This newsletter is a 'round-up' from May-December 2003.
It was released to an unsuspecting world on December 10th 2003.
Dave & Lynne's Christmas Newsletter 2003
Well, it’s that time of year again… the time of year when Lynne gets twitchy about sending Christmas cards, which in turn means that I get twitchy because I have to write the newsletter (so we can include a printed version in the snail-mail for our Luddite friends who steadfastly refuse to get themselves set up for e-mail and web access). So, here goes..
Checking back, it seems that when
I last put finger to keyboard (well, 2 fingers actually, if you get my drift)
it was the end of May and we were beginning to enjoy our long hot summer. You
may remember that I’d been made redundant by Whitecross at the end of March,
and Lynne’s contract finished at the end of April, so we were able to take some
time out and relax. For most of the summer we alternated between taking our new
caravan on long weekend jaunts to various folk music festivals and sessions
getting the long-neglected garden tamed (especially that big field around the
back which hadn’t been touched for over 3 years and was covered in tall grass
& weeds). It’s now definitely looking better (but it seems to be growing
back again! No-one told me that this gardening lark was an ongoing
thing…)
We managed to squeeze in festivals
at Holmfirth, Chippenham, Mansfield, Warwick, Sidmouth and Towersey. All were
the usual combination of great live music and meeting up with friends old and
new, made even better (for the most part) by this summer’s excellent
weather. There seem to be lots of really
good acts coming through on to the festival circuit, and I suppose it’s a sign
of passing years that they all seem to look so young... The Mansfield weekend
was good – since I was born and brought up there it was a chance to meet up
with the family, and the festival was the first of what will hopefully become a
regular annual event. It was interesting to contrast this with more established
festivals such as Warwick and (of course!) Sidmouth.. I think I prefer the
smaller low-key occasions to the concentrated mayhem of Sidmouth, but Warwick
seems to manage to consistently strike the right balance and get the best of
both worlds.
This year we had a real shock at
Warwick – RAIN! This is apparently unheard of – and certainly in the past 4 or
5 years that I’ve been going there we’ve had very hot sunny conditions
irrespective of weather forecasts or storms before the actual weekend. This
time the rain came down in torrents on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but
didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of the crowds or performers – and we did get
chance to experience the world’s most expensive bit of road – an emergency
plastic strip laid across the campsite access route that had turned into a foot
of mud by Friday night. We were camped out in our caravan on the northern
fringes of the Hereburgh shanty town (which still seems to be increasing in
size every year), and were even able to try out our annexe as well as the
awning to provide extra accommodation for Michele & Erica. This time the
gazebos (all 3 of them) came in very handy as everyone gathered underneath them
on the Saturday evening to celebrate Maureen & Steve’s 25th
wedding anniversary with a mammoth barbeque (well, it tasted a bit like
mammoth..), despite being in the middle of a storm of almost biblical
proportions. Definitely a memorable party!
But returning to a more
chronological sequence, back in June we had a great weekend returning to
Portsmouth (another jolly jaunt in the caravan) with the rest of the
Hereburghers to celebrate ex-member David Brindley’s 50th birthday
with a surprise party. This turned out to be another excellent weekend,
featuring an alfresco cocktail party and some morris dancing on the prom and
even in the sea. There are some pictures and even a short video of the infamous
“paddling dance” on the website. We even managed to fit in a boat trip around
the harbour (where we were a bit unnerved by the fact that between the
commentary they played the theme from the film “Titanic” in the background) and
continuing the maritime trend (difficult to do otherwise in Portsmouth) we visited
HMS Victory and the Mary Rose museum before heading back inland towards home.
Shortly afterwards, our San
Francisco friends Simona & George and their family taking a vacation in
Paris gave us the perfect excuse to hop on a plane from Birmingham Airport and
join them for a great weekend of sightseeing and sampling the local cuisine.
The hot sunny weather meant that we decided to skip the usual museums and other
indoor delights in favour of things we could do out in the open air – so even
more strolling and open top bus tours than usual, including the discovery of
the Jardin des Plantes, the market along the Rue Mouffetard and the bars around
the Place de la Contrescape. We then finished June off in style with the annual
Hereburgh “Cyclo-booze” – another brilliant day with over 20 cyclists pedalling
intently between local points of interest (well, The White Lion, The Green Man
and the Blue Lias to be precise – so maybe pints of interest is more accurate).
This year Doug our intrepid organiser had even arranged coloured jerseys (à la
Tour de France).
Last but by no means least was a gathering of our very own “boat people” – back in the spring 12 of us had decided to do a flotilla sailing holiday in Greece in September/October. This was starting to get close, so we decided to get everyone together to allow them to get acquainted since there were essentially 4 different groups of people involved, many of whom had not met the other groups. We had a barbeque at the house during one of the few rainstorms of the summer – and yet again a Hereburgh gazebo saved the day. Thankfully everyone seemed to get on OK, and things looked set for a great holiday (more of which later).
