Flash Memory
21/10/24 12:26 Filed in: Writing
Following the Flash Dogs Equinox challenge last month I’ve decided to give the Remix a go. To that end I downloaded a Kindle ‘book’ of writing I’d done for a load of flash challenges from back in the day. There are literally dozens and dozens of them, and bloody hell so many old flash fiction challenges that have been and gone. It got me proper reminiscing about all the good stuff the Dogs & Co. used to be involved with.
What a time it was, anyone new to Twitter won’t know how good it used to be for the writer types, which is how the Flash Dogs formed—it wouldn’t these days with the awful mess Twitter has become. Elon doesn’t like reading.
How many of these (largely weekly) challenges do you remember?
Angry Hourglass
Finish That Thought
Flash Friday
Last Line First
Luminous Creatures
Microbookends
Mid Week Blues Buster
MidWeek Flash
Race the Date
Seedling Challenge
Thursday Threads (still going)
Trifecta
Visdare
I used to use these all very regularly and it makes me realise how little I do now along these lines. I have started doing a few of my own stories from short snippets I come up with myself. While the challenges have gone I should really just do my own that way and then either develop into something more substantial, or put up a few on this ole website. I do need to be more regular in terms of writing and publishing I guess. I shouldn’t use the demise of these sites and prompts as an excuse not to.
Next though I’ve got to choose one of my old flash stories from one of these challenges to get in and remix. If you wrote for any of these why don’t you give it a go to? Consider it a new prompt.
What a time it was, anyone new to Twitter won’t know how good it used to be for the writer types, which is how the Flash Dogs formed—it wouldn’t these days with the awful mess Twitter has become. Elon doesn’t like reading.
How many of these (largely weekly) challenges do you remember?
Angry Hourglass
Finish That Thought
Flash Friday
Last Line First
Luminous Creatures
Microbookends
Mid Week Blues Buster
MidWeek Flash
Race the Date
Seedling Challenge
Thursday Threads (still going)
Trifecta
Visdare
I used to use these all very regularly and it makes me realise how little I do now along these lines. I have started doing a few of my own stories from short snippets I come up with myself. While the challenges have gone I should really just do my own that way and then either develop into something more substantial, or put up a few on this ole website. I do need to be more regular in terms of writing and publishing I guess. I shouldn’t use the demise of these sites and prompts as an excuse not to.
Next though I’ve got to choose one of my old flash stories from one of these challenges to get in and remix. If you wrote for any of these why don’t you give it a go to? Consider it a new prompt.
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A Night at the Casino Where Everyone Is A Winner
Went to the Liverpool O2 on Friday to see Casino’s biggest hometown gig, where they were supported by Heavy North. Several years ago I went to the Arts Club (don’t confuse it with the Arts Bar btw) to see the Heavy North supported by Casino. Both top Liverpool bands and matey too.
I didn’t see the second support (Neil Noa) as my sorry old body wasn’t up to it (it turned out it wasn’t up to two bands either, but that’s a different story).
I grabbed a pint of something wet and expensive and headed up the front of the venue and grabbed a bit of rail on the far right of the stage. Got chatting to John from Bury, a big music fan and a Liverpool FC fan to boot (a big fan of Heavy North who’s seen them at least as much as I had, but hadn’t seen Casino before).
The Heavy North
Heavy North came on stage right on time to play their half hour or support slot and hit their groove straight away with a couple of tracks from their first album. The atmosphere for their performance was great and the O2 had filled considerably. I was glad I had bagged a place at the front, resting on the rail and dropping the pint on to the step on the other side for intermittent retrieval was a godsend. The set was a pleasure to hear and every song was celebrated with loud applause. The crowd were there to see the bands, not to chat which is sometimes an issue when I’ve been to the O2. Didn’t manage to grab a set list when they finished but LFC John from Bury did.
Casino
A Brief Casino Solo
Casino had a hard act to follow even if they are all mates. They rose to the challenge and performed brilliantly with their new single, Heaven, kicking it off. By Your Side was greeted like an old friend with everyone singing along. It was clear the band were loving the night too and they played as a tight outfit—like they always do to be fair. They’ve got tons of great songs that always get the crowd going. Now if I could just hold an album in my hands...
Casino
I didn’t see the second support (Neil Noa) as my sorry old body wasn’t up to it (it turned out it wasn’t up to two bands either, but that’s a different story).
I grabbed a pint of something wet and expensive and headed up the front of the venue and grabbed a bit of rail on the far right of the stage. Got chatting to John from Bury, a big music fan and a Liverpool FC fan to boot (a big fan of Heavy North who’s seen them at least as much as I had, but hadn’t seen Casino before).
