Leaving the barn we drove up though Somerset. For a break we stopped off at Glastonbury<\/a>, where we had \u00a0a cuppa, and a laugh at the hippies, both of which were very enjoyable. Funny isn\u2019t it? (probably not,) as a callow youth I would have given one of my bollocks to live in Glasto (or Totnes<\/a>,) and to indulge my then passion for the gothic, the alternative, the spiritual, the \u201cnew age.\u201d \u00a0Oh, and the drugs.<\/p>\n Luckily I didn\u2019t, otherwise I wouldn\u2019t be the cynical, hardnosed, nasty bastard you all loathe now. Mind you the other reason its good I didn\u2019t is that if I had, I\u2019d probably\u00a0now be a sad old hippy, or, even more probably, dead from a\u00a0 smack OD. Some of you may be wishing I had.<\/p>\n We spent three days in Cheddar,<\/a> just chilled out, suited us, but it\u2019s a funny old place.<\/p>\n We hired a studio flat and basically just did lots of sod all, a change for us on holiday. We did, when the weather was clement, stroll up the gorge to have a butchers, and a very stunning place it is. I showed Lee-Anne, \u201cCoronation Street,\u201d<\/a> a 400 foot high climb which had been soloed by a climbing\/writing hero of mine, Jim Perrin,<\/a> when he was off his tits on speed and coke. No mean feat.<\/p>\n There were many interesting opportunities on offer there, caving, climbing, cheese making, brewing, all \u201chands on stuff\u201d. But we were in chilling mode, and missed wasted ignored<\/span> didn\u2019t bother with them.<\/p>\n We took lunch in a chippy one afternoon. Outside it was windy and drizzling, sometimes heavy showers came down. We had a window seat, and enjoyed the view. The view mainly consisted of very damp people, in inappropriate gear, walking up to the gorge and then walking\u00a0back again. Others didn\u2019t even bother with the gorge, they just shuffled up and down the street,\u00a0 stared in the windows of the many souvenir\/gift\/tat shops that are the mainstay of the place, and complained about the shoddiness of it all. Some bought cheese, fudge or items from the vast range of “Wallace and Gromit” <\/a>themed crap available. Most had a look on their faces which shouted; \u201cWhy the hell are we doing this? Why are we spending Sunday walking in the rain, when we\u00a0 could be home watching the tele?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Most then stopped off for a quick cuppa, the more daring opting for a pint, \u00a0before heading home. It all seemed so quintessentially English. I loved it.<\/p>\n Our last night in cheddar was the night the big storm hit.<\/a> We\u2019d been following the forecast, and we really looking forward to a spectacular show of ferocious weather. Of course, as our digs were at the foot of the gorge, it all passed way over us, we didn\u2019t get a sniff, slept like logs.<\/p>\n The Monday we left, \u00a0the morning after the \u201cbig storm\u201d. We hit several diversions, and there were loads of trees down. We\u2019d set off way early, and were able to stop off for breakfast, at a wonderful greasy spoon on the Parade in Bristol.<\/p>\n \u00a0Ireland<\/strong><\/p>\n Lovely to fly over Wales in the Dash 7 we had booked tickets in, the views were stunning. At Irish customs, those with UK passports were waved through with nothing more than a nod and a \u201cgood morning,\u201d<\/i> Lee-Anne didn\u2019t have a UK passport. We got into Cork, were met by Clarkie and Catherine, picked up\u00a0 our hire car. We then had the great delight of following Clarkie for an hour to their home. This included a drive through Cork city. I\u2019m sure he wasn\u2019t actually<\/i> trying to shake us off. Clarkie\u2019s driving is a thing of wonder to behold. \u00a0At their place Clarkie had cooked us up a curry, and very good it was too.<\/p>\n The next day we had a perfect Clarkie event. We drove into Castleisland.<\/a> Clarkie needed to be registered as someone who isn\u2019t\u00a0 a menace to kids. (This did not take his driving into account.) This required, as all these things do, him sending vast amounts of cash to the registering people. So he went to the bank, they told him they couldn\u2019t do it, for reasons uncertain, and \u00a0he\u2019d be better off sending a postal order. So he went to the post office, they said they\u2019d love to give him a postal order, but they don\u2019t accept his type of credit card, (Bank of Toytown.) So he went back to the bank to get cash, but the machine there wouldn\u2019t take his credit card either. So he went into the bank, got cash, then went back to the Post Office. Life is never simple for Mr. Clarke.