Los Campesinos

Tonight I am at the Foundry, otherwise known as the Students Union of Sheffield University. The support band Me Rex are very very loud unless its purely because I’m stood right next to a speaker stack. They are definitely raucous and very good with a touch of Forward Russia about them. 

Their enthusiasm is hugely infectious and they quickly won over the crowd with a performance of what I'm told was indie punk bubblegrunge (or something like that). However getting deafened by the support band probably isn’t a great tactic.

In between bands I head off to find a beer as Sheffield Uni is usually awash with Thornbridge but not tonight and I come back empty handed.

Los Campesinos take the stage and immediately up the stakes out-racousing Me Rex. Opening with 'A Psychic Wound' from the new album which slides us in gently until the popular threesome of 'I Broke Up in Amarante', 'Romance Is Boring' and 'Avocado, Baby' up the craziness as they add in first crowd surfing and then a circle pit. It's clear already that it's not just the support band who were loud and I'm now very deaf. 

Los Campesinos were formed in 2006 and looking around a lot of the audience would barely be born then. Lead singer Gareth clearly has the same thought and asks how many were here the first time they played Sheffield, in this very room, 17 years ago in 2007. Four hands go up. How many seeing them for the first time… about half the room. All barely older than the lifetime of the bad. Yet when 'Knee Deep at ATP', from the first album, comes round they all go wild. It's very interesting how people get into bands these days. 

The band had a brief moment in the sun in the late 2000s with the likes of 'You! Me! Dancing!', saved as always for the encore, but they were then largely written off but not forgotten. The seven-piece, who cram on to a stage bedecked with banners for just causes, have become cult stars who sadly come around far too infrequently. Their new album 'All Hell' is their seventh but their first for seven years and it is self-produced, self-released and self-marketed on a budget of allegedly just £190. Yet tonight and the whole tour are sold out.

Tracks from the new album slot in neatly within a career spanning set list covering their usual subjects - doomed romances, doomed football, doomed capitalism etc. On of their new tracks 'To Hell in a Handjob' is apparently about 'punching fascists with your mates'. Musically, they don’t miss a beat.

Gareth gives up the mic briefly for keyboardist Kim takes the lead on the wonderful 'kms' before taking it back and insisting that the rest of the set will all be 'bangers', if anyone has any energy left. I could have done with that beer. 

Fading Light

One of my old student hangouts in Nottingham, The Palais, re-opens this week. It has now been taken over by the DHP Family, the owners of Rock City. They say they will be bringing back student nights, alongside ex-student nights and in due course they plan to put on live music. Could be interesting.

On Saturday at Alvaston Parkrun my time of 25:57 is my fastest for two years. Derby’s start decent to the season continues with a win 1-0 over Cardiff, their third win from five games. L does a late gym and then we do a late Plough although I may have twisted her arm on both. I work my way through Supreme, Bullion and Legend with each one running out after I’d had a pint of it.

We do a joint gym on Sunday then we’re both we’re back at work on Monday and for L it’s the first time in the office for seven whole weeks but she’s back home by 11am as her boss seemingly forgets he supposed to be back in at all. I, of course, have no office to go into. I am back on the track in the evening and at the Exeter afterwards.

Tuesday sees L make another attempt to link up with her boss and isn’t happy about it as he turns up this time. Another return on Tuesday is dog training.

On Wednesday we haul ourselves out of bed early and do a 4k run with the Lad. Thursday has L in Derby and then at yoga while with the evening light now fading we bring tennis forward to 5pm to get a final game of the season in. 

(Thursday 19^th September)

Welsh Coastal Tour With A Beachaholic Dog

Our fortnight's holiday starts with rehanging my Dad’s gate that he’s being repairing and repainting. This involves me cutting my hand, which isn’t a good start to the trip.

Not long after crossing the border into Wales is our first stop at Llangollen where we check out the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct at a place simply known as Trevor. L and my Dad go on the boat across the aqueduct while I walk across with the Lad who isn’t allowed on board. 

Our first stay is at the Hand Hotel. After checking in, L and I go exploring and find the Corn Mill pub which has five beers but all pale ones. The pick of the bunch has to be Old Prickly because L says it must be named after her. Back at the hotel the only beer is Clogwin Gold from Conwy at only 3.6% but they do provide us with a Sunday Roast. It quickly transpires that my Dad has forgotten his bank card, so it seems that all the bills will be on me. 