The Heavy North
Heavy North came on stage right on time to play their half hour or support slot and hit their groove straight away with a couple of tracks from their first album. The atmosphere for their performance was great and the O2 had filled considerably. I was glad I had bagged a place at the front, resting on the rail and dropping the pint on to the step on the other side for intermittent retrieval was a godsend. The set was a pleasure to hear and every song was celebrated with loud applause. The crowd were there to see the bands, not to chat which is sometimes an issue when I’ve been to the O2. Didn’t manage to grab a set list when they finished but LFC John from Bury did.
Casino
A Brief Casino Solo
Casino had a hard act to follow even if they are all mates. They rose to the challenge and performed brilliantly with their new single, Heaven, kicking it off. By Your Side was greeted like an old friend with everyone singing along. It was clear the band were loving the night too and they played as a tight outfit—like they always do to be fair. They’ve got tons of great songs that always get the crowd going. Now if I could just hold an album in my hands...
Casino
Flash Dogs-Woof!
Was made up with the return of the Flash Dogs and their Equinox challenge back in September (hey, it was on the Equinox, wasn’t it?). And this very Sunday they published the results of the judging by Rebekah and Juna: and one of my stories was chosen as a winner (by Rebekah, of Flash! Friday fame). So now I am doubly made up.
Flash Dogs Equinox—Photo Prompt
Two fifty words is a difficult challenge, but everybody managed it admirably. My first story ‘Newcote: A New Beginning’ won, along side Eric Martell’s ‘Why We Seek’ (picked, of course, by Juna)—and one my other two got a mention as well for the ‘most appropriate response to seeing a Dragon’—which I guess was the protagonist peeing himself.
I’m glad I got a dragon into a story with a nod to the judges. It would have been rude not to. Anyway, more writing awaits—and maybe more dragons or some alternative events with ‘appropriate responses’. Onwards and Upwards.
Flash Dogs Equinox—Photo Prompt
Two fifty words is a difficult challenge, but everybody managed it admirably. My first story ‘Newcote: A New Beginning’ won, along side Eric Martell’s ‘Why We Seek’ (picked, of course, by Juna)—and one my other two got a mention as well for the ‘most appropriate response to seeing a Dragon’—which I guess was the protagonist peeing himself.
I’m glad I got a dragon into a story with a nod to the judges. It would have been rude not to. Anyway, more writing awaits—and maybe more dragons or some alternative events with ‘appropriate responses’. Onwards and Upwards.
Very Mostly Water
Not been out singing at Open Mics much this year at all. Not even approaching double figures out there, but I went to the newly moved OM night at the Dispensary on Monday. Yep, it’s moved to Mondays so that it doesn’t clash with any footy (or will do so a lot less often) now that Liverpool are back in the Champion’s League (which has games on random Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays to make it difficult as far as I can see). There’s also other OM nights on the Tuesday (including the nearby Metrocola), but to be fair there are OM nights all over the city on nearly every day really so any day will clash with one or another.
Last Monday was one of the wettest day in the recent history of the city so it was a bit of a last minute call to get out there. I felt I should make the effort after watching too much telly (I’d binge watched Ludwig on the iPlayer). Got wet going to the bus, then got wet leaving Queen Square, had a quick pint in the Vines before getting wetter with the last few hundred yards to the Dizzy.
Dave O’Grady was there and a couple of regulars—and a newbie (Dan?) on his first Dizzy appearance. Headzic played his double wok after him, with all his man-made sounds of rain falling to compete with the real stuff outside, then I went up to play a few songs (five). Dave came up after me and played some of his bluesy tracks.
With the constant (around 36 hours) rain I went with Bap Kennedy’s ‘Mostly Water’ first. Think I’ve only played it once or twice in the wild before. Followed that with ‘Splendid Isolation’ Warren Zevon (don’t play that often either), then it was a few of my old dependables: ‘Heart Breaks Like the Dawn’ Chuck Prophet, ‘Oh My Sweet Carolina’ Ryan Adams, and, due to requests, ‘Whiskey in my Whiskey’ Felice Brothers. Five songs—that’s like an EP’s worth. Afterwards chatted to a nice couple from Munich who were travelling through the city and they’d loved the OM. Said it was rare in their part of the city. The guy asked if I’d written the songs, to which I replied with the names of the singer songwriters who actually had. He knew all of them (though maybe not Chuck P), but said he hadn’t recognised them when I was playing them. I confirmed that by not playing the guitar well I did them in my own way and by necessity ‘made the songs my own.’ His other half had said she’d loved them and had been looking up the songs whilst I was playing them—which you can take in multiple ways. Anyways for one reason and another I was glad I’d made the effort to go out.
And incredibly when I walked out on to Renshaw Street it had actually just stopped raining. Though Liverpool was still remained mostly water.
Last Monday was one of the wettest day in the recent history of the city so it was a bit of a last minute call to get out there. I felt I should make the effort after watching too much telly (I’d binge watched Ludwig on the iPlayer). Got wet going to the bus, then got wet leaving Queen Square, had a quick pint in the Vines before getting wetter with the last few hundred yards to the Dizzy.
