Off on tour -- man, those bags are packed tight!
Mmm... airline food.
A stopover in London Gatwick...
... and a 7 hour wait until our next flight to Cologne, Germany.
Made it!
Here's me with our new bandmate, German violinist Heike Jurzik. After our Germany shows, she joined us for the first two weeks of the UK tour; she's fabulous. :)
Cologne Cathedral on a blustery day
Rock on!
What a great audience at Busker's Pub; we got a real singalong happening afterward, and Heike was teaching me drinking songs in the local dialect.
A last look at Cologne, on our way to the FilkCONtinental event in Freusburg.
The venue was a converted castle/youth hostel -- really magical
With a great view!
Our tour mascot, Tanuki the Raccoon, makes his first appearance
He approves of Freusburg!
Some of the weekend singalongs at FilkCONtinental (Photo: Dave Weingart)
(Photo: Dave Weingart)
Learning 'viking bowling'... it doesn't surprise me that it involves throwing sticks at the other team.
Hi there! The audience at one of our performances.
The fabulous Guests of Honour, Dandelion Wine (from Winnipeg)
Singing "As I Am" with Dave and Tom from Dandelion Wine (Photo: Dave Weingart)
Definitely a singers' festival!
Heike particularly likes hens, so I took this picture for her in a cafe in Freusburg.
On our way to Berlin, we stopped at Die Externsteine... a centuries-old holy site.
Ancient monks made good use of the strange rock formations!
It's quite a hike to the top...
...but worth it to see the beautiful little chapel.
Our friend Volker is more fit than I am, that's for sure!
The fabled Autobahn, toward Berlin
Volker & Kirstin took us to see the sights of old "East Berlin" (almost 20 years after the Wall came down, seems like yesterday) (photo: Dave Weingart)
Canadian tourists? None here, no sirree....
Here we are at the Reichstag
One foot in East Germany, one foot in West Germany... here's where the Berlin Wall used to divide the city
Hey, a real oompah band!
Some really tasteful and thought-provoking memorials in the city -- this one is an underground room with empty library shelves, on the site of a famous Nazi-era book burning.
More East Berlin landmarks
I can't believe the great weather
Take that, St. George!
All good things must come to an end... we fly back from Germany to start our hectic UK tour.
The cheery coastal town of Bideford, North Devon...
...home to our flute sponsor, Tony Dixon!
Tony makes great, affordable pennywhistles, low whistles & Irish flutes -- www.tonydixonmusic.co.uk . Seriously, he's awesome.
A return visit to our friends at the Barnfield Acoustic Music Club, Exeter
A quiet morning in Devon
New and old friends in Chisworth, near the brilliantly-named town of "Glossop"; thanks for hosting the house concert, Heather & Andrew!
Still some great weather -- we were really lucky, considering the usual rainy English October
Our concert in Chelford Village Hall; what a great evening
Heading north...
...under the mighty Tyne River...
... to visit the Stockton Folk Club in Durham. Thanks John & Ann!
A quick side-trip to take photos in Hartlepool, where Ben's mother grew up.
Then off across the border into Scotland.
My first trip to Edinburgh! Heike has many friends here, and acted as our 'tour guide'.
Anyone else think "The Dark Crystal"?
We opened for the lively Australian duo Cloudstreet, on stage at the Edinburgh Folk Club.
Ugh -- Edinburgh traffic.
Ridiculously good weather for this time of year!
Headed over to Glasgow, then down the west coast
Sigh, farewell to Scotland... until next year
Back down into Lancashire, for a concert near the famous Wigan Pier.
My grandfather's family came from Wigan... wonder if they'd ever been to the Orwell Pub? (photo: Sandra Goodfellow)
(photo: Sandra Goodfellow)
Over to the Topic Folk Club in Bradford -- really warm people, but I could barely understand their Yorkshire accents! :)
A peaceful morning at our old haunt -- The Exeter Hall, Oxford.
On stage at the Exeter Hall
Art shot!
OK, Casperdog -- you can lie on the stage, just wait until *after* our set!
