Adventures in Salt-Shaking...
This weekend gone was Guillemots weekend (again). Friday night saw me, Laura, Law and others from Guillemots forum watching the band perform at Gigbeth (Birmingham's annual music festival) and then on Saturday Laura and I followed the band down to Bath to watch them perform at the Bath Pavillion. It was a fanastic weekend!
Guillemots "Fishbone for a Drink" tour sees them touring a number of unusual locations (including playing in caves and a library) and also sees them acting as their own support band. Rather than having a support band, they are improvising to several short films courtesy of Future Shorts. Each night of their tour sees them improvise to a different set of films. It's rather an enjoyable experience - becoming immersed in several unusual, often arty films. Watching and listening to Guillemots rescore Eraserhead is one of the most rewarding experiences I've had. Although, the two short sessions I was subject to this weekend did not manage to recreate the experience to the same extent, it was (and still is) a great idea for an alternative support slot.
I travelled down to Birmingham and arrived approx 2pm at New Street station where I met Laura and Alex from Guillemots forum (Alex was actually in Birmingham to watch another band that night but had decided to meet up with us forum lot beforehand because he's a very sociable chap) and then Law. We all went to book into the hotel where Laura, Law and I were spending the night and then headed down to the Digbeth area of Birmingham where Guillemots first gig of their tour formed part of the Gigbeth line-up. We started queueing at 4pm. At 5:30pm, Lin (from the forum) as well as her family and a friend joined us. By 6:30pm, Christine (from the forum) and her son Tim and a half-dozen other people had turned up to queue. Doors opened at 7:00pm. Most people started queueing at 6:45pm - lazy, I tell you!
The gig itself was held at The Custard Factory which is the now disused Bird's Custard facory, having been converted into shops and venues. It was honestly the worst organised event I've been to. I think it is mostly run by volunteers who were lovely people but very laidback for such an event. When they started building barriers, we were on the inside. In fact, the only person to have been inconvenienced by a barrier that evening was Guillemots frontman Fyfe Dangerfield; he decided to climb over a barrier to get to the warehouse were they were playing rather than walk around like his more sensible companions. As he amusingly dragged and flung his tall frame over the barrier, Lin remarked to him "Fyfe Dangerfield know no limits!". He grinned as he went into the warehouse and laughingly replied "Yeah, I'm like Batman".
Batman in a woman's belt as opposed to a utility belt:
Being a man, Fyfe left it until last minute to decide he wanted to wear a suit for the tour and had gone into Birmingham earlier that day to purchase his new suit. He forgot to buy a belt and had to borrow one of Arista's (the female bass player). I just don't think Fyfe has quite got the grasp of fashionable adrogeny yet!
I enjoyed the Custard Factory gig but it was marred by a lot of people in the audence carrying on conversations throughout the whole gig, which was especially apparent during the quiet songs. I think the crowd was more a "something to do at the weekend" casual festival crowd than a Guillemot fan crowd. There was quite a number of fans and other considerate people there but they we were all drowned out by the kind of people for whom you just wonder why they bother? When Arista chatted to us outside the Bath Pavillion venue the next day, she told us that they didn't feel that the Birmingham gig had gone that well and that Fyfe had come away quite depressed. So, they'd rejigged the set-list and where hoping it would go better. It did but more on that later...
Despite not being their best gig, it was still a good gig. Highlights for me were hearing "Little Bear" and "Annie, Let's Not Wait" performed live (because I'd not heard these live before) as well as two new songs - "Waiting for the Sun" and "Alaska". The latter of which sounds great live and is shaping to be a highlight of their future third album. Also, during their usual finale of Sao Paulo, they were joined on stage by Christopher Cundy and his saxophone. Chris Cundy is one of the original Bridled Guillemots who played the brass sections on their first album "Through the Windowpane" and played the Electric Proms 2006 (as well as other gigs) with them.
Here are a few photos from the gig:
To view all my photos from Gigbeth, please click HERE
After, the gig we all mooched around The Custard Factory for a while chatting. Some of the forum people I had not previously met and I've only really known Laura and Law since June. So chatting seemed the order of the day. During which, Grieg, the band's drummer, wandered past and we lynched him. He was really chatty and asked us what we'd thought about the gig and the new songs. Then he signed anything thrust at him and posed for photos:
Yay! Three down. Only the elusive Magrao remains... (I'm not sure if anyone has had their photo taken with MC Lord Magrao. Everyone has photos with Fyfe, Arista and Greig but Magrao appears camer-shy!)