Dave O’Grady was there and a couple of regulars—and a newbie (Dan?) on his first Dizzy appearance. Headzic played his double wok after him, with all his man-made sounds of rain falling to compete with the real stuff outside, then I went up to play a few songs (five). Dave came up after me and played some of his bluesy tracks.
With the constant (around 36 hours) rain I went with Bap Kennedy’s ‘Mostly Water’ first. Think I’ve only played it once or twice in the wild before. Followed that with ‘Splendid Isolation’ Warren Zevon (don’t play that often either), then it was a few of my old dependables: ‘Heart Breaks Like the Dawn’ Chuck Prophet, ‘Oh My Sweet Carolina’ Ryan Adams, and, due to requests, ‘Whiskey in my Whiskey’ Felice Brothers. Five songs—that’s like an EP’s worth. Afterwards chatted to a nice couple from Munich who were travelling through the city and they’d loved the OM. Said it was rare in their part of the city. The guy asked if I’d written the songs, to which I replied with the names of the singer songwriters who actually had. He knew all of them (though maybe not Chuck P), but said he hadn’t recognised them when I was playing them. I confirmed that by not playing the guitar well I did them in my own way and by necessity ‘made the songs my own.’ His other half had said she’d loved them and had been looking up the songs whilst I was playing them—which you can take in multiple ways. Anyways for one reason and another I was glad I’d made the effort to go out.
And incredibly when I walked out on to Renshaw Street it had actually just stopped raining. Though Liverpool was still remained mostly water.
The Return of the Flash Dogs
06/10/24 22:09 Filed in: flash friday fiction | flashdogs
Was good to see the recent iteration of the Flash Dogs with the Equinox challenge. And it was nice to see some familiar names there. The invite was for ‘up to four’ stories using the photo prompt. In the end I wrote three, but two of the writers did submit four stories (Stella and John Murphy). Two others wrote three stories and another six wrote one story (which is plenty enough really).
Writing stories of just a 250 word maximum is damn hard. It’s been a while since I tried (I have done Thursday Threads once this year—a maximum of 150 words). Think 350 is a bit easier to get a story out there, but hell even that is a push too).
Have read all the stories and I enjoyed them all. My top few were ‘The Land Remembers’ (Voima Oy), 'Postcard' (Bex Spence), ‘Pentimento’ (Bex Spence, again), and ‘Ask the Dog’ (Stella)’. But if I went through them all again maybe I’d pick some different ones. Sometimes judging is even harder than writing to a very tight margin. Kudos to all those who got involved. It’s good to be back (whether it’s for a short stop or for something a little longer).
A Couple of Great Gigs to Come
There are so many good gigs coming up over the next few months it's scary difficult to choose between them all. But I've booked two of the best for now—with no doubt a few to follow. The first one (at this point) is Casino—very ably supported by the Heavy North and Neal Noah at the Liverpool O2 Academy. I've seen both Casino and Heavy North multiple times and I'm never not happy about seeing them. They are both top of the toppest drawer.
And when the Lottery Winners announced their December gigs I couldn't not get a ticket to see them. The difficulty was choosing which of the three nights to go for. In the end I choose the second date, where they will be playing all of ART and their hits. They are another band I've been lucky enough to see multiple times and they are never less than brilliant. I'm sure all three of the nights will be amazing. But I thought a Saturday between Christmas and New Year may be a better day to travel on than the Sunday.
Now who next…?
And when the Lottery Winners announced their December gigs I couldn't not get a ticket to see them. The difficulty was choosing which of the three nights to go for. In the end I choose the second date, where they will be playing all of ART and their hits. They are another band I've been lucky enough to see multiple times and they are never less than brilliant. I'm sure all three of the nights will be amazing. But I thought a Saturday between Christmas and New Year may be a better day to travel on than the Sunday.
Now who next…?
Lake Colouring and Relax
A couple of months ago I invested in Lake which is a colouring App on the iPad. I did some colouring back å the Covid days when there was another App I regularly used called Twitter (you may have heard of it, don’t know what happened to that). In those olden days I would colour some drawings from one free site or another, or a Twitter account. Now with Lake I have paid for it. And the drawings are provided by some cool artists who each have their own styles and so far I think it has been worth paying for (it’s an annual fee). Not sure whether I will continue beyond the year, we’ll see how it goes I guess.
Sitting back on the sofa or laying down on the bed with the iPad for a while and filling in some black and white drawing—using whichever painting tools take your fancy is a nice way to relax. I usually do it a home, sometimes with just some music on, sometimes with the TV (and the damnable adverts on). It sounds like something and nothing of course, but I’ve found it relaxing to do—as I did in those boring Covid days. In those days I was using it to fill in time when going out wasn’t an option. Now I can—and do—go out, so the actions of colouring may seem less required than it was then but I reckon it does achieve a level of relaxation that is sometimes required. If it’s not exactly deep creativity it is still nice when you finish one off. There’s no pressure and no way of winning (or losing) other than taking a bit of time away from the stress of your day. So if you crave some ‘deep breath, little effort, semi-creative’ pass time I’d recommend it.
