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I am changing jobs, and my team very kindly bought me this as a leaving present. I can’t wait, but probably will – at least until we’re in the Lakes over New Year. Michael Jackson (the other one) describes it thus ‘A huge, powerful, bear-hug of peat…The driest of Islay malts, and an established classic.’ Looking forward to posting my thoughts. Apparently teetotaller Johhny Depp sometimes orders a dram of this just to sniff; I shan’t be emulating him.
I don’t seem to be very good at keeping up with writing this at the moment…and now have far too much to write in a ten minute lunch break. Will try harder…
We spent two fantastic weeks in September/October in France, firstly in the Ardeche and secondly in a friend’s House in Marseillan.
The highlight of the first week was canoeing down the Ardeche River through it’s wonderful gorge, camping en route. After a day’s paddling in some of the best scenery in France, what better than to make a fire, cook a couple of steaks on it and wash it down with a bottle of red wine (miraculously having survived the journey) and some Talisker, smuggled into France in the hunter’s flask. We capsised fire minutes after getting into the boat the next day.
The second week involved lots of lazing about on a roof terrace reading, listening to music, eating cheese, drinking wine and playing Scrabble. This was punctuated by long walks along the beach, and blissfully lonely swims in the Med. Strange how books and music shape a holiday. Listened mainly to Joni Mitchell’s Blue and read Anthony Burgess’s Earthly Powers – both genuine masterpieces, the latter in particular shooting up my list of all time great works. Marseillan is one of the Oyster capitals of Europe and you can pick up a dozen for about 3 quid. Ate Oysters every day for a week; could I justify emigrating to the south of France based on the price of Les Huitres? No, but only because I’d miss English beer too much.
Last month I went the CAMRA beer festival in Oxford town hall. Absolutely worth going, if only to taste Hobsons Mild for the first time (CAMRA Supreme Champion Beer 2007). Wonderful flavours: quite malty and biscuity and with a nice bitterness. Haven’t seen it anywhere since. I’ve been into the Eagle and Child in Oxford quite a lot recently. It’s a pub I didn’t frequent as a student, but it’s just round the corner from where I work. Quite a good little pub (albeit with a misjudged conservatory style extension mercifully hidden at the back.) It’s where CS Lewis and Tolkien used to drink. They keep a good pint of London Pride, always seem to have Deuchars IPA (which I tend not to fancy after Summer) and I’ve recently been won over by Brakspear Bitter.
Listening:
Martin Simpson: Prodical Son (Blew me away. Best album of the year.)
Davey Graham: Folk, Blues and Beyond (And have been since September. Why did nobody tell me about this when I was eighteen. )
Joni Mitchell: Blue (See above)
Ralph Vaughan Williams – The Lark Ascending
JS Bach – Watchet Auf
Schubert – Winterreise
Reading:
Anthony Burgess: Earthly Powers (Genius. Read it.)
Iris Murdoch: The Sea, The Sea (In progress; not sold on it yet.)
Richard Dawkins: Climbing Mount Improbable and The Ancestors Tale
Alan Bennett: Writing Home and Untold Stories (Dipping in and out. Brilliant, obvioulsy.)
Viewing:
Mark Demsteader, Manchester artist, Oxford Inspires gallery (hit and miss, but a couple worth seeing.)
Joe’s Palace, BBC1 – The excellent Poliakoff at his best. Michael Gambon superb.
No posts for ages, I know. We’ve been away the last two weekends, most recently to the Lake District, where we spent four days in Great Langdale. Alas, while the rest of the country basked in sunshine, we were subjected to torrential rain and gale force winds. We lost the path at the top of Crinkle Crags in what were probably the worst conditions I’ve ever experienced while hiking; visibility was down to a couple of metres, which meant that any path that wasn’t completely continuous became a real hazard. It was, ultimately, a really satisfying day, given the challenges faced, but in future I think I’ll consider what emergency equipment I’ve got in my rucksack a little more carefully – for the first time I was contemplating thoughts of having to spend the night on the fells.
I should add that Crinkle Crags, would, on a fine day, be a great walk; I can’t wait to try it again.
We were camping at the National Trust campsite in Great Langdale which I would recommend. I usually prefer a more secluded smaller campsite, but it does have very hot showers and well maintained facilities. There is a great hikers pub nearby (The Old Dungeon Ghyll) with lots of real ale (Black Sheep Bitter, Black Sheep Ale, Old Peculier, Yorkshire Terrier, Theakstons XB, Jennings Cumberland Ale) and loads of malt whiskies (I stuck to Tallisker 10 yr old, as it happens). Down the road is another pub worth looking in at called The Sticklebarn. We walked from the The Old Dungeon Ghyll along the bridleway past Dungeon Ghyll waterfall to get to it, and stopped for a pint of the delicious Bitter and Twisted. I’d give the next pub along, The New Dungeon Ghyll, a miss.
