Tuesday 29th August 2017

As Ann still wasn't feeling well this morning we came straight home to Devon stopping here in the Wye Valley briefly.

Today we traveled 250 miles (403 kilometres).

During our journey to and from Shrewsbury Folk Festival we travelled 477 miles (768 kilometres). We were away from our home in Devon for 7 days.

 

Monday 28th August 2017

One of the memorable features of our stay here over the last few days has been the regular arrival of the sludge gulper lorry. I turns up and pumps out the adjoining toilet waste tank. It is very noisy while it is pumping out but doesn't stay for long.

On the plus side the electricity generator pictured here was rather noisy for the first couple of days we were here but then broke down and despite intensive efforts to repair it has remained silent.

We didn't do much today as Ann was poorly. We did go up to the shop to buy a carton of orange juice and saw what ever was going on here on the way back. Judy left in mid afternoon to drive back to Bangor. This was apparently the longest trip she had ever driven on her own.

Lots of people were leaving the festival during the afternoon. It was very quiet down by the riverbank in between the sludge gulper's visits.

We went out to find some food and first of all bumped into Julie.

Then we also met up with Annette, Andy and....

..........Tony. Ann and I had fish and chips freshly flown in from Whitby!

As we were having our tea this went on just next to us. That's about it for Shrewsbury Folk Festival. Were staying here overnight and then moving on.

Sunday 27th August 2017

Another beautiful day at Shrewsbury. Andy and Annette came to visit our van. After a late start I saw a bit of Harare's set.

Very good band. Harare, as their name suggests, are from Zimbabwe.

I met up with Ann and Judy. Judy certainly likes her baccy! Here she's rolling up for a passing stranger while smoking one she rolled earlier.

I had fish and chips for lunch. Theresa, Julie and Tony came by. I hadn't met Tony, Julie's partner, before.

Later on I went to see Laudon Wainwright play. He had some very funny songs including one he wrote before Trump was elected US President where he sings about a dream he had that Trump had been elected and all the awful things he had done. In his dream Trump appointed Sarah Palin Secretary of Hate! Don't wish for what you don't want!

I stayed on for the start of Seth Lakeman's set but I didn't really rate it so I came home to the van early. Seth's band is really loud - I can hear them from here where we are parked down by the riverside.

Saturday 26th August 2017

There are lots of different places to eat at the Festival but they all seem to operate on a cash only basis. This morning I went into Shrewsbury town centre on the free shuttle bus to get some cash.

Ann and Judy were much better at choosing what they wanted to eat than I was. I dithered around for ages.

They'd soon had their second course.

In the evening I saw Eric Bibb and his band.

Eric's guitarist is Swedish. Eric himself, originally from the USA, now lives in Sweden.

Most of Eric's material could be described as blues however some of it veers towards the spiritual. I watched all this with Andy.

After the set had finished I met up with Julie and Theresa. Julie (right) worked for Birmingham Council at the same time as I did many years ago and I remember her well. Theresa (left) reckons she's met me before but I'm struggling to recall this.

Friday 25th August 2017

We were up quite early this morning and made the short journey over to the Shrewsbury Folk Festival site. We got there about 8.30 the gates having opened at 7.00 and the camping areas were already quite full. The programme doesn't really start till 19.30!

We found an okay parking place down by the River Severn. Here's our view. The only downside is that it is close to an electricity generator which is a bit noisy. 

Later in the day Judy from Bangor turned up in her campervan and parked next to us. Great to see you again Judy!

We went off to look for some food. I gave what cash I had to Ann so she could buy some food as the food stalls all seemed to be cash only. I pretended not to be hungry.

Ann had jerked chicken - it looked very nice. 

There's lots going on here with different bands performing simultaneously in different tents. We bumped into Andy in the vicinity of the food stalls.

As night fell I ventured out again.

Here's the view inside the main venue.

I watched the Oyster Band play. Amazingly they have been playing together for 40 years now.

During a pause between songs the Scottish bloke who plays the fiddle recounted how bad things were for musicians in the "good old days". David Bowie had told him about a gig he'd played at Consett Working Mens' Club many years ago. David asked his hosts if he could use the backstage toilet. The MC directed him to a sink in the corner of the changing room. Bowie said that he couldn't possibly use that to which the MC retorted: "If it was good enough for Shirley Bassey  then it's good enough for you."


Today we traveled 5 miles (8 kilometres). We are at N52.71441 W2.76543

Thursday 24th August 2017

There was plenty more coming and going of ships at Portishead this morning. Here's a really big one heading into port.

We eventually got going at about 11.00 and crossed over the old Severn Bridge to Chepstow. We then traveled up the Wye Valley.

After stopping at Monmouth to buy some groceries we had forgotten to buy yesterday we continued on north to Shrewsbury and parked in this nice quiet car park close to the house of our friends Andy and Annette.

Andy and Annette kindly invited us around for tea which was very nice indeed.

Today we traveled 111 miles (179 kilometres) coincidentally exactly the same as yesterday! We are at N52.69047 W2.763431

Wednesday 23rd August 2017

We left Widecome early afternoon today and after various stops to take on diesel, groceries, LPG etc we traveled to North Somerset and stopped for the day on the seafront at Portishead where we can look across the Bristol Channel to Wales.

 

Looking away from the sea from where we are parked there is a boating lake.

We took a walk along the sea front. Here's the view looking back towards our parking place. Our van is the one furthest right.

We walked out to a nearby headland where there is a small automated lighthouse.

From here the two Bristol Channel bridges are clearly visible.

 

Could this be a Banksy on the wall of the swimming pool?

As dusk approached some big ships came in towards the port at Avonmouth. You can just see the Pilot Boat behind this one.

The navigable channel for large ships is very close to the shore here!

There was a really nice sun set.

We spoke to a few locals who told us that there is an exceptionally high tide this evening. Here you can see the vegetation on the shore being inundated by the tide.

 

Many wildfowl turned up to feed on the land flooded by the exceptionally high tide. This is a really brilliant overnight spot. 

Today we traveled 111 miles (179 kilometres). We are at N51.49041 W2.77462