The App is available on the App Store for £40/annum—where it has a rating of 4.7/5. Forty quid sounded a lot in my head to be fair, but when I thought it that equated to 76p a week, or 11p a day, then I reckoned it was worth checking under the sofa for the change. You can use Lake for free (with more limited pages and colours etc) so why not give it a go? It works on an iPad or iPhone.
Here’s a few of the ones I’ve done recently.
Equinox: The Flashdogs Phoenix
On Thursday there came a bolt from the blue. It came in the form of a single Tweet from one of the old Flash Dogs glitterati. It heralded the phoenix like rebirth of the Flash Dogs coming soon to the blissfully unaware.
For those uninitiated into the less than secretive—whilst not exactly pervasive—societal group known as The Flash Dogs met online (largely through Twitter, back when that worked well) and all enjoyed writing flash fiction. Oftentimes these were in weekly online contests including the fabulous Angry Hourglass and Flash Friday Fiction.
Jeez. So many familiar names from those earlier Flash Dog days.
Beautiful cover for the first Flash Dogs Anthology
Each week many of the writers became regulars in one or more of the challenges and we kept seeing the same name. We were a natural group of like minded individuals (in terms of enjoying the challenges, not like minded in any other stretch of our odd imaginations) and most of us used Twitter to communicate back then and we almost naturally became the Flash Dogs. Some bright spark suggested we got together in between the covers (no, not like that) and the first Flash Dog anthology was born. Yes, an actual paperback book. Then there was another, then another. There was the Flashdog Anthology Volume One, then Volume Two: Solstice Light, and Solstice Dark (so a bit confusingly Volume Two comprised two volumes in itself), and next up was—surprise, surprise—Volume Three: ‘Time’ (there was just one). The anthologies were published between 2014 and 2016. You can even find them on Goodreads if you wish to check them out.
Yours truly showing off Flash Dogs Volume Two (Dark) on my Kindle (in the Vaults in Bishop's Castle)
Even took it out to the Pyramid Stage at Glasto
'Time' the Third Volume of the Flash Dogs back catalogue
Most of the online challenges the Dogs were most commonly involved with disappeared over time. They seem not to have been replaced like for like; at least I’ve not seen them. And many of the Flash Dogs disappeared too into the ether due to their missing sustenance. But one Tweet last week seems to suggest there may be a rebirth coming soon:
I for one find the resurrection intriguing and exciting. Incidentally, I work at a brewery in Liverpool (Neptune) and we have a beer called ‘Equinox’ too. It's surely destiny.
For those uninitiated into the less than secretive—whilst not exactly pervasive—societal group known as The Flash Dogs met online (largely through Twitter, back when that worked well) and all enjoyed writing flash fiction. Oftentimes these were in weekly online contests including the fabulous Angry Hourglass and Flash Friday Fiction.
Jeez. So many familiar names from those earlier Flash Dog days.
Beautiful cover for the first Flash Dogs Anthology
Each week many of the writers became regulars in one or more of the challenges and we kept seeing the same name. We were a natural group of like minded individuals (in terms of enjoying the challenges, not like minded in any other stretch of our odd imaginations) and most of us used Twitter to communicate back then and we almost naturally became the Flash Dogs. Some bright spark suggested we got together in between the covers (no, not like that) and the first Flash Dog anthology was born. Yes, an actual paperback book. Then there was another, then another. There was the Flashdog Anthology Volume One, then Volume Two: Solstice Light, and Solstice Dark (so a bit confusingly Volume Two comprised two volumes in itself), and next up was—surprise, surprise—Volume Three: ‘Time’ (there was just one). The anthologies were published between 2014 and 2016. You can even find them on Goodreads if you wish to check them out.
Yours truly showing off Flash Dogs Volume Two (Dark) on my Kindle (in the Vaults in Bishop's Castle)
Even took it out to the Pyramid Stage at Glasto
'Time' the Third Volume of the Flash Dogs back catalogue
Most of the online challenges the Dogs were most commonly involved with disappeared over time. They seem not to have been replaced like for like; at least I’ve not seen them. And many of the Flash Dogs disappeared too into the ether due to their missing sustenance. But one Tweet last week seems to suggest there may be a rebirth coming soon:
I for one find the resurrection intriguing and exciting. Incidentally, I work at a brewery in Liverpool (Neptune) and we have a beer called ‘Equinox’ too. It's surely destiny.
Kowloons et al: Another Fab Sofar Sounds
On Wednesday I went to another Liverpool Sofar Sounds gig. This week it was at a nice cool venue, near London Road, called Fabric on the ground floor of the building which also houses Slate. Saw Heavy North play their Sofar gig there in September 2022–jeez, almost two years back.