<\/p>\n Over the next couple of days we \u00a0did a tour of Dingle<\/a>, drove on a beach, had lunch in a fantastic cafe<\/a> there.<\/p>\n We drove into the mountains, we saw Mt Brandon, so we sent Bethy a photo of it, captioned; “This is not an instruction.”<\/em> As well as mountains our tours took in\u00a0 waterfalls, castles, floods, Mc Mansions, (Ireland is THE<\/strong> country for McMansions<\/a>, they have a real, if slightly bonkers, passion for them there,)\u00a0\u00a0and many other wonderful places. Once, while stopped at the side of the road I saw a view, shot off a snap, and told Clarkie and Lee-Anne; “This will be the best image of the whole trip.”<\/em> It was\/is.<\/p>\n One day we stopped off at a hotel, where there was a grand piano, fatal with Clarkie about. To be fair he is a great pianist, if only he could get the idea of starting a tune, and seeing it through to the end without diverting via several others.<\/p>\n The evenings we spent with Clarkie and Catherine just chewing the fat, catching up, and philosophising. Wonderful to be so relaxed with people we do not see for years at a time. Oh and boozing.<\/p>\n We also took a trip into Cork<\/a>, what a lovely little city. The \u201cEnglish Market\u2019<\/a> there was world class, with produce to die for.\u00a0 Unfortunately, when we stopped for a cuppa and some first class\u00a0meal at the cafe in the market, I did a boo boo. I saw Lee-Anne walking towards me with a full tray of lovely grub, that and the balcony we were sat on made for an excellent photo. What i didn\u2019t knew, due to being a deaf bugger, was that Lee-Anne\u2019s handbag had slipped off her shoulder, and she was in immanent danger of distributing our meal over the folks below. I was wondering why all I could hear\u00a0 was; \u201cfuck off. Fuck off!<\/strong> Fuck off!!\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/em> From her.<\/p>\n The last night there was a cracker. \u00a0Pete and Catherine had arranged for us to meet the \u201cIrish Young Writer of the Year.\u201d<\/em> This was done as a treat to me for being such a fine writer myself, but mainly because it\u2019s their daughter Emma. \u00a0She had just had a \u201csnakebite piercing\u201d<\/a> and was very pleased with it. (Catherine looked dubious, I don\u2019t think Clarkie even noticed \u00a0it.) \u00a0We went to a little restaurant in Killarney. Gabby\u2019s Seafood Restaurant<\/a> was lovely, but a bit of an oddity. Don\u2019t get me wrong, the food and staff were first class, but the place had a slightly dingy, and faded air to it. It felt like somewhere which had been \u00a0famous and thriving about 10 years ago, but has rested on its laurels and faded from view. There were only about three other tables occupied while we ate there. However, the food, seafood, was well presented, well executed, and had enough charm and originality to be a big sell for the place. Maybe a makeover and relaunch is needed. Anyway, the company was fine, and the evening was great.<\/p>\n So then we went to O\u2019Connor\u2019s Bar.<\/a><\/p>\n There was a young lad there murdering classic pop tunes on a guitar, luckily there was no\u00a0 piano for Clarkie to join him on. O\u2019Connors bar has been papered with mainly American, but also other countries bank notes, with inscriptions on them from American\/Canadian\/Australian\/Chinese\/Serbian \u201cIrish\u201d who have visited the bar. Unfortunately We didn\u2019t have any Aussie notes on us to add to the collection.<\/p>\n The next day, we drove off in our hire car, which hadn\u2019t moved since we drove it there, back to fly to Blighty again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cornwall \/ London<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Click on any image to go to the relevant gallery.) Cheddar. Leaving the barn we drove up though Somerset. For a break we stopped off at Glastonbury, where we had \u00a0a cuppa, and a laugh at the hippies, both … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/_d_improd_\/cheddar-gorge4_f_improf_300x199.jpg\")
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