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Camping in Cambridge

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We took Morrison out for his first trip of the year to Cambridge, arriving on Tuesday 25th May at the Cambridge Camping and Caravan Club’s campsite. On route, we stopped at Saint Neots for lunch and parked in the riverside car park. The payment system was a new one for me, you could pay by card. No problem, you also had to sign out of the car park using the same card, otherwise, you would be charged for the whole day.

The Cambridge Camping and Caravan Club obviously had had some issues with the persistent rain of the previous weeks. Sections of the field were roped off. Thankfully our stay was relatively dry and we were parked in a dry patch. We soon set up and caught the bus into Cambridge. It was remarkable how quiet Cambridge was with the lack of tourists. King’s Parade was totally closed to traffic and all the restaurants had placed tables on the street. We stopped for a glass of wine outside the Cambridge Wine Merchants, where you could choose a glass from their menu or any bottle of wine from their shop. We had a walk around, tea at Michaelhouse Cafe and some more walking. I had booked the Loch Fyne Restaurant, believing it would be crowded, it was still the first week restaurants could serve indoors. No, it was remarkably empty and many of the menu items were off or had substitutions. No lime or lime juice for a cocktail, no mangetout peas. All rather odd.

Wednesday we met up with the UK Chapter of the Sadgits, being us two, Norman, Valerie, Simon, Richard and Andrea. We met up with some of them at the Michaelhouse Café, where we got talking to an elderly couple enjoying tea. It seems he was up at Emmanuel in 1957 when they met. We visited Kettle’s Yard where N&V and us two had the first tour. We had the museum to ourselves. Such a treat. The others had later “tours”. Somehow we ended up having a liquid late lunch at The Punter where we stayed for rather a long time. Nice pub. How come we didn’t know it? Valerie and Norman had to leave early to catch a train home, while the rest of us were going on to the Cambridge Chop House for supper. Early for the Chop House, we split into three groups, Simon and I going for a fast-paced walk along the River Cam past Jesus Green, Midsummer Common, and part of Stourbridge Common; while Richard had to collect his new Mac and Rosemary & Andrea presumably dawdled in various shops. We all met up at the Chop House for a pleasant, meaty meal. We could have dined outside, but rain was in the offing.

Thursday was the Fitzwilliam Museum in the morning to see the exhibition on Touch, and a wander around the exhibits. R did not warm to the exhibition, but was revived by a visit to a favourite painting. Afterwards, we stopped at the Cambridge Wine Merchants (again), where after a glass of different wine each, we opted for a bottle of Picpoul de Pinet followed by a constitutional walk to Jesus Green to locate the restaurant for tomorrow’s supper. Today we ate supper at the Tapas Bar, Tabanco. We had our best meal of the week here. Served by a very attentive waitress who always kept a watch on the tables, and was with you in an instant when you required her. So we were able to call for the bill, pay and promptly catch the bus home. It was a lovely evening back at the campsite with a pretty setting sun.

Friday and the campsite was looking deserted as more people were leaving. Today we were visiting the Cambridge Zoology museum. We had been before at closing time and had been impressed in the 30 minutes we were there. This time we had a few hours looking around, not so impressed. R was unhappy with the labelling and visitors did not obey the one-way system, which I must say was difficult to follow. There were also uncontrolled children on site.

Afterwards, we made the required stop at Michaelhouse Café, think we must have visited there at least once every day. Next, we walked along the River Cam towards the Fen Causeway, watching the inexperienced men trying to punt. So funny to watch, I would, of course, never be like that. Time to spare before supper, we walked up Castle Street to Castle Mound where I took a photo of Cambridge. It had now had started to rain, so we hurried to the River Bar Steakhouse & Grill. A steak place, pretty expensive, and I do prefer the steaks I cook to most restaurant ones. Asked for a rare steak and I got what I call a medium, or even medium-well-done. To me rare means some raw meat in the centre. A steak with little or no blood oozing out of it is not rare. R had “disappointing” salmon.

