Ffestiniog before saying good-bye. We both had all our luggage with us, but the guides allowed us to leave it in the gear-house – as long as there were no bombs in there! I had been down the mine before, but Shirley hadn’t been down any mines so it was a novel experience for her. There was also the cottage of a famous harpist preserved (he bore a strong resemblance to Gareth!) and a replica miner’s pub – which did not serve any CAMRA-approved beer but dished up a delicious homemade soup called lobscows. By chance we discovered a free bus which took us from Llechwedd to the steam train station in Blaenau – far better than having to walk down with all our stuff! A stunning journey from Blaenau to Porthmadog on the train – but the sky was becoming overcast with ragged little clouds…
We had a quick drink in Spooners Bar in the station, which also had a steam train on tracks in there, found the b&b, Harbour Court, then went out for a Chinese meal.
During the night we were kept awake by gales and drumming rain, but Yvette, our landlady, assured us that things would clear up by the afternoon. We decided to take the bus to Portmeirion, which I had been to before but had lots of shops and cafes to hang out in during showers. As promised, the weather got better and we were able to wander round the gardens and eccentrically-designed houses. Sadly the tide was in, so our beach balls that we’d won at Llandudno Pier didn’t get the chance to chase us around Portmeirion’s beach! We walked back to Minfordd and took the steam train back to Porthmadog. Took Shirl to the Ship near the harbour for an excellent evening meal (the pub was owned by the owner of the next-door bistro), we did the Times T2 crossword together – one of the answers was Knobble which Shirl didn’t believe was a word!
On the last day I thought I’d try something I HADN’T done before – so I researched bus times to Rhyd Ddu, then train to Caernarfon. We missed the train in Rhyd Ddu due to the bus running late, but did get a chance to meet Mojo the Cat in the café there. Another stunning steam-railway journey on the West Highland Railway took us to Caernarfon, during which I realised I’d already visited the castle, which I’d found quite boring anyhow. Shirl and I didn’t have much time in Caernarfon but we did a little of the town trail and found a really nice café for lunch, called RhiKas.
Next morning our last personally-cooked breakfast from Yvette then the long journey back for Shirl, (slightly shorter journey across to Bridgnorth for me) which we shared as far as Crewe, playing cards and looking at the scenery. Shirl said goodbye and said she’d enjoyed the holiday – then I got the bus to Bridgnorth to meet my much-missed husband!

Llandudno

Llandudno was the first for of call of my Welsh holiday – thanks to lovely hubby’s train organising skills I arrived at 4pm after a hassle-free journey. Soon afterwards I got a text from my sister saying that she and her boyfriend had just crossed the Severn Bridge! Alarm bells immediately rang, even though I’m not a driver myself, as I was sure that the better way was to stay on the English side of Offa’s Dyke then turn left and head across. Hubby agreed – the M6 towards Birmingham being the more usual route from somewhere like Southampton – but my sister had faith in the AA routefinder. Meanwhile I went for a walk across the prom and pier, sussing out the good pubs, shops and eateries in town.
Four and a half hours later Shirl and Gareth arrived in Llandudno, poor Gareth being a teensy bit stressed after all that driving and both being ravenously hungry. We wandered down Mostyn Street till we found a little Italian restaurant called Romeros which was still open at 9pm on Sunday night. We had lovely pizza and pasta there, and all began to relax a little.
Next day Gareth drove us to Conwy where we visited the beautiful Conwy Castle, with superb views of Conwy and the sea. Gareth took many photos, being a keen photographer, both with an antique camera and a high-spec digital one. A tame herring-gull featured in a few – think it was more interested in pinching people’s sandwiches though! We had lunch at the Kings Head (not as good as I’d expected) then headed up the Great Orme by tram (cable car out of action). Shirl and Gareth enjoyed the views, and making ‘HSBC’ out of rocks at the quarry. Unfortunately I didn’t have a trail map, so we missed a lot of the archaeological sites – but then Shirl and Gareth didn’t want to do a lot of walking anyway.
Another meal out in the fish n chip restaurant, a few pints in the Cross Keys – then it was bye-bye to Gareth and off to Porthmadog for us sisters for the next 3 days.