Dunns On Tour

  A mistake in the programme meant that we got packed up and out earlier than necessary, but it meant that we were in our places for an amazing choir from the Philippines. They were extraordinary, and it was really lovely to hear some music not from the western tradition. More of that would be great, as the rest of the choirs were from the UK, Europe and North America. We had a really enjoyable 8 hours, listening to some fantastic singing, the only break being for a quick dash outside for pizza. The afternoon had some drama as a thunderstorm rolled right overhead and pounded us with torrential rain showers for a while. It was so loud that the choirs couldn’t compete with it and had to keep stopping. We had planned to stay for the evening, but realised that the concert was the culmination of all the competitions, and as we had already seen virtually every contestant, we decided to head home, arriving around 9.30 instead of after midnight. Jack is fine, and today we’re back into the ...

  A warm sunny day in N Wales, and a less frenetic programme. We arrived at the pavilions this morning to learn that the contemporary dance competition had been cancelled due to late withdrawals, so settled down instead to the solo instrumentalists preliminary heats. On show, three pianists, a brace of cellists, a percussionist and a tuba player. All vying for title of young musician of the year, and at various stages of aspiration towards a full professional career. As ever with these things, the repertoire was designed to show off technical competence and versatility, not reward listening for pleasure, but it was still a pretty relaxing couple of hours. The highlight was definitely the herd of parping elephants conjured up by the tuba, though the complex patterns weaved on the marimba were pretty hypnotic too. We then gave ourselves the rest of the morning off for good behaviour, skipping the early knockout stages of the solo singing competition in the full knowledge that the fin...

  A day of sensory overload, but in a good way. We skipped breakfast and got to the pavilion for 9.30 and the start of the traditional folk dance competition, which was as colourful as you’d imagine. A Kurdish group from London kicked us off, followed by a charming Canadian-Greek group, who made us want to get up and join in. A troupe from Northern Ireland stamped their feet in grand style, and a group from the Punjab were also vibrant fun.  But the two stand out groups were from Trinidad & Tobago, and Indonesia. The first were all exuberance and it felt like they were having a party. The Indonesians treated us to an incredible precision affair, danced almost entirely on their knees. One wrong move somewhere and there would have been a domino effect of a slap in the face all the way down the line. We skipped the under 16’s version of the competition to get a late breakfast, and came back in to hear a couple of young harpists. Next up was essentially the same dance groups a...

  The maes was overrun with children today, it had the feel of a primary school jamboree. Noisy, excitable, chaotic. Harassed adults counting and re-counting their charges as they tried to shepherd their groups from one end of the site to the other. Inside the main tent, the serious business of the choir competitions got under way, starting with folk song and then running through the junior and senior children’s sections. All vying for the coveted title of “Choir of the World”, somewhat grand as I counted around 189 countries had failed to send any representation. Each choir performed a set of two pieces, featuring songs from their home country, with international flavour being provided by touring groups from Sweden and Canada. Ages ranged from 6 to 18, and it’s fair to say that a sentimental tear or two was shed. The stand-out performance came from Côr Heol y March, a highly accomplished all-girl outfit (pictured) from a small community in the Vale of Glamorgan. 23 performances an...

  The first part of our day was a stroll along the canal, eastwards this time. Having failed to secure a boat trip to the Pontcysyllte aqueduct, and another cool, breezy, dry day promised, we decided to walk instead. It’s mostly tree-lined, so despite being quite high up the side of the valley, we weren’t often afforded views across the countryside, but it was very pleasant for all that. The aqueduct is nuts really, and brought back happy memories of the Dunn family canal holiday we did when I was maybe 13. It’s understandably a big draw and there were loads of people walking across and boats queued to do the same.  We joined them and looped around at ground level to get a view up to the boats in the sky, before some lunch in the Telford Inn and the return walk. By the time we got back we’d walked 13 miles and were ready for a cuppa and a nap. Our festival pass allowed us access onto the maes  from 5pm , with the concert  starting at 8pm , so we wondered down there (...

  Cool, breezy showery sort of day and 1 day countdown from start of festival.  We couldn’t get the induction hob to work, so forfeited my bacon sandwich dreams until I’ve worked up the impetus to consult the owners. Our morning was spent up at Plas Newydd, a Regency house and gardens just outside of town, made famous by the “Ladies of Llangollen”. A couple of aristocratic women who escaped the moral strictures of their native Ireland to settle together, away from society, in a scandalous “romantic situation”. They received many visitors from the artistic world, including Wordsworth and Walter Scott, and seemed to have exercised a benign charitable influence over the town. The interior of the house itself is completely empanelled with wood carvings filched and put together by a hired carpenter from assorted Jacobean furniture and church pews, giving the rooms and passageways a dark and heavily Gothic atmosphere. The exhibition spaces gave a full story of the Ladies’ domestic l...

  We had a slow start, relishing the freedom of zero obligations. Once we’d got going we decided to follow the History Trail, taking the opportunity of a dry forecast to stretch our legs. From the centre of town we initially followed the canal about 2 miles to its source at the Telford-designed horseshoe falls. This is a lovely, and understandably popular stretch. They offer trips by horse-drawn narrowboat, but none came by while we were walking. There were groups of kids at the falls, going over in kayaks and rafts, often getting stuck right on the edge, offering entertainment as we passed. We dipped into the little Llantysilio chapel - originally 12th century and refurbed by the Victorians - then on to the ruins of the Valle Crucis Abbey, second only to Tintern back in the day. From there the route was much more up and down, with lots of lovely views of the hills around the Dee valley, with a final steep climb up to another ruin - Castell Dinas Bran. Another 12th century effort. ...