Back to the campsite, the rain had stopped. The campsite was now full, with lots of kids. It was the start of half term. Thankfully it all went quiet as night drew in.

Driving home the next day, stopped at the St Neots Tesco to fill up with diesel. The price of hydrocarbon fuels has shot up as we come out of the lockdowns. This was the first time I hit the £99 limit for paying at the pump. So not quite a full tank.

Election Night

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Thankfully we had voted by postal vote, so did not have to rush home from Norwich. Instead, we headed to Essex for the Election Night. Horrible drive in torrential rain. The horror of the drive was the precursor for the awful night. The hospitality of Andrea and Richard was fabulous. It was good to meet up with Jon, over from South Africa for his mother’s funeral. The horror of the night was the election result. The closing polls were almost spot on predicting a Conservative majority of more than 80.

We didn’t stay up particularly late.

Some Sadgits Get Together in Oxford

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We met Andrea, Richard and Jon at Claydon House. After we arrived, we all walked to the cafe and had a quick meal, before having a tour of the house. Much of the house was under repair because of serious cracks in the ceilings. Furniture had been removed and stored in other rooms. It was likely to become worse before getting better. After the tour, we went home for supper and copious amounts of whisky.

Saturday we met up with Ravi and Simon, plus his daughter & her family. We found Ravi, Simon and family in the Peoples Vote March. I heard Caroline Lucas giving a supportive Remain talk. There were a few leave people giving the Remainers a hard time.

Afterwards, we went to the Branca Restaurant for a good lunch and then a walk around University Park.

Cambridge Folk Festival – Saturday

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Today was the main get together of the Sadgits at the Folk Festival. Mike, Reiko & Simon added to our numbers today. We got two tables together where we camped out for most of the afternoon, drinking beer and Pimms and eating curry.

First I watched Nancy and James who are apparently among the best-known British acts working today. Voted “Best Duo” twice at the BBC Folk Awards, “Nancy and James brought their captivating live sound, along with their first-ever live album, recorded over two nights in the winter of 2018”.

Nancy Kerr, James Fagan and Friends

Kathryn Tickell on Northumbrian smallpipes, fiddle, voice, Cormac Byrne on percussion, Joe Truswell on drums, Kate Young on fiddle, voice, Amy Thatcher on accordion, synths, voice, clog dancing, Kieran Szifris on octave mandolin, musicians from Northumberland, Scotland, Ireland and England “invoke the dark, powerful, sounds of Ancient Northumbria and broadcast them to the modern world”. 

Kathryn Tickell Cambridge Folk Festival 2019

“Mad Dog Mcrea blends a unique mixture of folk-rock, pop, gypsy jazz, bluegrass and ‘shake your ass’ music. From self-penned songs of adventure, drinking, love and life, to traditional songs of gypsies, fairies, legless pirates and black flies – Mad Dog never fail to capture their audience with their infectious songs. In constant demand and having played just about every festival and two-bit, jibe-arsed dive in Christendom, Mad Dog Mcrea are, in every sense of the word, a live, band. “

Mad Dog Mcrae Cambridge Folk Festival 2019

Finally ended up eating a late-night meal before heading back to the campsite.

Cambridge Folk Festival – Friday

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The first day set the trend for the rest of the week. Up fairly early for a shower, to try and miss the queues, then breakfast. Then the bus ride to the festival. The heading off never quite occurred on time, always ended up chatting with my neighbours from London. I thought they were late risers, but no, they were up early as well but went swimming in the nearby pool.

Typically I would arrive at the festival at midday and have my second breakfast, bacon and egg breakfast, with a beer to wash the food down, sitting at the main bar, waiting for Sadgits to arrive. Then I would wait for Ravi, Jo, Callum, Andrea and Richard to arrive. Today was a lovely warm sunny day, and much of the time was spent drinking, eating and chatting with a few musical interludes.