We all parted ways after Greig's leaving so Laura, Law and I went to watch the end of The Young Knives set in the pub down the road. Our Gigbeth wristbands got us in to all shows so we surmised that we may as well get our money's worth. The Young Knives were pretty good actually - I enjoyed most of the few songs I heard live. I wasn't keen on one of them though so I'll reserve proper judgement until I have bought one of their albums and listened to it.
After the Young Knives, we wandered back to The Custard Factory where we checked out the other acts (unsigned and DJ sets) and there may have been an incident involving me, some chips and a large salt-shaker... Don't ask!
On Saturday, we parted ways with Law. This was a shame because she's a great gig partner but Laura and I were ultimately undeterred. We were onto the second leg of what Laura has coined our "BrumBath Adventure". Yay!
We got to Bath and caught a bus direct to the Youth Hostel. Well, almost direct - we did initially get off at the wrong stop but the lovely driver let us and our luggage back on to finish the journey up the otherwise exhausting hill! We were staying at a youth hostel which is something neither Laura nor I had previously done. Bath hostel is lovely!:
The building was beautiful, the grounds spacious and well tended, the interior was clean and welcoming and the staff were all friendly and helpful. We shared a room with 6 other women but all were considerate when coming back in in the early hours of the morning. Laura and I snuck in at about 1am but I hardly slep all night - I was buzzing too much from the gig. More on that later. The bathroom facilities were shared but spacious and clean. There was a bar, a lounge, a dining room, self-catering area and a drinks/snacks dispenser. It was like a cross between a nice university dorm and a hotel. A pleasant experience and I would certainly recommend Bath YHA to anyone who only wants to spend only one night in Bath at the weekend (all the hotels state a minimum of two) or wants to stay somewhere for under £20 per night (hotels start at £65 per room per night). I even bagged the top bunk:
In the afternnon, Laura and I headed into Bath were we did a self-guided tour of the Abbey. I am an atheist but I appreciate great artistry when I see it and the Abbey is another fine example of Bath's utterly gorgeous architecture:
We were also witness to a street performer juggling fire on a ridiculously tall unicycle:
Then we shopped, ate, had a couple of drinks in a local pub and headed to the Bath Pavillion to start queueing. Again, we started the queue! We were there at 6pm for a 7:30pm doors open but again only a couple dozen people had turned up by 7pm when we were let in early. It was not long after 6:30pm (with 7 of us in the queue) that Arista headed out into town to get some food with her brother. It was at this point she discussed the Birmigham gig and advised us that they had changed the setlist. The changes paid off.
The Bath gig was awesome!!!
I really enjoyed it. We headed right to the front of the hall where, with the absense of a barrier, we were right up against the stage. Which I regretted for the Future Shorts set (ow! my poor craned neck!) but it was great for the main set. When we first arrived at the main stage, Fyfe was still tuning up his keyboard. Laura (in a moment that will stay with me forever) just shouted up "Oi, Dangerfield! Shouldn't you be getting changed!" Initially confused (I don't think he realised that they had let peopled in... in his own little world, I suspect), he then grinned and leapt down off the stage to chat with us. He said the similar things about the Birmigham gig and their determination to get things right that night.
I think it was due to the venue having opened the doors early (and so the band and crew could sneak past unmolested...) that we were treated to an impromptu extra support act. I think his name was Justin. Maybe. He never introduced himself. He doe however have a good, strong voice though and I enjoyed the songs were he used it powerfully.
Being on our second gig, Laura and I were pleased to be treated to a different set of short films for the official support slot. Which makes sense because it's not going to end up being improvisation if you rescore the same films each night!
When the gig proper started it was brilliant. The band came out and Fyfe (in his new "Blues Brothers" uniform - minus the hat which would probably not stay put on his current lovely mop hair anyway!) gave us a deadpan rendition of the chorus to Get Over It. Which is only funny if you know the song and were there to hear it. It doesn't sound funny as I write it but, trust me, my memory is laughing!
They then burst into a mostly rocked out set with some momemnts of gentle, quiet beauty thrown in for good measure. The crowd were much more appreciative: clapping, dancing, cheering when appropriate and remaining respectfully quiet when called for. Just before Fyfe piano solo version of "Little Bear" he made mention of the noisy crowd the night before but how he was sure we wouldn't be like that because we had remained quiet for Justin (the impromptu support act). The crowd was and I finally got to hear "Little Bear" as it should be heard (well minus the glorious strings from the album version but we cannot have everything, can we?). Fyfe followed this with a guitar solo version of Standing on the Last Star which took my breath away.
