Forever stained

Day 18 - London

We seem to have a knack of turning up to major cities to find out there's a major event on, this time we discover at the last minute that's it the famous Notting Hill Carnival. They were expecting between one and two million people to attend so we decided we should at least check it out.

We started with a walk down to nearby Fleet St and on to the Thames. The streets near the hotel were almost empty but at the river it became quite busy. There were lot of people around, the weather was mild and it was a bank holiday weekend.  

We crossed the Millennium Bridge then returned via Blackfriars Bridge. We hopped on the train at Blackfriars station, hoping to get off at Notting Hill Gate, only to find that the station was closed (too many people, we presume). The next stop was Bayswater so we jumped off there and followed the crowd to the festival. The carnival is Caribbean based and the crowd, especially the women, were dressed with that theme, many being very scantily clothed. 

There were a surprising number of police around, though many of them seemed to be in the back streets and well away from the crowds, though we did see two people pulled out of the crowd and taken aside. There were also a lot of event staff, arrayed in lines across the road. They were still letting people through, and many were taking photos and videos as if they were part of the crowd.

We watched a group of Mas band members and followers swarming the streets, they were heavily dyed in black and purple paint that was literally thrown around. K ran to try and escape the paint but it still managed to splatter her clothes with purple, effectively ruining them. It was only later that we read that it is recommended to wear old clothes to the festival ... too late for us!

After watching for a while we decided to move on as the crowds were getting quite dense. We stopped for a drink at a surprisingly quiet pub, though by the time we moved it was almost full as there was a heavy rain shower while we were there. 

We planned to visit Mayfair so we needed to get to Bond Street station, we walked to Queensway Station only to be told it was also closed, so we walked on to Lancaster Gate. We wandered the upmarket streets of Mayfair, then continued to Regent St and Soho, then Piccadilly Circus, before getting the train back to Chancery Lane and home. 

After that we popped in for a drink at the grand Old Bank Hotel on Fleet Street before heading back home to cook the Indian meals we'd bought from M&S, taking advantage of the cooking facilities in our studio apartment while we can.

Be careful out there!

Day 17 - Hope to London 

We were on the road by 9:30am for the four hour drive to Heathrow to drop off our rental car before our London stint.

There was a bit of rain and there were also disruptions on the M1, but other than that the drive into London wasn't too bad. We had to fill up car and have a quick toilet stop just before we reached the airport we stopped in a place called West Drayton. The place looked impoverished and the locals were surprised we had chosen there to stop there and told us to be very careful with our belongings.

The car return went smoothly, we made our way to the airport railway station and travelled to Chancery Lane, with just a three minute walk to our studio apartment where we were staying for the next three  nights. The streets were very quiet as we were staying in a mostly commercial area, it was a Saturday and also the last weekend of the school holidays.

Hoping for better weather

Day 16 - Hope

It had rained more overnight but the morning was clear so we drove to nearby Castleton for a coffee, with the ruins of Peveril Castle overlooking the town. While checking out the local shops with stones and jewellery made from something called Blue John stone, the miniature bowls for sale were exquisite but unfortunately so were the prices. 

We decided we should explore one of the many local caves, we liked the sound of the self guided Treak Cliff Cavern so we hiked up the side of the hill (with some great views of the area on the way) to enter the 330 million year old caves, where the Blue John stone had been mined for over 300 years.

The Cavern was interesting with beautiful colours and formations, though the tacky plastic dinosaurs placed in some of the most beautiful spots did cheapen the attraction somewhat. From there it was a short drive and walk to visit the Odin Mine crushing wheel which was used to break up the mined lead ore. 

For lunch we drove to the historic village of Eyam, which is famous for voluntarily quarantining itself during the bubonic plague in 1665. We had just ordered lunch when the rain started again, luckily it had started slowing down by the time we finished.

We headed south to visit the sites we missed due to yesterday's rain, including Heights of Abraham where we chose not to take the cable car. We walked along the promenade of Matlock Bath by the Derwent River. It was like an inland version of an English seaside town, with lots of fish and chip, ice cream, confectionery and tacky souvenir shops. 

