A-touring we will go!

Blogpost No 11 November 2024

I’m still on the road as I type and have 4 more shows to do before the tour finishes. Before going any further, just let me state that I have absolutely LOVED touring again! Seeing so many wonderful people, many of whom braved multitudes of weather shenanigans and sinkholes to get to a gig! To be fair, Bury Met’s sinkhole baffled us all, and the show was cancelled. A bona fide sell-out show - cancelled! We were all gutted!

There are many things we have little or no influence over, sinkholes are now firmly added to that group.

Apart from that! The Erin Arts Centre on Nov 8th, in the Isle Of Man, was a great start to the tour. The Artful Dodgers brought their original artwork which was displayed in the Gallery and looked amazing . Bob and I travelled to the UK a few days prior to Wavendon Stables II, which was as close to a sell-out as you can get. The reaction of the audience that night, allowed me to believe the rest of the tour would go well. All is well; all shall be well.

Cambridge Folk Club did not disappoint … a sell-out show that was so much fun and filled with friends i'd not seen in far too long! I felt properly loved that evening. Thank you Cambridge :-) x

As mentioned above The Met at Bury was unexpectedly cancelled due to a major water mains burst that was a suspected sinkhole! Talk about drama! We carried on driving up the M6 and had 2 nights near our next port of call, Wetheral Hall near Carlisle. It was the right decision. A lovely long lie-in followed by Sunday lunch and on the way back to the hotel, we called in at the gig and were able to set up super early. Win-win. This was a new venue to me and it was fabulous. As were all the gorgeous people who made everything work so smoothly. Special shout out to Lynsey who couldn’t have done more to make us feel totally at home. A wonderful show. Added to this, we got to hug friends we had not seen in over five years!

The temperature plummeted overnight so we left early and took our time getting to Fleecey Folk near Evesham. What an amazing gig that is! Another new place for me and another wonderful experience. The Fleece Inn is over 600 years old, and the barn where gigs are held is even older! A venue with oodles of charm and atmosphere. Loved it.

We went to bed happy. It was raining quite hard. In the morning everywhere was white! Snow had followed us down from Carlisle and stayed with us till we reached the A30 en route to Penzance. We had a gorgeous night off with some of our favourite people who just happen to live in St Ives, followed by a leisurely day before a sweet gig at the lovely Acorn Theatre. I’ve played here in many guises over a 40 year stretch! It’s lovely. A good time was had by all.

The weather continued to drill down hard. As we made our way from Cornwall up to The Beehive in Honiton (another new venue for me) , we battled snow and ice. However, we got a better deal than those poor souls driving west. We passed a three-mile long queue and read later that some people were delayed by 7 hours! Ouch. Lucky for us we made our way to the gig with no problem. But the temperature plummeted again, and the roads were treacherous. It was inevitable that some people did the sensible and right thing by staying out of the icy chaos. Those people that made it through were incredibly generous with their appreciation.  Thank you, Beehive!

Driving to Osmington the next day was a relatively easy run. The sun shone and the ice melted. I’d not played at the Osmington Village Hall before. Again, we were greeted by delightful people who know what they’re doing and made everything super easy. Another warm and generous reception from a delightful audience, that fills me with joy. Hurrah!

We drove overnight; I say “we”, I mean Bob, (bless him!!) drove us to stay with friends who live near Avebury. It was minus three at times! There was a minor catastrophe when Bob accidentally opened the sunroof!! I’ll just mention again … it was minus 3! No matter what we did we could not get the bloody thing closed. The air was blue with more than the cold! When we reached our destination, we tried again. Numerous times. Our stage whispers were hilarious! Push! I am pushing! Stop pushing! I’ve stopped! Anyway …, the upshot was that with some brute force and ignorance, we got it closed. Which was amazing as it was due to rain heavily the next day. How we laughed! Eventually ;-) x

Unfortunately, I've run out of time to do videos for Corsham and Birmingham so they'll be in December's round-up. Your patience, as always, is appreciated!

Thank you for taking the time to drop by and see how things are in my strange little world. And if you came to a gig in the last few weeks - THANK YOU again! I'm thrilled to be back out on the road. Your love and support mean the world!

Till next time, stay well and keep rising above the turbulence!!

Much love

Christine x