These quiet moments were an oasis of delicacy in an otherwise boistrous set that truly rocked in a way that Guillemots have almost but not quite reached in the past. Throw Me A Sun was magnificent! Cool When Fyfe said to the audience "Do you want to hear a b-side?" I thought maybe they were going to play the Tour signature tune "Fishbone for a Drink". It was apparent from the off that I was wrong but this was rapidly replaced with exhilaration when the realisation came! Laura and I danced like hyped-up happy bunnies - which we were!
With the show obviously going well, Fyfe was certainly in good humour. Whilst Fyfe was saying "hi" to the audience, a guy hollered out something unintelligle and Fyfe responded with "What was that!? The mating call of the Bath male?" Also, during the introductions at the end, before Fyfe could say Arista's name some guy shouted out "sexy!" to which Fyfe responded "Yes! On double-bass, Sexy". Arista retorted but I could not make out what she was saying above the cheering and laughing and wolf-whistles. Fyfe went on to introduce the whole crew after someone shouted out one of their names. "What? You want me to introduce everyone? Okay then..." During which he called out one of the crew and asked the audience to ask him a fact because "Pete knows everything". The lights went on the audience and a guy posed the rather appropriate question of "what temperture are the hot springs at the Baths?". Pete did not know but guessed. "Higher" someone shouted. Pete guessed again. "Lower!" It was like being in the audience for Play Your Cards Right! Fyfe advised us afterwards that we were all "fucking sad" but he was grinning as he said it. A man who watches birds for a hobby doesn't have much room to call the kettles black and he knows it.
At another point in the evening, there was confusion as to what the next track was. Arista was saying "But what is it? What are we playing?" and Fyfe had to explain to us, in the audience, that tour manager Neil had advised them that they had so many songs with the word Sun in the title that he had written that night's setlist replacing the usual words with the word Sun instead. At the end of the gig, Laura managed to bag a setlist for me and herself and lo and behold "Sun" has been placed in all the titles:
I also managed to impress myself by being able to (mostly) sing alongto new song "Alaska" having only heard the song once before, the night before. I love that song. It had better go on the new album; it's bad enough that I'll probably have to wait at least a year before I can own a copy if it!
Finally, the encore was a further impromptu addition to the evening. They finished with Trains followed by Sao Paulo as usual and both songs were played excellently and well received by crowd. Laura and I danced and clapped and danced some more! Then our idolised foursome left the stage to thunderous clapping and shouts of "encore". The lights came on onstage and the "end of show" recorded music came on. The crowd remained resolutely in place and we continued to shout "more" and "encore". Laura and I joined in. We both know that Guillemots encores are rare, especially after Sao Paulo is played: Sao Paulo is just such a fanastic 12 minute long sweeping epic of a song that few other songs from their reportoire can follow it! However, even as Jonas the rest of the road crew started to pack away some equipment, the crowd remained resolutely in place... After 5 or 10 mins or so, the happily bemused band was brought back on stage and Fyfe came to the front of the stage and warned us that "you might regret this, we've not really perfected playing it live" (or something very similar). They then erupted into a rocked out live version of their old b-side "Turn the Candles On". Which was magnificient and went down a storm. It was just a shame that Law wasn't there to enjoy it with us as it is her favourite track!
It was a truly amazing gig. In answer to Law's passing-the-time question on Friday night: "what is your one favourite Guillemots gig", I'm now saying Bath Pavillion. No question about it.
Some photos:
To view all the photos from the gig, please click HERE
After the gig, Laura and I serenaded lucky Bath residents with our own tuneful renditions of "Throw Me A Sun" whilst bouncing our way back up the hill to the hostel. We were buzzing and high on adrenaline. When we repeated the walk up the hill the next day, we were knackered by the top. That night we danced up the path to the hostel!
We then crashed in the hostel lounge and chilled for an hour or so. Chatting away before we exhaustion caught up and we went to bed.
The next day, we visited the architecturely stunning and historically interesting Roman Baths:
All my photos of Bath have not uploaded yet but early readers of my blog can see most of the photos HERE
Then finally, we sadly parted ways for our long jorneys home. Laura arrived back in Kent at approximately 7pm and I was back in Bolton by 8pm.
It was a fab weekend. Great company, great experiences, just simple greatness all round. The kind of weekend when you just live in the moment and nothing feels forced.