This was another sold out evening but there were plenty of seats for everyone. The backdrop was large and bright white—it’s a photographic studio—which made for an interesting look. There were three acts on, as ever. First up was a country singer with a decidedly US twang to his singing voice; and was wearing a Stetson to boot. Jake O’Neill though isn’t so much as from due west of here, but just a few miles north in Burscough. Nice songs and mighty fine guitar work from the Lancashire Frontier.
Second guys and gals up were a duo, from the folk band Kafasān with some fine flute playing from Savannah Donohoe and guitar too. Mostly they played their own stuff, but there were a couple of trad tunes and a Richard Thompson song too. Unfortunately here was no time to fit in any Jethro Tull.
Lastly it was time for a full band of four young locals called Kowloons (as in Hong Kong). They’d posted a picture up on Instagram earlier showing their gear at the event so I was able to get to listen to a few of their songs whilst I was on the bus into town. Nice short snappy songs. I was sat next to Chris Griffiths from the Real People who were the masters of the two and half minute pop songs. I reminisced with him about seeing them play the Krazy House in the early 1990s and then getting him to play at Liverpool CAMRA beer festival
It was Chris’s first Sofar gig (attending or playing) and he was there because his son was actually playing bass in the Kowloons. Wonder if they can get the Real People to play Sofar sometime too? Maybe a double header with the Kowloons.
All three acts are out there with songs to play and stories to tell, so get yourself out there and support them. Or at least don some headphones and listen to some of their songs on Spotify (or wherever else you can find their music).
____________________________________________________
Some links below:
Jake O'Neill - Spotify
Kafasān - Spotify - Instagram
Kowloons - Spotify - Instagram
This was another sold out evening but there were plenty of seats for everyone. The backdrop was large and bright white—it’s a photographic studio—which made for an interesting look. There were three acts on, as ever. First up was a country singer with a decidedly US twang to his singing voice; and was wearing a Stetson to boot. Jake O’Neill though isn’t so much as from due west of here, but just a few miles north in Burscough. Nice songs and mighty fine guitar work from the Lancashire Frontier.
Second guys and gals up were a duo, from the folk band Kafasān with some fine flute playing from Savannah Donohoe and guitar too. Mostly they played their own stuff, but there were a couple of trad tunes and a Richard Thompson song too. Unfortunately here was no time to fit in any Jethro Tull.
Lastly it was time for a full band of four young locals called Kowloons (as in Hong Kong). They’d posted a picture up on Instagram earlier showing their gear at the event so I was able to get to listen to a few of their songs whilst I was on the bus into town. Nice short snappy songs. I was sat next to Chris Griffiths from the Real People who were the masters of the two and half minute pop songs. I reminisced with him about seeing them play the Krazy House in the early 1990s and then getting him to play at Liverpool CAMRA beer festival
It was Chris’s first Sofar gig (attending or playing) and he was there because his son was actually playing bass in the Kowloons. Wonder if they can get the Real People to play Sofar sometime too? Maybe a double header with the Kowloons.
All three acts are out there with songs to play and stories to tell, so get yourself out there and support them. Or at least don some headphones and listen to some of their songs on Spotify (or wherever else you can find their music).
____________________________________________________
Some links below:
Jake O'Neill - Spotify
Kafasān - Spotify - Instagram
Kowloons - Spotify - Instagram
Bishop's Castle '24
The Foxholes Campsite at Bishop’s Castle is a destination in itself that my friends and I go to every year. We usually go for the a weekend around the first week of July, as that is when we always went for the town’s real ale festival. In years around and since Covid though the festival no longer happens. We like the area—and the campsite is brilliant—so we continue to go there when we can around the same time. It has become our tradition.
The only time I haven’t gone over the last decade is the one bloody time I caught Covid (I was lucky enough to only catch it once and for it to do nothing to me at the time: but I was unlucky that it coincided with a Bishop’s Castle camping trip AND a gig I really wanted to go to (the Felice Brothers at Leaf, Liverpool). A double whammy).
The drive down from Liverpool was in sunshine all the way, with only some heavy-ish traffic for a few miles intermittently north of Oswestry (on the A5). Once you are on the A5 there really aren’t any alternative roads to avoid traffic issues, you just have to go with the flow (or lack of it). To be fair we got down to the campsite in a couple of hours or so and that was mighty fine. Got the tent up just as our second car arrived. It was sunshiny, there as a bit of a breeze but nothing to adversely affect a few experience tent putter-uppers and the second tent was up in no time.
Time for a beer. It’s a tradition that the beer doesn’t get open until the tent is up. First up was a Neptune & Crosby Coffee IPA. I ended up only drinking three cans at the campsite, which has never happened before; and each would be one of the Crosby Coffee/Neptune ales. I didn’t have any of the usual pales as options.