On our way back to Hope we detoured via Chatsworth House and were blown away by the sheer size and scale of this so called "house" and the numerous grand buildings surrounding it. The farm shop down the road was also an eye opener as the range and quality of food was a big step up from our options at home.

For dinner we went to a local pub up the road in the village, which was much quieter than the one where we were staying. What's surprising is that they had a food menu for dogs, with what appeared to be very reasonable prices.

Losers!

Day 15 - Stoke on Trent to Hope

We woke to rain that kept getting heavier, so we delayed leaving Stoke in the hope that the weather would clear. By 11am we had to get going so we hit the road to drive to the Peak District. We had planned stops at Dovedale and the Stepping Stones but as the rain wasn't letting up we continued to Ashbourne where we grabbed some lunch.

The rain wasn't stopping any time soon so we decided to skip the places we had planned to visit and instead went via the cute villages of Bakewell and Buxton before checking in to our pub accommodation at Hope, just as the weather started to improve.

We walked into village and surveyed the dinner options, we could see a huge tent that was being set up by the Old Hall Hotel for the upcoming Hope Beer and Cider Festival, so we crossed that off our list, opting instead to book a late dinner at the local Indian restaurant that had been recommended to us by our accommodation.

Thursday night was quiz night at the pub we were staying at so we decided to try our hand and joined in with the locals for a change at the prize pool (which we figured was about £13 in total). Unfortunately for us the questions were very UK-centric so we struggled, eventually coming equal last with just 16 points. Defeated and dejected, we walked back into the village for our tasty Indian meal.

We noticed along the way that the old red public telephone boxes have now been converted to house defibrillators, a  clever use, though we do wonder whether the victim needs to be transported all the way to the phone box first.

Going potty

Day 14 - Stoke on Trent

The final day of visiting the Potteries today and our first stop was the famous Gladstone Pottery Museum. We were able to see inside a number of bottle kilns as well as preserved areas of the original factory with displays of glaze testing, decoration, mould making etc. 

This is also where The Great Pottery Throwdown is filmed, and we were told Keith (host of the show) could be floating around somewhere as they currently filming a new series, but we didn't bump in to anyone we recognised. There was a large exhibition chronicling the history of British sanitation, complete with simulated offensive odours and examples of toilets through the ages, starting at holes in the ground all the way to Japanese automated toilets.

We left Gladstone for a quick visit to the Spode exhibition and shop, as well as lunch, before returning to our hotel. We walked to the Potteries Museum just behind our hotel, only to find it closed for renovation. 

We returned to Moorcroft and Middleport (where we'd visited yesterday) so K could purchase some items to mark our visit to the home of English pottery.

What is the deal with this place?

Day 13 - Stoke On Trent 

A lot of the pottery places at Stoke on Trent are closed to visitors on Monday and Tuesday as they're open all weekend, so in hindsight we could have done with arriving a day later as there's not much else to do.

We started the day with a tour of Middleport Pottery which was very informative. It was interesting seeing inside the huge bottle kiln and to learn that they are a dual wall structure with the actual brick walled kiln inside the larger outer wall that you see from the outside. All the work was fired in saggars stacked on top of one another to protect the pots from debris and dirt from the coal.

We then drove to visit another couple of potter shops, which more interestingly were directly opposite a statue and other tributes to Lemmy, the lead singer of Motörhead, who was born in Stoke On Trent.

We filled in the rest of afternoon by visiting Biddulph Grange gardens, then the old ruins of Mow Cop Castle, before heading back to the hotel.

We tried a different pub for dinner this time but once again were told they weren't serving food .... what is the deal with this place? We ended up at a different Italian restaurant where K was served the the smallest "King" prawns she'd ever seen in her life, the servings were so small we ended up at the supermarket for a snack afterwards!

Since when did pubs not serve meals?

Day 12 - South Bristol to Stoke On Trent

Time for a change of scenery so we drove north along the M5 for almost three hours to England's home of pottery Stoke on Trent. The town has seen a resurgence since the TV show The Great Pottery Throwdown started filming there in 2015 and is now in it's ninth series.