Next adventure? - Laura and Gem do London! Well, for a day and there may be a Guillemots gig involved. That's a shocker, isn't it?
Guillemots "Fishbone for a Drink" tour sees them touring a number of unusual locations (including playing in caves and a library) and also sees them acting as their own support band. Rather than having a support band, they are improvising to several short films courtesy of Future Shorts. Each night of their tour sees them improvise to a different set of films. It's rather an enjoyable experience - becoming immersed in several unusual, often arty films. Watching and listening to Guillemots rescore Eraserhead is one of the most rewarding experiences I've had. Although, the two short sessions I was subject to this weekend did not manage to recreate the experience to the same extent, it was (and still is) a great idea for an alternative support slot.
I travelled down to Birmingham and arrived approx 2pm at New Street station where I met Laura and Alex from Guillemots forum (Alex was actually in Birmingham to watch another band that night but had decided to meet up with us forum lot beforehand because he's a very sociable chap) and then Law. We all went to book into the hotel where Laura, Law and I were spending the night and then headed down to the Digbeth area of Birmingham where Guillemots first gig of their tour formed part of the Gigbeth line-up. We started queueing at 4pm. At 5:30pm, Lin (from the forum) as well as her family and a friend joined us. By 6:30pm, Christine (from the forum) and her son Tim and a half-dozen other people had turned up to queue. Doors opened at 7:00pm. Most people started queueing at 6:45pm - lazy, I tell you!
The gig itself was held at The Custard Factory which is the now disused Bird's Custard facory, having been converted into shops and venues. It was honestly the worst organised event I've been to. I think it is mostly run by volunteers who were lovely people but very laidback for such an event. When they started building barriers, we were on the inside. In fact, the only person to have been inconvenienced by a barrier that evening was Guillemots frontman Fyfe Dangerfield; he decided to climb over a barrier to get to the warehouse were they were playing rather than walk around like his more sensible companions. As he amusingly dragged and flung his tall frame over the barrier, Lin remarked to him "Fyfe Dangerfield know no limits!". He grinned as he went into the warehouse and laughingly replied "Yeah, I'm like Batman".
Batman in a woman's belt as opposed to a utility belt:
Being a man, Fyfe left it until last minute to decide he wanted to wear a suit for the tour and had gone into Birmingham earlier that day to purchase his new suit. He forgot to buy a belt and had to borrow one of Arista's (the female bass player). I just don't think Fyfe has quite got the grasp of fashionable adrogeny yet!
I enjoyed the Custard Factory gig but it was marred by a lot of people in the audence carrying on conversations throughout the whole gig, which was especially apparent during the quiet songs. I think the crowd was more a "something to do at the weekend" casual festival crowd than a Guillemot fan crowd. There was quite a number of fans and other considerate people there but they we were all drowned out by the kind of people for whom you just wonder why they bother? When Arista chatted to us outside the Bath Pavillion venue the next day, she told us that they didn't feel that the Birmingham gig had gone that well and that Fyfe had come away quite depressed. So, they'd rejigged the set-list and where hoping it would go better. It did but more on that later...
Despite not being their best gig, it was still a good gig. Highlights for me were hearing "Little Bear" and "Annie, Let's Not Wait" performed live (because I'd not heard these live before) as well as two new songs - "Waiting for the Sun" and "Alaska". The latter of which sounds great live and is shaping to be a highlight of their future third album. Also, during their usual finale of Sao Paulo, they were joined on stage by Christopher Cundy and his saxophone. Chris Cundy is one of the original Bridled Guillemots who played the brass sections on their first album "Through the Windowpane" and played the Electric Proms 2006 (as well as other gigs) with them.
Here are a few photos from the gig:
To view all my photos from Gigbeth, please click HERE
After, the gig we all mooched around The Custard Factory for a while chatting. Some of the forum people I had not previously met and I've only really known Laura and Law since June. So chatting seemed the order of the day. During which, Grieg, the band's drummer, wandered past and we lynched him. He was really chatty and asked us what we'd thought about the gig and the new songs. Then he signed anything thrust at him and posed for photos:
Yay! Three down. Only the elusive Magrao remains... (I'm not sure if anyone has had their photo taken with MC Lord Magrao. Everyone has photos with Fyfe, Arista and Greig but Magrao appears camer-shy!)