While all the above had been going
on, Lynne and I together with pals John & Mike (collectively known as the
“4 in a Bar” ceilidh band) had been doing some practising, and in July we had
chance to play a gig at a village fundraising event at Chardstock down in
Devon, courtesy of Mike’s son in law who ran the local pub and was on the
committee. So, another caravan trip
down the Fosse Way to the southwest (it’s amazing, when you’re towing a
caravan, the road ahead is always clear…) and a very well-received ceilidh with
Hugh Rippon calling – a great time was had by all. While we were down in that
bit of the country with no reason to dash back, we were also able to stop off
in Plymouth and see Lynne’s sister Anne & family. Later on, through
contacts of John’s we also were able to play a couple of gigs at a local
school, which gave Hugh chance to work his magic with the kids (despite the
occasional intervention from the staff). Jumping forward in time slightly to
finish the “4 in a bar” thread, we’ve recently been playing a few sessions in
the Greyhound pub by the canal at Sutton Stop in Coventry – basically chance
for us to try out our repertoire in front of a friendly audience. And finally,
the band (together with Hugh again) is off to San Francisco in February to play
some ceilidhs and workshops there thanks to our pals in the Bay Area Country Dance
Society – we’re all looking forward to a week of playing music and playing
tourists, as well as seeing all our old pals out there of course.
August was a bit quieter (if you
can call the usual schedule of band practices, morris dance-outs, quiz nights
and the local beer festival “quiet”), but there were a couple of extra outings,
including a trip back to the Mansfield area for my aunt Sandra’s wedding which
gave me the opportunity to meet up with some of the family I’d not seen for
many years (and also gave them chance to meet Lynne after reading about her in
all the previous newsletters). Also during August, both Jennie and Claire went
on holiday to Turkey for a week with friends. Unbeknown to each other, they'd
booked to stay in the same place a week apart (great minds…). One returned home
on the same day as the other arrived. (A sort of "Turkish tourist tag team")
In September, things started to
move forwards on a different front – together with colleagues Eric and Guy, I’d
been involved in discussions with a software company called CEON (see www.ceon.net if you’re interested in finding
out what they do) based in Redwood City (which by happy coincidence is just
south of San Francisco). We’d had various conference calls since April
exploring the possibility of becoming the UK distributor for their software,
and suddenly things started kick into gear resulting in a visit to CEON
corporate Headquarters for Eric and me. Of course, this was too good a chance
to miss, so Lynne and I went over to San Francisco a week early to spend some
time revisiting old haunts and keeping in touch with all our SF mates. Then
Lynne returned, Eric flew out to join me and we had another week meeting the
CEON folks and giving both sides chance to do some “due diligence” (whatever
that is..). Leaping ahead again slightly to finish this thread, an
initial contract was signed a couple of weeks ago and so now I’m back in
gainful employment… well, sort of… we need to make some sales before the money
really starts rolling in! the good news is that I’ll be able to do a lot of the
work from home initially, so my “commute” will remain a brief wander down the
stairs and into the office (via the coffee maker) for the foreseeable future.
Watch for the next newsletter to find out if this venture takes off!!
When Lynne got home from San Francisco,
Claire arrived to stay while doing a stint at a local dairy farm as part of the
requirement of her vet. science course. Two weeks of early morning and
afternoon milking and we're still trying to get rid of the smell of cowshed
from the utility room. Her next work experience is at a pig farm!
When I returned from the CEON SF trip, I
had 6 days back in the UK before we set off for the aforementioned Greek
sailing trip. Based on previous experiences, I had organised the holiday via a
company called Sailing Holidays whom I’ve used many times before in Greece and
Turkey. The format of the trip was a ‘loose flotilla’ which consisted of 10
boats plus a lead boat with engineer, hostess and flotilla leader. This gave us
just the right amount of freedom and flexibility, with the safety net of having
the lead crew available in case of any problems (which came in very handy as
you will see below). If you’re thinking of doing this sort of holiday, there
are many companies doing this type of arrangement, but I’d give Sailing
Holidays a very strong recommendation. See their website at www.sailingholidays.com for further
information, or drop me an e-mail if you have specific questions.
After a 3
hour flight and an hour coach trip, by midday we were settling onto our boats,
hoisting our Treasure Island Yacht Club burgee and very soon afterwards
sampling the local cuisine and beers in the nearest taverna (which was about 10
feet from the back of the boat). Sivota (which means ‘safe harbour’) is a very
pretty little fishing village on the south coast of Lefkada, in the southern
Ionian which is on the west of the Greek mainland. See the map to get some
orientation. We’d opted for the 2 week ‘Full Ionian’ itinerary which meant that
we’d spend 1 week in the south, hopping between Lefkada, Kefallonia, Ithaka,
Meganisi and other smaller places, then head north for the second week visiting
Paxos, Antipaxos and various spots on the mainland.