We stopped off at Trentham Village for lunch, thinking it would be a nice place right by the very popular Trentham Gardens, but it turned out to be more like a shopping mall with a few average looking food places.

After our disappointing lunch we made our way to the World of Wedgwood for the 2:30pm tour of the factory. We were taken through the factory showing the meticulous steps involved in making their very expensive once fired jasperware ceramics.

From there we stopped briefly at the Emma Bridgewater Pottery shop before visiting Moorcroft Pottery, which had one of the old bottle kilns as well as some very impressive work but unfortunately the prices were a little off putting.

We then checked into our hotel and wandered up to a local pub for dinner, only to be told they weren't serving meals that night, so after a quick drink we found an Italian restaurant that was open and had a nice dinner there.

It's only OK if you're a local

Day 11 - South Bristol

We had been invited to A&L's for a late lunch so after a sleep in we drove to Nailsea for a coffee and then on to Clevedon Beach for a drink and snack at a local pub while relaxing in the sun. 

Clevedon is notable for the huge tidal difference, and as the tide was out we could see how high the pier supports were. We would have walked to the end of the pier but they charged £6.50 per person. It's an annual fee so perhaps it's worth it if you live locally but we couldn't justify it for a one-off visit. The beach wasn't much but there were still people attempting to sunbake in the 22 degree sun.

At A&L's we joined their family for a tasty roast lunch outdoors, the weather was perfect for that sort of thing, before saying our farewells for this visit, maybe we'll be back in another 15 years?

I've never seen so many black t-shirts in one place!

Day 10 - South Bristol

A&L had invited us around for breakfast so we arrived at their house mid morning for a coffee, then went for a walk past the allotments and through some fields (not paddocks). Everything was very dry and crisp. but there were a lot of ripe blackberries and plums growing wild so we tried a few along the way.

After leaving A&L's  we drove into Bristol, hoping to find somewhere near the harbour to enjoy the sunshine but it was so busy and we couldn't find anywhere to easily park the car so we gave up and drove back to our hotel.

Our hotel was in the grounds of an old private estate and school, with manicured gardens and terraces, and there was a wedding reception underway when we arrived, We sat outside and had a some drinks and a snack, then got ready for what M had been looking forward to for some time. 

Just after 6pm we hopped in the car and drove to the the ArcTanGent music festival at Fernhill Farm, the main attraction being to see the Cult of Luna with Julie Christmas, who were closing the festival with a performance of their album Mariner, The festival was very well organised with huge big top tents, lots of food and drink and (to K's surprise) clean toilets!

Once the sun set it became quite chilly and we headed back to the car for more clothes. In a sea of black t-shirts and nose rings K was pretty confident she was the only one wearing a soft pink New Zealand alpaca wool jumper and a mink hat. We had a drink and watched a couple of the lead up bands before venturing into the main tent to see the headliners.

The performance was as excellent as M had hoped it would be, and if you want to see what it was like here's a sample:

Once it all finished at around 11pm we were a little concerned it would take some time to get out of the car park, but it was all pretty painless and we were back at the hotel by midnight,  

This is not the time for a cheesy joke

Day 9 - Frome to South Bristol 

We said goodbye to Frome and started our drive to Bristol. We had a couple of things planned for that area, including a visit to our friends A&L in Backwell.

We went via Cheddar Gorge which was very touristy with many shops that of course sell cheddar cheese, along with lots of fudge and ice cream. We decided that the entry fee to visit the caves was a bit rich, instead M climbed the 274 steps of Jacob's ladder and then up to the highest point at the Pinnacle, which had a good view of Cheddar town and reservoir. 

We made a short lunch stop at some cute tea rooms in Ashbridge before arriving at A & L's. On our previous trip to the UK in 2011 we had stayed in their summer house in their garden and used it as a base to visit other places in the UK

After a nice catch up with we left to check in to our hotel in South Bristol for the next three nights, then driving to the nearby village for an excellent dinner at The Congresbury Arms.