We all parted ways after Greig's leaving so Laura, Law and I went to watch the end of The Young Knives set in the pub down the road. Our Gigbeth wristbands got us in to all shows so we surmised that we may as well get our money's worth. The Young Knives were pretty good actually - I enjoyed most of the few songs I heard live. I wasn't keen on one of them though so I'll reserve proper judgement until I have bought one of their albums and listened to it.
After the Young Knives, we wandered back to The Custard Factory where we checked out the other acts (unsigned and DJ sets) and there may have been an incident involving me, some chips and a large salt-shaker... Don't ask!
On Saturday, we parted ways with Law. This was a shame because she's a great gig partner but Laura and I were ultimately undeterred. We were onto the second leg of what Laura has coined our "BrumBath Adventure". Yay!
We got to Bath and caught a bus direct to the Youth Hostel. Well, almost direct - we did initially get off at the wrong stop but the lovely driver let us and our luggage back on to finish the journey up the otherwise exhausting hill! We were staying at a youth hostel which is something neither Laura nor I had previously done. Bath hostel is lovely!:
The building was beautiful, the grounds spacious and well tended, the interior was clean and welcoming and the staff were all friendly and helpful. We shared a room with 6 other women but all were considerate when coming back in in the early hours of the morning. Laura and I snuck in at about 1am but I hardly slep all night - I was buzzing too much from the gig. More on that later. The bathroom facilities were shared but spacious and clean. There was a bar, a lounge, a dining room, self-catering area and a drinks/snacks dispenser. It was like a cross between a nice university dorm and a hotel. A pleasant experience and I would certainly recommend Bath YHA to anyone who only wants to spend only one night in Bath at the weekend (all the hotels state a minimum of two) or wants to stay somewhere for under £20 per night (hotels start at £65 per room per night). I even bagged the top bunk:
In the afternnon, Laura and I headed into Bath were we did a self-guided tour of the Abbey. I am an atheist but I appreciate great artistry when I see it and the Abbey is another fine example of Bath's utterly gorgeous architecture:
We were also witness to a street performer juggling fire on a ridiculously tall unicycle:
Then we shopped, ate, had a couple of drinks in a local pub and headed to the Bath Pavillion to start queueing. Again, we started the queue! We were there at 6pm for a 7:30pm doors open but again only a couple dozen people had turned up by 7pm when we were let in early. It was not long after 6:30pm (with 7 of us in the queue) that Arista headed out into town to get some food with her brother. It was at this point she discussed the Birmigham gig and advised us that they had changed the setlist. The changes paid off.
The Bath gig was awesome!!!
I really enjoyed it. We headed right to the front of the hall where, with the absense of a barrier, we were right up against the stage. Which I regretted for the Future Shorts set (ow! my poor craned neck!) but it was great for the main set. When we first arrived at the main stage, Fyfe was still tuning up his keyboard. Laura (in a moment that will stay with me forever) just shouted up "Oi, Dangerfield! Shouldn't you be getting changed!" Initially confused (I don't think he realised that they had let peopled in... in his own little world, I suspect), he then grinned and leapt down off the stage to chat with us. He said the similar things about the Birmigham gig and their determination to get things right that night.
I think it was due to the venue having opened the doors early (and so the band and crew could sneak past unmolested...) that we were treated to an impromptu extra support act. I think his name was Justin. Maybe. He never introduced himself. He doe however have a good, strong voice though and I enjoyed the songs were he used it powerfully.
Being on our second gig, Laura and I were pleased to be treated to a different set of short films for the official support slot. Which makes sense because it's not going to end up being improvisation if you rescore the same films each night!
When the gig proper started it was brilliant. The band came out and Fyfe (in his new "Blues Brothers" uniform - minus the hat which would probably not stay put on his current lovely mop hair anyway!) gave us a deadpan rendition of the chorus to Get Over It. Which is only funny if you know the song and were there to hear it. It doesn't sound funny as I write it but, trust me, my memory is laughing!
They then burst into a mostly rocked out set with some momemnts of gentle, quiet beauty thrown in for good measure. The crowd were much more appreciative: clapping, dancing, cheering when appropriate and remaining respectfully quiet when called for. Just before Fyfe piano solo version of "Little Bear" he made mention of the noisy crowd the night before but how he was sure we wouldn't be like that because we had remained quiet for Justin (the impromptu support act). The crowd was and I finally got to hear "Little Bear" as it should be heard (well minus the glorious strings from the album version but we cannot have everything, can we?). Fyfe followed this with a guitar solo version of Standing on the Last Star which took my breath away.