My quotes are from the website to act as a prompt to me about the various acts

RURA, “one of the most exciting bands on the Scottish folk scene”, had already played on Thursday, but were also playing today. RURA “are a multi-award-winning act, and one of Scotland’s most sought-after folk-based bands, with three heralded albums – most recently In Praise of Home.”

RURA

Not sure Ben Caplan chose the best shirt to perform in, not loose so by the end of the gig you could see it was dripping wet from perspiration. Ben Caplan “explores themes of immigration, loss, darkness, love, sex, and God”. I absolutely loved his song, Plough the Shit.

Ben Caplan

The final band for the night was Graham Nash. Unfortunately, I was way back from the stage. Each song was proceeded by a story which explained the time and events that helped in the creation of the song. Some very interesting stories.

I read the news today, Marrakesh Express, Love the one you’re with, Cathedral, Our House
Chicago, Teach your Children

Glastonbury and Ludgershall Bike Night

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That was it. Glastonbury was over. We showered, packed up and The Love Fields at 7 am in the morning. Stopped off for a Costa and arrived home.

Ravi and Simon stayed over, so we entertained them to some local village life. The Ludgershall Bike Night. Thousand of bikes parked up in the village from 6 to 9. Stalls selling beer, fish and chips, burgers were doing a roaring trade. We opted for the pig roast which was run by a local Kingswood man. Was accosted by the Air Ambulance, who saw we had been to Glastonbury and then talked at great length about the event.

There was a fabulous American truck unit on display. Rosemary saw it pass our house that evening. The event earns money for the Air Ambulance and other charities.

Glastonbury 2019 Sunday

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Our last day at Glastonbury, up early to the loo and the showers were still closed. Looked out again shortly before 9 and they were in the process of being opened. Quickly told Simon and Ravi and then I dashed off to the showers before there were any queues. The word spread around the yurts like wildfire.

Today I was heading over to see Jeff Goldblum at West Holts and Vampire Weekend and The Cure at the Pyramid Stage.

Ambled over to the West Holts and stopped in the Circus Field to watch a musical performance. Interested in the patter that got me into the little stage area, anyone walking by who peered in was fair game for the compere, and if you walked on by, you were grossly insulted.

After this brief entertainment, I stopped at the model of Glastonbury, many clay figures on the ground with caricature models of the stages and festival areas. See some of the pictures below. This was at Glastonbury before but looked more expanded this year.

At the West Holts stage, I was in time to see Hollie Cook, a dramatic reggae singer who was a former member of The Slits. It was fun, pop, reggae with a nice dancing beat.

With a Brothers cider beside me, I waited for Ravi and Simon to arrive for Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer band. Jeff was on stage chatting with the audience during the soundcheck, he also had a humorous repartee with the BBC woman who came on stage and asked him when he was starting. His response was he had already started, at which point the microphones were cut off until the official start time. Jeff also did a signing, and despite the long queue, I bought a vinyl album which he signed for me, and I shook his hand.

While I was queuing, This is the Kit played, earthy indie-folk music, and then the Fatoumata Diawars. At this point, I raced back to Love Fields and dumped my Vinyl and headed over to the Hospitality Area. Simon and Ravi had seen Kylie Minogue and I assumed they would be watching Miley Cyrus. I grabbed a drink and a burger, and then found Simon and Ravi in the Hospitality area also eating. They had given Miley a miss.

I headed off to see Vampire Weekend, quite close to the front and then moved further forward for The Cure. While waiting for the Cure, I spotted Mark S (Walkerite) and his daughter across the other side of the barrier. The atmosphere waiting for The Cure was intense. They came on and played for two hours. Just music, no fireworks, no flares, no paper, just music and lights. For the final song ‘Boys don’t Cry’, I was grabbed by a girl who wanted a quick final dance with me. It was such a beautiful and intense moment. All the old classics played. My recording of The Cure on my phone is absolute crap. Good pictures, bad sound. I have now bought an external microphone for the phone, I will be testing it at Latitude.