The first morning we had an
extensive (but very laid back!) briefing from the lead crew covering the
various technical things to do with the boats as well as more a general
description of how the flotilla approach was organised. Basically, the typical
day consisted of a briefing over breakfast in a taverna where the weather
forecast was given, and a suggested destination for the day’s sailing was
described. Once the lead crew had assessed the capabilities of the people on
the flotilla, more flexibility would be allowed so that individual boats could
“do their own thing” rather than sticking with the main group.
The boats were new (this year’s)
Beneteau 331 or 361s, well equipped with roller reefing all round, electric
windlass for the bow anchor and such luxuries as hot water and CD player.
Basically designed for easy cruising and living aboard for 2 weeks.
Once briefed, we were left to our
own devices to decide when we’d leave, which route we’d take, etc. In our case,
this usually meant a leisurely shopping trip to pick up provisions for a lunch
on the boat, followed by a short sail to some nice bay where we could drop an
anchor, swim and eat lunch before heading off to our destination. The typical
weather pattern in the Ionian this time of year is light breezes in the
morning, then wind from the north-west in the afternoons, usually rising to a
steady force 3 or 4 before dropping again in the evening. This usually makes
for easy and pleasant cruising, especially when you realise that tides in this
part of the Mediterranean are practically non-existent.
So – off we went, visiting a
succession of idyllic bays, small fishing villages and (occasionally) a larger
town where we could find ATMs, Internet cafés and other such modern
conveniences. Here’s a brief itinerary to give an idea of what we did :
Fiscardo – lovely harbour on the
northen tip of Kefallonia (famous as the setting for ‘Captain Corelli’s
Mandolin’). Then on to Kioni – my favourite stopping point in the south, very
pretty spot on Ithaka (home of Odysseus in Homer’s epics).
On to Port Vathi, a bigger town
and working port further south on Ithaka, via a lunch stop in One House Bay on
Atoko Island. Next headed north up to Spartahori, on the northern side of
Meganisi island – the village is reached after a steep15 minute hike up to the
top of the cliff, but the views from the top are stunning, taking in Skorpios
(the island owned by Aristotle Onassis), Skorpidi and Lefkas. Skorpios is the
one in the middle distance of the picture below with the flat top – Onassis
wanted a helipad so he sliced off the top of the island!
Across to
Kalamos town on Kalamos Island via spectacular lunch stop in bay with caves and
amzing rock formations on southern tip of Meganisi. The acoustics were so good
that we had an impromptu concert – many of the people on our boats were
musicians and so out came the accordion, melodeon, fiddle, concertina and
whistles for rousing (and echoing) renditions of every nautical tune anyone
could remember.
Up to Nidri on Lefkada, via 2
lunch/swimming stops – one at Port Leone where we swam ashore to explore the
deserted ‘ghost town’ and then lunch in yet another perfect, unspoiled spot at
Abileke Bay on Meganisi. Nidri is now the biggest resort in the area, having grown
spectacularly in the last 10 years from a small fishing village to be the
center for watersports and holiday activity in this area. After our previous
stops, this seemed very large and brash!
Next 2 nights were spent in the
new marina in Lefkas town – which sadly despite being brand new (when I was
last there 6 years ago there were only mudflats there) has already been badly
hit by earthquake damage – there was a big quake in Lefkas back in June which
did a lot of damage. Lefkas used to be a peninsular joined to the mainland by a
narrow isthmus of land, but it’s now an island since a canal and channel
spanned by a swing bridge was dredged. Apparently this now qualifies for a
larger grant from the European Union!
Next was a long motor-sail north
to get us up into the northern cruising area around Paxos. Still time for a
stop in Emerald Bay (so called because the water is so clear that the sandy
bottom of the bay makes it appear bright blue/green) before ending up in Gaios
for the night.
At this point our lead crew had
news of a big storm due to come through the next evening, so we moved up the
coast to the harbour at Laka on the northern tip of Paxos which should have
given us the most shelter. In October the weather is beginning to change from
the summer pattern, and this can sometimes lead to a storm. I’d been caught in
these before, but nothing like the one we experienced that night. Despite being
inside an enclosed harbour, the wind came through in the late afternoon and the
swell inside the harbour was washing over the quayside.. as is the practice out
there, we were moored ‘stern-to’ and we’d placed extra anchors out from the
bow, but by midnight the wind was up to around force 9, and things were getting
very rough. We had a couple of hours panic as everyone helped to fend off,
untangle lines etc. Thanks to our intrepid lead crew, we ended up moving our
boat off the quay and eventually spent the night off in the harbour, with lines
tied around an old harbour light and anchors out. The storm actually persisted
for well over 12 hours, and made the national news.