These quiet moments were an oasis of delicacy in an otherwise boistrous set that truly rocked in a way that Guillemots have almost but not quite reached in the past. Throw Me A Sun was magnificent! Cool When Fyfe said to the audience "Do you want to hear a b-side?" I thought maybe they were going to play the Tour signature tune "Fishbone for a Drink". It was apparent from the off that I was wrong but this was rapidly replaced with exhilaration when the realisation came! Laura and I danced like hyped-up happy bunnies - which we were!
With the show obviously going well, Fyfe was certainly in good humour. Whilst Fyfe was saying "hi" to the audience, a guy hollered out something unintelligle and Fyfe responded with "What was that!? The mating call of the Bath male?" Also, during the introductions at the end, before Fyfe could say Arista's name some guy shouted out "sexy!" to which Fyfe responded "Yes! On double-bass, Sexy". Arista retorted but I could not make out what she was saying above the cheering and laughing and wolf-whistles. Fyfe went on to introduce the whole crew after someone shouted out one of their names. "What? You want me to introduce everyone? Okay then..." During which he called out one of the crew and asked the audience to ask him a fact because "Pete knows everything". The lights went on the audience and a guy posed the rather appropriate question of "what temperture are the hot springs at the Baths?". Pete did not know but guessed. "Higher" someone shouted. Pete guessed again. "Lower!" It was like being in the audience for Play Your Cards Right! Fyfe advised us afterwards that we were all "fucking sad" but he was grinning as he said it. A man who watches birds for a hobby doesn't have much room to call the kettles black and he knows it.
At another point in the evening, there was confusion as to what the next track was. Arista was saying "But what is it? What are we playing?" and Fyfe had to explain to us, in the audience, that tour manager Neil had advised them that they had so many songs with the word Sun in the title that he had written that night's setlist replacing the usual words with the word Sun instead. At the end of the gig, Laura managed to bag a setlist for me and herself and lo and behold "Sun" has been placed in all the titles:
I also managed to impress myself by being able to (mostly) sing alongto new song "Alaska" having only heard the song once before, the night before. I love that song. It had better go on the new album; it's bad enough that I'll probably have to wait at least a year before I can own a copy if it!
Finally, the encore was a further impromptu addition to the evening. They finished with Trains followed by Sao Paulo as usual and both songs were played excellently and well received by crowd. Laura and I danced and clapped and danced some more! Then our idolised foursome left the stage to thunderous clapping and shouts of "encore". The lights came on onstage and the "end of show" recorded music came on. The crowd remained resolutely in place and we continued to shout "more" and "encore". Laura and I joined in. We both know that Guillemots encores are rare, especially after Sao Paulo is played: Sao Paulo is just such a fanastic 12 minute long sweeping epic of a song that few other songs from their reportoire can follow it! However, even as Jonas the rest of the road crew started to pack away some equipment, the crowd remained resolutely in place... After 5 or 10 mins or so, the happily bemused band was brought back on stage and Fyfe came to the front of the stage and warned us that "you might regret this, we've not really perfected playing it live" (or something very similar). They then erupted into a rocked out live version of their old b-side "Turn the Candles On". Which was magnificient and went down a storm. It was just a shame that Law wasn't there to enjoy it with us as it is her favourite track!
It was a truly amazing gig. In answer to Law's passing-the-time question on Friday night: "what is your one favourite Guillemots gig", I'm now saying Bath Pavillion. No question about it.
Some photos:
To view all the photos from the gig, please click HERE
After the gig, Laura and I serenaded lucky Bath residents with our own tuneful renditions of "Throw Me A Sun" whilst bouncing our way back up the hill to the hostel. We were buzzing and high on adrenaline. When we repeated the walk up the hill the next day, we were knackered by the top. That night we danced up the path to the hostel!
We then crashed in the hostel lounge and chilled for an hour or so. Chatting away before we exhaustion caught up and we went to bed.
The next day, we visited the architecturely stunning and historically interesting Roman Baths:
All my photos of Bath have not uploaded yet but early readers of my blog can see most of the photos HERE
Then finally, we sadly parted ways for our long jorneys home. Laura arrived back in Kent at approximately 7pm and I was back in Bolton by 8pm.
It was a fab weekend. Great company, great experiences, just simple greatness all round. The kind of weekend when you just live in the moment and nothing feels forced.
Next adventure? - Laura and Gem do London! Well, for a day and there may be a Guillemots gig involved. That's a shocker, isn't it?