I waited for the crowd to disperse and said hello to Mark and his daughter while they did the mandatory selfies.

Glastonbury 2019 Saturday

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Disaster, the showers were all closed this morning and would remain closed for the rest of the day. The Love Fields and other glamping sites had been requested to close their showers. The water supply in the festival site was in a dire situation, and with a very hot Saturday forecast they did not want the water to run out. My only comment is, who drinks water at festivals when there are Brothers cider and real ales in abundance?

We started the day at the Pyramid Stage to watch The Proclaimers. (Watch and hear Ravi singing along in the video.)

The rest of the day appears to be a haze, spent mainly at the West Holts Stage watching The Ezra Collective, Slowthai and Lizzo. I think it must have been the Brothers cider and the hot weather.

In the evening there was an abrupt change in temperature, the wind changed and the temperatures plummeted, the showers were still closed.

The evening was spent at a bar next to the Acoustic Tent where I had a JD, (no queues) and then some Real Ale. Simon bought some comfort food, Cheese Mac. So simple and so delicious. Suitably fortified we were then ready for Hawkwind. Simple, no graphics just smoke and flashing lights accompanied by their layered acoustics. Not a big crowd, but then The Killers were headlining the Pyramid Stage. You can see the age profile of those attending Hawkwind by looking at the bar photographs. A nice crowd though.

We three then went for a walk around the South-East corner before the crowds arrived, visiting Block 9 East (IICON), The Common (The Temple and Rum Shack), across to Shangrila to read the slogans on The Lanes and listen in at the Truth Stage. Leaving through the Unfairground, we went across into Block 9 West to see the Meat Rack. Was unable to persuade Ravi and Simon to enter the Meat Rack.

We parted ways, so I left R and S to walk through Avalon home, while I headed off down the railway line (busy) and diverted through Green Fields, to miss the crowds, and up to Strummerville where I sat near the fire and listened to the DJ. Headed down to The Park and hopefully Pangea. It was absolutely heaving in that area. I gave up trying to get anywhere near the dance area and only viewed Pangea from the distance. I had wondered what the huge sphere built around the base of the crane was. It was a screen, and what I saw was a huge iris and pupil rotating around looking like an eyeball. Watch at the end of the video. Fabulous, they will be next year, as I believe the crane will be there for four years.

I decided to head back to Love Fields. Showers still down.

Glastonbury 2019 Friday

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Yey, another bright and sunny day, it could though become a problem, because Saturday is forecast to be very hot. Already there are problems with the mains water pressure being low, and not filling the reserve tank for the showers fast enough, resulting in some of the showers being closed early this morning. Still, I was up early, showered and ready for breakfast. Those Pain Au Chocolate are something to die for.

Today was the first day the main stages were open. The first stop for me was to watch the Vaccines on the Other Stage, while Ravi and Simon watched Bjorn Again on the Pyramid. Back into the Hospitality Area for a beer to wait for R&S to materialise. They had been on the front barriers singing along to Mamma Mia and were very thrilled.

We then went onto watch Sheryl Crow and Bastille on the Pyramid Stage. (See Ravi dancing to Sheryl in the video.) S&R departed for dinner at West Holts. This was the last time I would see them until the morning. They had their eyes on Stormzy who provided an epic performance and plenty of Fuck Boris chants.

I moved near to the front of the crowd to watch Ms Lauryn Hill. She was late on and we were entertained by her DJ. Apparently, this is fairly typical. There were gaps between each song as she asked for her sound monitors to be readjusted between each song.

Supper and then I made my way over to the South-East corner to listen to a metal band Gojira, playing on the Truth Stage in Shangri La. Was an excellent choice. Decided to wait for a punk band called The Idles. While I was waiting, another Walkerite texted to say he was heading to the Truth stage for The Idles. Waving phone lights we found each other and enjoyed the show. This was the second time they had played today. Earlier in the day, they played at The Park.