But after
that, the skies cleared as quickly as they’d darkened and the last days of the
holiday were back to the regular clear blues skies and great sailing. We
finished off by returning to Gaios, then hopping across to Parga on the
mainland via a stop in Mongonisi Bay. Parga is a beautiful town built on a
steep hill and dominated by a 14th century Venetian fortress (see
picture).
Visiting cruising boats like ours
moor off the beach in a bay behind the fortress, but an enterprising local runs
a water taxi providing a service from the main quay downtown directly to the
stern of your own boat!
The end of our cruise was now
approaching, so from Parga we had one last day with yet another picturesque
lunch stop, before finally mooring up at our last stop up the mainland coast at
Plataria. A large group meal was arranged to finish off the trip in style, and
the lead crew gave out various awards to each boat on the trip. I’m proud to
say that our boat Larissa, got the ‘Golden Boat’ award for causing least hassle
(or as some said, being the most boring boat!). Following the large dinner,
there was a request for music so after a quick trip back to the boats to pick
up instruments we finished the night with an impromptu ceilidh which went on
well into the early hours.
So, all in all a fantastic trip,
much enjoyed by all who took part and especially by the ones who hadn’t done
this sort of thing before.. We covered over 200 leisurely miles, and could have
done much more if we’d been really keen. The places we stopped were a good mix
of deserted bays, small fishing villages and the occasional bigger tourist town
- but again that was our choice. High spots for me were re-visiting my favorite
spots in Kioni, Mongonisi bay and Gaios, and the music sessions in the evenings
where appreciative audiences seemed to turn up whenever the music started.
There’s already talk of a return trip in a year or 2, and next time we’d try to
fill even more boats. If you want to see some more pictures, see our website at
sh1pics.html
- and if your appetite has been whetted to do something similar, take a look at
the Sailing Holidays website or e-mail me.
Which just about brings us up to
date.. Lynne started a new contract back at AC Nielsen in Oxford when we got
back from Greece and that’s now been extended into the new year, so she’s busy
working in the day, then trying to keep on top of the hectic pre-Christmas
social scene in the evenings. This year besides the usual local choirs and
Hereburgh morris stuff, she has the 4 in a bar things and she’s also doing some
gigs at Warwick Castle as one of the minstrels in their “Highwayman’s Supper”
events. (Despite a few qualms - next time you see her, ask her about the
authenticity of accordions in the early 1800’s…..). This year in October was
Michele's 18th birthday. All three girls now grown up and responsible (sort
of..). Michele's school concert saw her singing two numbers, one as part of a
band with friends Erica and other friends and as part of the sixth form choir.
Must be something in the genes..
November began with a bus trip
(along with hundreds of other Morris dancers from all over the country) to meet
in Trafalgar Square to celebrate the fact that Morris Dancing has been given an
exemption from the proposed new laws which will restrict live music
performances. It was an amazing sight from the entrance of the National Gallery
to look down on 10 different sides dancing in the square at once. At the end of
November we made our way with Claire and Michele over to the Rhondda Valleys in
South Wales for Lynne's aunty Phyl's 80th Birthday party. Treorchy Rugby club
was the venue and was filled with Saunders and Edwards family from all over the
country. A great time was had by all! It was a wonderful weekend with a stay at
the Miskin Manor hotel along with Lynne's sister Anne and brother John and
respective families. We even managed a Sunday lunch with them and her Dad
before we had left to return home.
So that’s about it, another year
almost gone! Doesn’t seem that long since we moved back from San
Francisco… probably another symptom of advancing years, I suppose… now, where
was I? Oh yes.. we’re looking forward to another Christmas here in Deppers
Bridge – chance to spend some time with
Lynne’s daughters (when they aren’t out partying) and the usual local events
including village carol singing, Hereburgh’s Christmas party, the Christmas day
bike ride, watching the Mummers at Stoneleigh on Boxing Day, the new Year’s Day
“Hangover Tour” around the village and 12th night celebrations. We
also have a couple of special pre-Christmas treats this year – Harbury village
hall is hosting a concert by the John McCusker band this Friday, and Lynne and
I are off with the girls to see Eddie Izzard next week… should be good!
Incidentally, Harbury won the “Village of the year” award for the Central
region this year – and I’m sure that the contributions from the morris dancers
and the folk club were instrumental (geddit?) in this.
Hope we haven’t bored you all too
much with this stuff, and also hope that your summer has been as much fun as
ours. If we don’t get chance to see you before, have a great Christmas and new
year, and all the best for a prosperous 2004.
© Copyright Cooke-Shuttleworth Enterprises 2003