Our Friends (and family) in the North (and East) - includes The End of May (nearly!)

Bank Holiday Monday and Greyrocks set off Northwards - destination: Shrewsbury. We have been threatening to visit for many years as several Paleo Pals have a base there. We had cadged an overnight with newly-engaged Sam and Catherine, who after lunch took us on an extensive walking tour round this historic market town. As both hail from the area and work in tourism this was the gold-standard tour. (One could say a tour de force!)

So we managed in a few hours to experience Quarry Park and the Dingle,  the bridges and curves of the River Severn (with rowing crews), a series of ancient buildings, an eyesore where one was replaced, some of the many "shuts" or alleys, and a fine and very old pub with local ale.
We were tickled by two oddities: the "tomb" of Ebenezer Scrooge, and the carvings of Thatcher and Heseltine in the timber of a renovated building on the High Street

In the evening we met up with Eoin, Julia and John for a fine dinner at The Boathouse with more river views.With our hosts off early in the morning we too had plenty of time for a cross-country, wet and roadworks-rich drive to our next stop, including a - fortunately brief - break at what must be the nastiest motorway service  station in England - untouched by corporate gentrification!

Hull Marina. (They voted heavily for Brexit!)

"Sea of Hull"

It had stopped raining by the time we reached York, where our hosts for five nights were - once again - Chris and Penny. On our first full day we all went by car to Hull - the City of Culture for 2017 - and "did" an amazing tour - within the spirit of Art, Ale and Ant--Establishment! After a spot of navigational trouble we parked near the harbour/marina, which has been beautifully transformed, and ambled through some of the Old Town, to find the Art Gallery. The principal attraction for us was the Exhibition "Skin". Greyrocks can't do justice to this collection of brilliant works, so follow the link and do watch the film about "Sea of Hull". We spent an age in there, and when we emerged the sun was glorious and kids were frolicking in the water spouts of the square outside. We decided to find the Museum Quarter  - where we could also have spent all day - but chose Wilberforce House - following through from Bristol's complicity in the Slave Trade. Again well worth the visit and very moving! Afterwards we rounded of Hull at the unfortunately-named Black Boy pub, where the ale was excellent but speedily consumed as we were hungry and the folkies in the other room had cleared out their food supply! So we left the city and headed for the East Yorkshire coast - namely to Bridlington and Filey. A sunny day in the half-term holiday, so we were not the only tourists in either place! It was a cup of tea and a short promenade and jetty stroll in the former. and an early first-rate fish-and-chip supper followed by ale in a pop-up pub in the latter!

All four of us are OAPs and Chris and Penny are dedicated City residents, so we three of us could get greatly subsidised entry to the Jorvik Centre, which has been re-fashioned since the disastrous flooding. Penny opted out, and the rest queued for last entry of the day and took the buggy ride around the brilliantly curated animatronic tableaux, and then briefly toured the static exhibits and demonstrations. What good value!!

On Friday evening - another wet one - we walked to the city to meet old friends Brian and Sue, As we waited for them a Roman soldier (wet) walked in and engaged in conversation! He had abandoned the rest of his phalanx as they were camping and he was in a hostel! This led us to frame the next day's viewing, and we did indeed visit the Museum Gardens where there was an enactment of the settlement Eboracum and relevant military practices. This was very popular on a sunny day. We followed on by blagging entry to the Art Gallery where the School of Art was being commemorated and our host had a work on display! Thanks also to advice Greyrocks also made huge progress with essential shopping and repairs whilst in the city, enjoyed fresh seafood from the market, spotted black cats, and went briefly to the York Folk Weekend. Bob also went for a bike ride.

Now that's witty (and sad)!

Our stay included The End of May - in the calendar sense, but it also saw a slight glimmer of hope about the upcoming General Election. On the last day in York (and the last Saturday before polling) Penny and Ruth were walking through the shopping area and the Labour Party was out in number campaigning so we stopped and explained that Ruth had voted already and Penny was an active member, The person we spoke to said the reception on the doorstep was enthusiastic and anything could happen! Now York is a Greyrocks sort of place and it had voted "Remain" in the referendum, but maybe there would be a surprise! That night  "London Bridge" happened and depression resumed!
To round off the narrative on York here is a snap from the collection of "crazy golf" installations outside the Art Gallery"

Still going strong!

We left the oasis of York to experience Yorkshire as a whole in its Brexit glory, but it was worth it for a day and night of birthday treat:- Fairport Convention on Wakefield! The band likes small unusual venues and we had caught up with them this time at the Unity Works. We had a comfortable and convenient hotel but struggled to find a copy of The Observer and a quiet pub to read it in! Eventually we did and enjoyed a couple of fine pints of ale, then returned to the restaurant at the hotel for a good early supper and an interesting chat with the maitre d' and arriving just in time for the gig.  There were many of the old favourites and a couple of new numbers. There was also a birthday dedication to Ruth ("all the way from the Canary Islands!") Their gigs finish early so we crossed the road to a pub with a vibrant and very popular jamming session and prepared to head South.