The tent's up, so the beer is poured.
A very familiar view from Foxholes campsite.
The four of us headed down to Bishop’s Castle along the very familiar path (which is part of the Shropshire Way) through the fields. With it being a bit later in the field all the crop had been cut. It was a bit unusual walking through the field which is usually well over a metre high. We were then in the deeply shaded wooded area by the allotments. It does look like someone cuts the growth back as otherwise progress would probably be less easy through there (maybe a bit more nettle orientated).
View along the Shropshire Way towards Foxholes campsite.
In Bishop’s Castle we headed to our usual starting point, which was the Three Tuns. The options for Three Tuns ales was down to just two as I think the onsite brewery has been subject to some changes (maybe I’ll look that up)—I think it would normally have been four in the past. Most of the inside tables were ready for people due to come in to eat, and we headed outside to the garden/yard area (after a Shropshire version of Kettling I think). It was nicely shaded but still sunny in there. We just had the one in there whilst reminiscing about so many trips to the ‘Castle.
The Castle pub was next, where again we sat outside. The sun was beginning to come down and most the areas were in shade. It took a while (and some people leaving) before we found a place in at least some sunshine. We ended up having a couple of nice beers there whilst Ste and Tony tried to befriend anyone with a dog (there were a few). Then lastly we headed to the Vault, which always used to be our favourite pub at the end of the night during the festival when they would have plenty of beers on and a few good bands. There were not many options for beer this time (it wasn’t a festival after all) and there was no live music on. We had just one drink there before heading back up the hill to our tents—and a damn excellent curry (with homemade naan) courtesy of Jeanette. Top stuff.
Sleep proved a bit of an enigma that night, due to noise predominantly and the next day some people (ie the other three) were up ridiculously early. In some ways it didn’t matter, as I was just not going to get to sleep. And the noise from the Wood Pigeons was driving me to distraction (by then I was wondering if anybody had packed an air rifle).
So Saturday began in a tired way whilst the weather was grey and drizzly. Still, it felt damn better after a sausage sandwich (Steve Stonko would approve; even without any Stella). We spent some time flitting between apps looking at how the Olympics were going and the weather forecasts. Okay, mainly looking at the weather. There was no consensus between the weather apps (which I never get, as surely they use the same data—please don’t blame the algorithms), but generally the sun was due to come out some time after 11am or maybe after 2pm. If it was 2 then that was fine anyway, so on this occasionlet the apps argue amongst themselves.
We’d developed a consensus that we would go to Ludlow for the day. Jeanette kindly offered to drive the four of us there rather than take two cars. And, other than having to circle the car park for a frustrating age waiting for a space to appear, the drive both there and away was fine. It was still grey and wet until not long after we parked up. Then the sun came out (before 2) just as one or two of the apps had suggested could happen. On the way round we went past a wonderful sandwich shop selling baps and baguettes of beef or pork—with apple sauce, stuffing and crackling—it smelled wonderful and whilst it was too early to join the extensive queue we agreed that it would be a good shout to go back. We all crossed our fingers that there would be some left. Anyway, this is getting too wordy isn’t it? Suffice to say that we got pork rolls and sat in the sun by the castle walls enjoying every bite. I’d bought a couple of books from Oxfam whilst Jeanette had manned the queue for the pork. Dare say I didn’t really need any more books, but hey. The sun soon got very warm and the rain became a memory. We visited three pubs in Ludlow. Not a mighty crawl, but we weren’t there for that.
Back in Bishop’s Castle I lay down in the sun listened to some of the Olympics on iPlayer. My forehead got pretty burned from that twenty minutes or so and I’d feel it for a while. We eventually walked into Bishop’s Castle and went straight down to the Six Bells at the bottom of the village with the sun still out. They had a BBQ on, but we didn’t fancy it. We actually ended up going back to the campsite without eating anything. The pork baps had been enough.
I sat outside under the clear skies and saw two shooting stars in relatively short order. I was disappointed not to see anymore having seen two early doors, but I did watch a satellite make it’s way across the sky too. Didn’t have the app to check whether it was the ISS or not.
It was possibly the best thing about the night, but maybe it was a score draw with the other thing that was to come…: Earplugs. I’d been given a couple of wax plugs and boy did they make a big difference? Yes, they did. Slept really well and even though I would hear the wood pigeons I no longer hated them. Maybe that’s the easiest route to world peace: earplugs. I’ll defo be ordering some before the next camping trip.
A relaxed Andy with a mug of coffee.