We separated after the show, and I wandered back, stopping at the Unfairground to film a show with flames, and then the Avalon Cafe where there was a Sikh band playing.

Glastonbury 2019 Thursday

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The Thursday is another quiet day at Glastonbury, none of the main stages are open, some of the small stages open and areas such as the South-East corner (the naughty corner) and Silver Hayes open. Quiet might be a misnomer because the quiet areas are very full with thousands of people ambling around. They would normally be at the Pyramid Stage. So areas like Green Fields can be busier on the Wednesday and Thursday.

We (Ravi, Simon & I) all met for breakfast at 9.00am after having showers earlier. No queues, water surprisingly warm and fast-flowing, and a large cubicle you could party in (I wish). Breakfast was good, especially the Pain Au Chocolates and Almond Croissants. I emailed Sam’s Kitchens and this is the reply I received. “I was up at 4.30am baking them fresh daily. We buy them frozen from an amazing French company, prove them overnight and then bake for 20 minutes so they are served perfectly. The almond croissants were yesterday’s plain with the addition of our own frangipan and some flaked almonds.” Cooked breakfast as well.

The day was bright and sunny with a strong cool breeze, amazing how much warmer it was when you descended into the festival area. Our first stop was the Tor Lookout, a scaffold construction on the North side of the Theatre Area. This structure is used for abseiling type dance performances. When not used for these you can climb to the top and look over the festival site.

We walked on to the Green Futures area and headed for Speakers Forum to hear Professor David King talk about climate change. David King had been the head of Chemistry at Cambridge University then the government’s Chief Science Advisor. While we waited for him to arrive (rather late), we heard from Gail Bradbrook one of the founders of EXtinction Rebellion. She explained how the XR group operated and their plans for the future. I don’t think I will be booking any air travel in the Autumn when they plan to restart their protests. Quite a few audience members were XR members and some had stuck/padlocked themselves to the Pink Yacht in London.

David King duly arrived and congratulated XR on their rebellion and told everybody how we must start to reverse climate change. The 1.5C and even 1C rises are too much, Greenland ice is melting at a rate far faster than predicted, modelling of some acceleration factors in ice melting had been missed. We must start to remove CO2, and one way they were looking into it, especially after the recent Pacific volcano, was to research the effects of creating algae blooms in the oceans by fertilising the oceans.

The whole discussion was repeated again for the BBC who recorded the show for later transmission.

Afterwards, we walked onto The Park, by way of The Wood, Silver Hayes, the CO-OP, and Glastonbury on Sea, yes a long way round. The Wood was disappointing, because it was busy because it was a Thursday. Glastonbury on Sea was busy with huge queues, so we gave it a miss. At The Park, we went to view a recently unveiled billboard from the anti-Brexit artists Cold War Steve and Led By Donkeys that overlooked the entire festival site. A beer was called for and drunk.

Back now to the West Holts Stage for some ciders and dinner.

At The Love Fields, Simon and Ravi listened to music in the bar, by all reports it was very good. I headed out after dark to meet up with Jon M. Jon worked for Walker and was planning to come to Glastonbury working with other Walkerites, Ed and Mary. Ed and Mary cancelled leaving Jon to come on his own. He was working that evening at the Blues Gully in the Silver Hayes.

I set out to the Silver Hayes via The Wood. It always looks brilliant at night, and this year was no exception. They had mist generators under the walkways adding a spooky look to the lighted ponds. Met up with Jon, so we chatted for a few minutes.

Continued my walk up to The Park, Green Fields and then the South-East corner. I was a bit disappointed by the area this year. It didn’t seem quite so good. The buildings in Block 9 were missing the crashed underground train, I never saw dancers in the windows of the broken down hotels, indeed the whole area appeared rather sanitised this year. I wonder if others thought the same because on another night I could not get near the new Pangea (the dock crane which replaced Arcadia) below The Park.