A long, busy and very flat drive took us to the Norwich ring road! We were overnight guests of Chris and Jann - old chums from their numerous Paleohora hols - and as staggeringly encountered in Yarmouth last year! We loved their quirky thatched cottage, their recording studio and their new Harley trike, and their bed and breakfast provision was great!

The final social call was the traditional Oulton Broad stay seeing cousins assorted! Rick was fortunately on-shore this time so we spent time with him. The weather was awful on the first day and we got soaked several times in Lowestoft trying to gets Ruth's glasses mended and later taking Rose and Paul out for supper. By the second day the sun was shining for last minute shopping (reading glasses in a strange an inaccessible garden centre!), witnessing the Tories at play in a pub,  and a walk before eating in the bar area of the Crooked Barn. Paul has been motivated in his fitness regime by using his smartphone to monitor activity. Ruth saw the point and rushed to make a last-minute purchase of her carefully-chosen Fitbit and the rest is history!

By pure co-incidence we began our migration on the day of the General Election, and so as polls closed we were in an inn near Dover having enjoyed a remarkably good meal in the South Indian restaurant downstairs (great Masala Dosa). Bob refused to follow the news and hunkered down with YouTube and headphones. Ruth fell asleep knowing that the nightmare had been averted and we were rats leaving a ship that might not sink completely!

Browsing in Bristol

Yet more Art, Ale and Anti-Establishment!
 It was a loaded Yvette that went down the M4, and soon we were unloading all the photo albums and looking round the love nest with its year's worth of improvements. Not bad at all, and the sun was shining! They were both working next day so we began our extensive tour of the city - largely on foot and by bus. The latter gets a lot of stick from Bristolians, but we were staying in Horfield so as to be on a key route and we were generally happy with the reliability and cost. ("Cheers Drive!")
For five of the six days that we stayed it was very warm indeed, so ideal for the various quests we gave ourselves. This included two appointments for Ruth with the owner of the physiotherapy practice where Jack's Mum and sister work. Out of this came some detailed advice, reassurance and latterly some serious mobilisation for the recalcitrant knee.

Banksy's wit: We are fans!

Another objective was to find and view as many works by Banksy as possible. Greyrocks has been growing more admiring of the mystery street artist, whose latest Brexit-inspired oeuvre is in Dover and another target.  One of the Bristol set is just round the corner from Chloë. We sought five others and managed four, in the process not only getting plenty of exercise, but also discovering several other cultural gems! This includes the magnificent M-Shed, where we spent an age (it is free!) exploring both the shame of the city (slave trade and tobacco) and the glorious independence and libertarian spirit of its people. (Not to mention the hot-air balloons, buses, ,,,,) And outside - on an old docks crane was a peculiar sight which Mr Google later helped us to understand!

On the Thursday evening we found ourselves caught up in the news! We were eating a deux in the city centre in a branch of an up-market Italian chain - which shall remain nameless to protect Greyrocks from its creditors - when we were told to leave;- the area was being evacuated, and to go now  without paying the bill! So we did:- we had finished the over-priced main course and had a fair amount of wine left in our glasses! We joined the substantial exodus and found a phone box with a shelf. We waited, finished the wine and sought information. It seems it was a bomb scare.
After a while we decided to try and get back to the hotel by a route outside the cordon, with no map and only Ruth's thirty-year old memory. It took a while, but we found a bus, and that was that!

The weekend's evening meals were rather less eventful, and all en famille! On Friday there was a BBQ at the home of Jack's parents and his sister joined us briefly too! It had been a sweltering day so conditions were perfect! we ate and drank well in a lovely garden and got to know better the in-law-in-laws to be! Saturday was also hot, but we had shopping missions like a scanner to fulfill, and afterwards the best we could think of was to meet C and J at our pub where there was a beer festival, and the food looked good! It was! We also sampled a good few ales - a process which the youngsters continued after we retired hurt! Finally, there was rain threatened for Sunday. but we set off again with a day bus ticket, and had fun walking round the harbour area and getting confused by the disruption of bus services around The Centre until it did rain and we took refuge with the papers in a Clifton pub, then advanced to meet up at The Gloucester Road Ale House. This was Chloë's idea for our final evening, based on her attending regularly (and sometimes being amongst the winners of) their Sunday Quiz. The role of Quiz-master is being passed around a gang of her old Oxford friends and this was the second session for Chris (her ex). He had been criticised for obscurity, and this was no exception., including the appended map question! We two were separated into the teams in our group, and Bob's did win the GBP50 prize, but we all loved the ale, the Sunday roast and the interesting company.

Back at the inn the festival had finished for the night and we had to enter by the fire escape!