A great shot of Heike
We took a free afternoon to visit the beach at Southend
The next day we did three concerts at a school in Upminster, London -- the kids were just super.
Took a break to visit Headingham Castle... a typically Norman keep from the early 12th century.
Pretty darn comfortable, if you ask me. Wonder if I could move it to Toronto?
A 'drive-by (photo) shooting' by Heike's friend Luke -- whoosh!
On stage at London's Barnet Folk Club.
We closed the show with folk club organizer JJ Dunne!
At the Colchester Arts Centre, we opened for Kirsty McGee & Mat Martin... and they graciously had me join them for a couple of their songs.
You see the strangest things on British highways
As the sign says, we're nearing the day when Heike had to fly home to Cologne.
But first, an exciting show at the famous Red Lion Folk Club in Birmingham, opening for Spiers & Boden.
Here we are with club organizer (and Medievalist academic - she and Ben got along famously) Dr. Della Hooke, along with Jon Boden & his sound tech Mark.
Still life with, uh... railing.
"The holly bears the crown..."
Bye, Heike -- see you next tour... hopefully in Canada!
Our performance at the Horsham Folk Club (great to see everyone again!)
(photos: Rick Hewitt)
A few of Horsham's denizens
I love old churches, like this one in Horsham
Hey, here's the gravestone of Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the Romantic poets!
A bittersweet show at Oranges Pub in Ashford, Kent -- great to see Stuart, Dee & Mick again, but sad that they'll be closing the pub next month.
Still, we did have a lively evening! (photos: Lissa Alcott)
Aren't English placenames cool?
We had a opening spot at the Chanticleer Folk Club; lovely to meet everyone!
On to the Bluebell Inn near Saffron Walden, Essex
... and the Bluebell's wary guard-chickens. :)
Another fine sunny day; check out the thatched cottages
Sigh... why can't all days be like this?
I couldn't leave without finally visiting St. Tiggywinkles Wild Animal Hospital near Aylesbury! They have HEDGEHOGS!! (Wish we had them here in Canada -- they're awesome).
Tiggy's does wonderful animal rescue work; they had 824 animals in their care on that particular day -- including over 300 injured hedgehogs, lots of hawks, hares, swans, deer, etc.
As it's a working hospital & animal sanctuary, there's no guarantee you'll see a hedgehog, but this one was trundling around his enclosure!
Trundle trundle...
On to the Corsham Folk Club in Wiltshire -- they have a room with brilliant acoustics, and lots of brilliant local singers.
Nearing the end of the tour, we head down to the Crumplehorn Inn (Polperro, Cornwall)
Love the Inn's lights -- good thing too, as they remind you how low the ceiling is!
Windswept Cornish hedgerow trees
Had an all-too-brief visit with my cousins Mary Alice & Chris, with one of their many rescued animals (this is Sparky!)
The geese remembered me from last year
Cornwall's mild climate means all sorts of strange things will grow there...
... including sumac, more often seen in Northern Ontario
Tanuki decides to roam through Truro
And we get to visit BBC Radio Cornwall!
Here I am with Tiffany Truscott, presenter for "Cornwall Connected"
Hmm... I suppose Ben does deserve a break, after 22 days of driving.
On stage at Tregony Village Hall, as part of the Roseland Music Festival
(photos: Amy Hetherington)
OK, imagine this -- we left Cornwall at 5:00am, drove the entire breadth of the country to Grays, Essex, did two folk club shows, then flew home the next day. Phew!
Here we are at the FAB Folk Club -- great to meet organizer Claudine in person (she's known online as the "Nutty French Woman" :)
Hi from the FAB Club!!
Zoom... now we're at the Walthamstow Folk Club in London, where we opened for living legend Leon Rosselson. Oh, and I got to play "As I Am" on Winston Churchill's old piano; how cool is that?
So once again we take to the peaceful skies... and get home just in time to start our Winnipeg-to-Halifax Christmas tour. "Jingle bells, jingle bells..." :)