  Togged up in our black uniforms for Izzy’s wedding gig, we headed off early to Crediton to grab a brunch at The Drifters cafe before joining the rest of the choir for the dress rehearsal in Holy Cross Parish Church. The church itself is quite substantial, sub cathedral category if there is such a thing, and dripping with early mediaeval history.  We ran through our number, the acoustics felt disappointingly modest, it felt a challenge to try and project the quieter bits without turning up the volume. Then we joined the church choir, fully cassocked in their pews, to practice the grand opening of the ceremony with a blast of Hugh Parry’s I Was Glad. The religious rites of the wedding were performed without any hitches, and our centrepiece rendition of The Luckiest seemed to be well received, even eliciting an incongruous ripple of applause. Then it was a dash back to Taunton to change into holiday casuals, pack the car and head up the M5. Short pitstop at the Farmshop motorwa...

  The Oddfellows Arms does a mean Full English and the best coffee, so we powered out of Caldbeck on a light cloudy day, joining the trail by the River Caldew. In fact the source starts up on the Skiddaw massif, so it was like being reunited with an old, slightly bigger friend. The Caldew was to be a constant companion all the way to Carlisle, as we meandered through lovely woodlands and fields, staying by the riverside and moving steadily away from the fell country. Looking back, the dominant forms of High Pike and Carrock Fell receded into the distance with every step, before disappearing altogether. Lots of historic bridges and churches along the way, as well as bucolic little villages and the odd stately manor; the landscape around here is quite different to the rest of the Lake District, gently rolling and somewhat similar to parts of Somerset. We were entertained by swifts (quick check against the bird identifier on Google) swooping, darting and pirouetting with graceful agil...

  A mere 15 miles today, every step of which I am now feeling! We had a good breakfast at our B&B, the Dolly Wagon, to see us on our way out of Keswick, and another 8 hours on our feet, poor things. There are three possible routes for this stage - the official one, which we wanted to take, the mountain route (are you kidding?), and the lower level route for foul weather which adds 3 or 4 miles to the day (absolutely not). We woke up to low cloud on all the surrounding hills and fretted a bit that this would mean the longer, lowest route, but the mountain weather site suggested a 60% chance of clear peaks and that the cloud would come and go a bit, so we risked the standard route.  We're so glad we did, as despite low cloud all around, we didn't get rained on at all, and although it remained cloudy all day, this just meant a deliciously cool temperature. A fairly long steady climb took us out of Keswick, with lovely views back over Cat Bells and other pointy peaks around th...

  An epic, exhausting day. Garmin stats record 46k steps, 9 hours on the move and distance of 18 miles. A solid breakfast and bright outlook set us up for a strong start, heading into the glacial u-shaped valley of Great Langdale, dominated by the fine craggy peaks of Pike of Stickle and Bowfell, and dotted about with softly contoured moraines. Not a soul to be seen, the spectacular scenery to ourselves. Perfect stillness all around. Apart from a few talkative sheep with territorial instincts. We then tacked 500m up the steep fell to the mountain col (Stake Pass), and across the combe, to gain a spectacular view of Langstrath, the longest uninhabited valley in the Lakes (described as a “cavernous hollow” in our guidebook), and then descend into the pleasant lushness of Borrowdale.    Our downward route was defined by sharply zigzagging paths and waterfalls cutting through gorges shrouded in rowan. After a few miles picking our way through a rough, boulder strewn track, we...

  After a very hot and sticky night in an airless room, we were glad to get down to breakfast, though we had to wait  till 8.30 , and Joff’s Cumberland sausage was a disappointment. We loaded ourselves up again, discovering a few aches and sore spots that had crept up on us in the night, and set off for our next stop, Great Langdale. Fun random thing no. 1: as we were leaving the pub we heard a cacophony of hooting and barking, and we almost stepped into the path of a flock of herdwick sheep being herded along the main street by a quad bike and three dogs. It was so pleasant to walk in temperatures a good 10 degrees cooler, with none of the rain that had been forecast. Ideal walking weather. The trail out of Coniston was initially gently rolling hills, dotted with sheep, passing a stone folly that once housed hunting hounds. We meandered gently up and down, occasionally passing through woods, passing through what was once an estate bought by Beatrix Potter, who then gifted it ...

  We sensibly shipped in an additional 3 litres of water to see us through the first day’s trekking, 17 miles when you account for the extra mile we had to walk from the hotel to the start line.   Mostly rolling farmlands and pastures to start with, our  7am  start meant conditions were quite pleasant to begin with, but it soon got pretty hot as we got into the middle of the stage. Vultures weren’t exactly circling but we were inordinately grateful for every breath of breeze & stretch of shade along the route. There was even a bizarre 30 second shower from a solitary cloud directly overhead. We then hit some low level fells and Lake District proper, and felt like we were in the swing of it. Many pit stops to drink water, a couple of glucose bars for energy. Highlight was definitely Beacon Tarn, a sheet of water up one of the fells, overlooked by rocky knolls. It was tempting to go full immersion, but we had a paddle instead, relief for sore feet. Fern and br...

  Nine hours door to door from Taunton to Ulverston via Carlisle on a very hot day. Thank goodness for air con in the car. Everything went to plan, and despite many trains being cancelled across the country due to the heat, we caught a train without any bother from Carlisle to Lancaster (it felt a bit odd to be immediately going back the way we had come) and then on to Ulverston, more or less along the cost. We had some lovely views over water on both sides - hills on our right and out to see on our left. Ulverston has quite a charming small town feel, and once we’d dumped our bags and had a shower we set off to find the start of the Cumbria Way, pictured behind us. Then we had a pootle, a pizza and a pint before heading back to the Premier Inn. We checked in on Jack: “How are you? What have you done today? What have you eaten? Mum questions, obviously. Given that Jack has to be more or less forcibly removed from the house, hates the heat, and isn’t a very adventurous eater, we wer...