Brexit Britain: Broadstairs, Brighton, Bromley, Bristol (more or less!)

Yesterday Greyrocks passed very close to Strasbourg- a key site of a united Europe, but we have recently escaped from our land of birth with its suicidal determination on divorce! It's time to document our tour, and this first (southern) section turned out to be full of surprises. Themes emerged: Art, Ale and the Anti-Establishment.

1. Broadstairs (3 nights)

A quick run from Dover and chosen mainly to get Yvette her annual service and MOT certification! We had a booking at a Travelodge near to the chosen garage, which looked as if it would be handy for shops. In fact it was in a brilliant location within a nearly-new shopping centre with all the chain stores, a cinema, free parking, a bus interchange and a Marstons pub. Completely without character - of course - but all very handy, so Bob took in the car and cycled back to base so we could do sensible shopping for the rest of that day and plan for a day out next one. This involved a very cheap day ticket to take us round the towns of The Isle of Thanet.  We started in Margate, but much of it was closed! At the Turner Contemporary the main galleries were being re-fitted so we enjoyed just the foyer installation - the Three Graces - and the collection of Turner sketches and etchings. We wanted to see what has been done to Dreamland, having heard of its renaissance in US retro style, but it was closed that day,as was a gallery selling images of Margate past and present that interested us. So we took a long cold walk to see the Winter Gardens and then returned to the Old Town, where we found a delightful old pub with a good selection of ales, and by the time we had warmed up, and chatted to staff and customers there was no time for either Broadstairs or Ramsgate so we took the bus back! During the stay we also availed ourselves of the on-site cinema and enjoyed "Their Finest" in a near-empty venue.

2. Rotherfield (2 nights)
Next we went to visit J and A in the depths of the Weald. There were enough dry spells to enjoy their garden and go for a cold walk in the bluebell-rich woods, and we had a fairly good Sunday roast in a local pub.

3. Brighton ( 3 nights)

New at the West Pier site: i360

There were disgusting weather forecasts for this period, but it began well with glorious sunshine and we had a great time throughout based in a well-chosen hotel in Hove, where Yvette could rest undisturbed whilst we used the excellent bus service (or in Bob's case - in one dry spell - the bike). We had a number of unexciting shopping, laundry, hair and health missions to complete, but we also walked a lot, re-visiting old haunts and seeing the new features. One of these is the i360, and a trip up it was a "high point" of the stay for Ruth. (Bob stayed on terra firma and R left her money with him so could not have an over-priced English fizz on board!)  "Doing" the North Laines we dropped into a favoured pub and the bar-person spoke of a recent treat - which set Greyrocks off to book for the coming weekend!

4. South London (6 nights)

Maggie and newly-retired Neil once again put us up (or put up with us). We made a wet trip round Bromley on the way and feared the next day's Balham job would be a repeat of last year's soggy stressful one, but we got away with it:- the purpose being to extricate nineteen years' worth of photo albums from the loft for transport to Bristol and digitising prior to disposal. With help from Pete "next door" and Colin the gardener we manged to speedily get the boxes down the ladder and into the emptied Yvette then take the boys for a few pints in the Moon Under Water (now even more sordid than we remembered!) Next day was free of tasks and we wallowed in it by following up the Brighton discussion. We did the Pink Floyd exhibition at the V and A museum!  This was a mind-blowing experience. Even with timed tickets it was very crowded but the organisation, technical wizardry and evocation of decades of genius made this couple of hours unforgettable. It was cold and wet outside but we got two buses each way for next to nothing adding some South London sight-seeing to the pleasure. That evening we took N and M out for a fine Sardinian meal.

Kitsch or what?

Sunday saw Neil announce we were off on a crawl of three Catford establishments - and what an interesting trio they were! First  - possibly in response to the recent gentrification of the area - the pub at the station has had an overhaul and serves some good ale, then to the unlikely place of the old Constitutional (Tory) Club,and then to the Theatre foyer where Little Nan's has opened an outpost of their famous Deptford place.
There was teapotful of an exotic Eastenders-named cocktail served in china teacups (and free cake!)


Then it was a return to the starkest of reality as we made a visit to see our mutual friend Paul and his wife. He has recently returned to be cared for at home after months in hospital seriously ill. Using his communicator he told us he was lucky to be alive (and that he had a nightmare in which he was in the USA and would have to pay for it all!) We are all wishing them strength through a difficult time.

On our final full day we once again used the buses to get "up town" and visited the Imperial War Museum, This wouldn't normally be on our radar but there is a temporary exhibition on Peace Movements over 100 years.  It is a cleverly composed record  ranging through from pacifism in the two world Wars, CND and Stop The War. Ruth added a ribbon to the symbolic Greenham fence.

It has become clear as this post gets written piecemeal in difficult IT conditions and complicated travel regime that Bristol will have to have its own! Sometime soonish!!