The weather forecast on the Sunday was sun all day and quite hot too. It was actually okay to begin with and the intermittent clouds were enough to keep the morning pretty damn fine for breakfast (bacon baps) and the taking down of the tents. Later on it was to get a wee bit (very) warm. We ended up with a double-header and first we headed down to Much Wenlock (another Shropshire market town). It had been a rich town back in the day and was the site of the Wenlock Olympian Games, which was established in 1850 by William Penny Brookes. Pierre Courbetin who was to establish the IOC was an enthusiast of the event. With the Olympics in Paris closing on the same day it was nice to see the museum celebrating that we’d already had the Olympics in Shropshire before they stole the idea. In the middle of the town was a nice little museum—defo worth the visit (it had some nice archeology and geology in addition to the Olympic stuff). After a bit of a wander around the museum and the Guildhall we ended up having a Sunday lunch sat outside in the courtyard beneath the sun at the Talbot pub. Roast beef and Yorkshire pud was a fine choice.
We carried on the few miles after that to Ironbridge. It’s one of those place I’ve always wanted to see. It was actually hot work walking around in the sun by then and after walking over the eponymous bridge we ended up quickly getting ourselves an ice cream cone and finding some shade. The bridge looked fab and the place was busy; it was Sunday and weather was fab after all. After a bit of a mooch there was time for one beer in the White Hart. It was nice to sit inside, and out of the heat really. Then it was time to head home. The trip back went smoothly like the weekend itself.
The museum and the Guildhall, Much Wenlock.
Sunday lunch at the Talbot in Much Wedlock.
An old and iron bridge, in Ironbridge.
There really was a small amount of beer (and gin) consumed over the three days—based on our historical exploits in Bishop’s Castle at any rate. No one even lit any fires to burn their shorts: always a risk. We all enjoyed the weekend away. Camping can be really fine, especially when the weather blesses us. It was a fab weekend. Maybe we’ll try and fit in one more camping trip this year. Hope so.
Incidentally I’d asked Jeanette what Ironbidge was called before they had the bridge. She asked Doctor Google the next day and it said the gorge—at least—was known as Coalbrookdale before the first ever iron bridge was constructed. It is amazing that they actually aren’t completely sure where the bridge segments were forged. Time hey, it kills everything. Maybe the French will claim it.
The only time I haven’t gone over the last decade is the one bloody time I caught Covid (I was lucky enough to only catch it once and for it to do nothing to me at the time: but I was unlucky that it coincided with a Bishop’s Castle camping trip AND a gig I really wanted to go to (the Felice Brothers at Leaf, Liverpool). A double whammy).
The drive down from Liverpool was in sunshine all the way, with only some heavy-ish traffic for a few miles intermittently north of Oswestry (on the A5). Once you are on the A5 there really aren’t any alternative roads to avoid traffic issues, you just have to go with the flow (or lack of it). To be fair we got down to the campsite in a couple of hours or so and that was mighty fine. Got the tent up just as our second car arrived. It was sunshiny, there as a bit of a breeze but nothing to adversely affect a few experience tent putter-uppers and the second tent was up in no time.
Time for a beer. It’s a tradition that the beer doesn’t get open until the tent is up. First up was a Neptune & Crosby Coffee IPA. I ended up only drinking three cans at the campsite, which has never happened before; and each would be one of the Crosby Coffee/Neptune ales. I didn’t have any of the usual pales as options.
The tent's up, so the beer is poured.
A very familiar view from Foxholes campsite.
The four of us headed down to Bishop’s Castle along the very familiar path (which is part of the Shropshire Way) through the fields. With it being a bit later in the field all the crop had been cut. It was a bit unusual walking through the field which is usually well over a metre high. We were then in the deeply shaded wooded area by the allotments. It does look like someone cuts the growth back as otherwise progress would probably be less easy through there (maybe a bit more nettle orientated).
View along the Shropshire Way towards Foxholes campsite.
In Bishop’s Castle we headed to our usual starting point, which was the Three Tuns. The options for Three Tuns ales was down to just two as I think the onsite brewery has been subject to some changes (maybe I’ll look that up)—I think it would normally have been four in the past. Most of the inside tables were ready for people due to come in to eat, and we headed outside to the garden/yard area (after a Shropshire version of Kettling I think). It was nicely shaded but still sunny in there. We just had the one in there whilst reminiscing about so many trips to the ‘Castle.
The Castle pub was next, where again we sat outside. The sun was beginning to come down and most the areas were in shade. It took a while (and some people leaving) before we found a place in at least some sunshine. We ended up having a couple of nice beers there whilst Ste and Tony tried to befriend anyone with a dog (there were a few). Then lastly we headed to the Vault, which always used to be our favourite pub at the end of the night during the festival when they would have plenty of beers on and a few good bands. There were not many options for beer this time (it wasn’t a festival after all) and there was no live music on. We had just one drink there before heading back up the hill to our tents—and a damn excellent curry (with homemade naan) courtesy of Jeanette. Top stuff.
Sleep proved a bit of an enigma that night, due to noise predominantly and the next day some people (ie the other three) were up ridiculously early. In some ways it didn’t matter, as I was just not going to get to sleep. And the noise from the Wood Pigeons was driving me to distraction (by then I was wondering if anybody had packed an air rifle).
