Audlem Festival 2017

We, that is Sadie and DogEmptier, were invited to join a friend at Audlem Festival. Audlem is a village in Cheshire with 3 pubs and a canal, the Shroppie. All 3 pubs plus a few other places were used as venues. The musicianship was without exception of the highest quality but not all to my taste, however if you didn't like a band there would be another playing within a 100m or so.

Day 1 Thursday - travelling

It was a long journey for both of us. The first leg was courtesy of Southern Railway and amazingly they were running a normal service! We had some time to spare at Victoria so I took Sadie to a nearby park in case she needed emptying. It seems she didn't but I found this intriguing building, maybe it is for the gardeners tools.

There were also new buildings and traffic!

Next leg was the bit I had been dreading. Not only had Sadie never been to London before she had never travelled on an underground railway. She didn't like it at all and was particularly spooked by the escalators, but we got to Euston OK even though she wanted to get out every time the train doors opened.

There is a sculpture in Euston station, well most people seem to think it is a seat. It is of Matthew Flinders. His claim to fame seems to be that he is buried somewhere under the station, oh, and he was first to sail around Australia.

To save money I had booked a ride on the slow train from Euston to Crewe. It took nearly 3 hours - another first for Sadie. I have to say she was very well behaved. She just tucked in under the seat and dozed off.

When we got there we were met by my friend and given a lift to the camp site, a very lumpy field that was normally used for livestock. Sadie didn't like it at all because at some point she had broken a toenail and the stubble aggravated it. Thankfully she was OK on hard ground so we could still get around.

Sadie relaxing in the tent after a long day.

Day 2 Friday

 It was warm and sunny so we had a chance to walk along the canal and look around.

I was camped in the field adjacent to this lock. The sound of rushing water  all night and the time spent in local pubs meant I had to make a lot of night time sorties to the nearest loo.

This is The Shroppie Fly pub. Up until 9pm the bands played on a stage set up in the car park and after that in the more intimate setting inside the pub. This was similar for the other two pubs; The Bridge Inn and The The Lord Combermere.

Of course there were plenty of narrow boats to look at. The festival is a magnet for the canal folk so there were many interesting boats. I counted 77 between the marina and the bridge (about 1 mile)

 The view of the Weaver river from the canal. The pond is a nature reserve.

Sadie has a new friend Megs

Castles and roses are a traditional decoration on narrow boats

Afternoon

Red Rum Club at the Lord Combermere

and an example of their BIG sound

Evening

The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican at the Lord Combermere

You will recognise the tunes but they've messed with the words as you can tell from this clip. You may notice there are four of them here but only the two (to the right) were at Audlem.

Day 3 Sunday

A morning walk along the canal where we learnt how a lock works

I tried to rescue the illustrations with a little success.

 Modern day travelling minstrel

Pratchett?

Some canal furniture

 

And back to the music

This is blues guitarist/singer Jim Kirkpatrick playing in Blues Alley. No, really, that is the name of the road.

There wasn't enough room in Blues Alley so quite a few sat on the grass in front of the Parish Church of St James the Great across the road.

 

Mike Chant

 Playing digeridoo, guitar and footpedals at Bridge Inn

Gambler at Lord Combermere

I wasn't in the best position for pics but I had to get a shot of the bass guitar. I've never seen anything like it - going back to a normal bass must be very confusing.

They were very loud, so Sadie decided to have a kip!

Whoops!

In the evening it was nice to sit by the canal and listen to the music drifting out of the Shropie fly.

On the wall outside is a panel explaining what a shroppie fly is. 

Click to embiggen.

Inside - the 'quiet' area of the bar.

 The Lord Combermere

Akiva

Are a bit like this :)

There were other bands I watched but didn't photograph. notable acts include Montaparnass



and stonking reggae band Jeremiah Ferrari

Sadly that was it, we said our goodbyes and headed back to the South Coast the following morning. It was a long way to go but it was a great festival and the boat folk were very welcoming.