So Saturday began in a tired way whilst the weather was grey and drizzly. Still, it felt damn better after a sausage sandwich (Steve Stonko would approve; even without any Stella). We spent some time flitting between apps looking at how the Olympics were going and the weather forecasts. Okay, mainly looking at the weather. There was no consensus between the weather apps (which I never get, as surely they use the same data—please don’t blame the algorithms), but generally the sun was due to come out some time after 11am or maybe after 2pm. If it was 2 then that was fine anyway, so on this occasionlet the apps argue amongst themselves.
We’d developed a consensus that we would go to Ludlow for the day. Jeanette kindly offered to drive the four of us there rather than take two cars. And, other than having to circle the car park for a frustrating age waiting for a space to appear, the drive both there and away was fine. It was still grey and wet until not long after we parked up. Then the sun came out (before 2) just as one or two of the apps had suggested could happen. On the way round we went past a wonderful sandwich shop selling baps and baguettes of beef or pork—with apple sauce, stuffing and crackling—it smelled wonderful and whilst it was too early to join the extensive queue we agreed that it would be a good shout to go back. We all crossed our fingers that there would be some left. Anyway, this is getting too wordy isn’t it? Suffice to say that we got pork rolls and sat in the sun by the castle walls enjoying every bite. I’d bought a couple of books from Oxfam whilst Jeanette had manned the queue for the pork. Dare say I didn’t really need any more books, but hey. The sun soon got very warm and the rain became a memory. We visited three pubs in Ludlow. Not a mighty crawl, but we weren’t there for that.
Back in Bishop’s Castle I lay down in the sun listened to some of the Olympics on iPlayer. My forehead got pretty burned from that twenty minutes or so and I’d feel it for a while. We eventually walked into Bishop’s Castle and went straight down to the Six Bells at the bottom of the village with the sun still out. They had a BBQ on, but we didn’t fancy it. We actually ended up going back to the campsite without eating anything. The pork baps had been enough.
I sat outside under the clear skies and saw two shooting stars in relatively short order. I was disappointed not to see anymore having seen two early doors, but I did watch a satellite make it’s way across the sky too. Didn’t have the app to check whether it was the ISS or not.
It was possibly the best thing about the night, but maybe it was a score draw with the other thing that was to come…: Earplugs. I’d been given a couple of wax plugs and boy did they make a big difference? Yes, they did. Slept really well and even though I would hear the wood pigeons I no longer hated them. Maybe that’s the easiest route to world peace: earplugs. I’ll defo be ordering some before the next camping trip.
A relaxed Andy with a mug of coffee.
The weather forecast on the Sunday was sun all day and quite hot too. It was actually okay to begin with and the intermittent clouds were enough to keep the morning pretty damn fine for breakfast (bacon baps) and the taking down of the tents. Later on it was to get a wee bit (very) warm. We ended up with a double-header and first we headed down to Much Wenlock (another Shropshire market town). It had been a rich town back in the day and was the site of the Wenlock Olympian Games, which was established in 1850 by William Penny Brookes. Pierre Courbetin who was to establish the IOC was an enthusiast of the event. With the Olympics in Paris closing on the same day it was nice to see the museum celebrating that we’d already had the Olympics in Shropshire before they stole the idea. In the middle of the town was a nice little museum—defo worth the visit (it had some nice archeology and geology in addition to the Olympic stuff). After a bit of a wander around the museum and the Guildhall we ended up having a Sunday lunch sat outside in the courtyard beneath the sun at the Talbot pub. Roast beef and Yorkshire pud was a fine choice.
We carried on the few miles after that to Ironbridge. It’s one of those place I’ve always wanted to see. It was actually hot work walking around in the sun by then and after walking over the eponymous bridge we ended up quickly getting ourselves an ice cream cone and finding some shade. The bridge looked fab and the place was busy; it was Sunday and weather was fab after all. After a bit of a mooch there was time for one beer in the White Hart. It was nice to sit inside, and out of the heat really. Then it was time to head home. The trip back went smoothly like the weekend itself.
The museum and the Guildhall, Much Wenlock.
Sunday lunch at the Talbot in Much Wedlock.
An old and iron bridge, in Ironbridge.
There really was a small amount of beer (and gin) consumed over the three days—based on our historical exploits in Bishop’s Castle at any rate. No one even lit any fires to burn their shorts: always a risk. We all enjoyed the weekend away. Camping can be really fine, especially when the weather blesses us. It was a fab weekend. Maybe we’ll try and fit in one more camping trip this year. Hope so.
Incidentally I’d asked Jeanette what Ironbidge was called before they had the bridge. She asked Doctor Google the next day and it said the gorge—at least—was known as Coalbrookdale before the first ever iron bridge was constructed. It is amazing that they actually aren’t completely sure where the bridge segments were forged. Time hey, it kills everything. Maybe the French will claim it.