The next day we visit the two bookshops in Llangollen before pushing on with our tour which briefly takes us to Rhyl which is not particularly pleasant. Neither is the coastal road spoilt as it is by the awful A55. The beach and coffee that we find at Colwyn Bay is the best of a bad bunch. We arrive at our next total in Llandudno at 3pm and send my father to bed. L and I then walk the pier and go on the Ferris Wheel with the not terribly impressed Lad before ending up at Tapps micro pub. The Titanic Atlantic Red at 5.4% is very nice but not at all Welsh. The Tenby made Mor Du 5% stout certainly is. The hotel meanwhile has bottles from the Conwy Brewery, one of which Rampart at 4.8% quickly becomes a favourite of mine. We also sample the local Penderyn whiskey, which has one of its three distilleries in Llandudno. 

On Tuesday we take a bus tour to Conwy where we walk down the Quayside and have a pint in the Bank of Conwy which is no longer a bank. In the evening we do a 5k run back in Llandudno where I move on to bottles of Celtic Pride as I’ve drunk all the Rampart. 

Our third day in Llandudno sees my Dad and I take the tram up the Great Orme while L walks up and down it with the Lad.

Then my Dad gets to do a spin on the Ferris wheel. We spend another night in the hotel bar with their limited food range but at least they have restocked the Rampart.

We’re back on the road on Thursday and we take a trip to Beaumaris on Angeley but don’t stop as there’s little to see and no easy parking for my Dad while dogs are seemingly not welcome near the castle. Instead we take a boat trip on the Menai Strait from Caernarfon before getting back in the car and completing the journey to our next stopover at the Sandbanks Hotel in Barmouth. We have an excellent room with a sea view although this isn’t ideal with a beachaholic dog.

After checking in we walk up to Myrddins Tap and some nice Black Rock Porter 5.6% from the Tudor Brewery. We eat back at the hotel where they have Purple Moose in bottles and on keg. It’s very raucous in their bar and may be even more so the next day when they have Elvis performing. So we may go elsewhere.

Friday is hot and we have a beach day much to the Lad’s delight. That is until he vomits up seawater and his breakfast. L swims in the sea and my Dad has a paddle. We have coffee on the sea front and then an afternoon beer back in Myrddins Tap. Later we are at the Bank Restaurant to avoid Elvis where I have the rack of lamb, L has a cauliflower masaman and my Dad has unbattered cod without chips and eats the lot.

Saturday is of course Parkrun in Barmouth or Y Promenâd Parkrun yn Abermaw as they say around here. I run with the Lad while my Dad can literally watch from the hotel where we join him afterwards for a late breakfast. Post-Parkrun L swims in sea again then we take a ferry boat from Barmouth Harbour across the bay to Fairbourne where we catch a steam train and then a mainline train to bring us back to Barmouth. Quite an exciting trip especially if you’re the Lad or a 95 year old like my Dad. L and I have to sneak off to the Tap again to recover.

Two pints and three shots of local gin later we eat at the hotel where they have another singer on but this time not Elvis.

L runs on Sunday but I don’t. It’s a wet day as we drive south over a toll bridge before eventually ending up back at Fairbourne where we were the other day, looking back across the bay to Barmouth.

Our journey then takes us to Tywyn where we seek out the train from Race The Train which L did in the late 90s and have a coffee on the seafront. By the time we arrive at our next stop, the Pier Hotel in Aberystwyth, the weather has got very windy. Time to batten down the hatches and hide under the duvet for a while before checking out the Bank Vaults for a couple of beers/blackcurrant gins. We eat in the dog friendly Antalya Turkish restaurant right next door to the hotel.

The next day we’re on our second tram of the holiday, or rather the Aberystwyth Cliff Railway, where we have breakfast cobs and coffee at top before driving to the next cove but there isn’t a lot there. 

 

We return to Aberystwyth where my Dad and I frequent Sophie’s cafe while L does the book shops. Then with my Dad back at the hotel having a nap, we check out the Bottle & Barrel which is the big sister pub of the Vaults we were in the previous night. Later we walk my Dad to the Baravin restaurant which was a bit too far for him really but actually only 300 metres. Perhaps he’ll let us bring the wheelchair next time.

On Tuesday morning we run along the prom covering 4k in what are still very windy conditions. We are then back on the road, grabbing breakfast on route at the Corris Craft Centre before driving up through Dolgellau to Beddgelert and our next stopover at the Royal Goat Hotel. We go for a walk and have a look at our old campsite, which is now very posh, and find a van completely wedged in the narrow lane behind it. We then have a drink at the Llewellyn where we used to take the kids for turkey twizzlers. We eat at our hotel where they have Purple Moose in bottles.

On Wednesday L runs but again I don’t. Then we walk my Dad down into the centre of the village looking for the hotel he once stayed in. This was probably the Saracens Head. We then take him on the Aberglaslyn Express train to Porthmadog. We did the same trip when we were last in Wales only in reverse. He finds the walk up to the station and at the other end hard work. Yes, I think the wheelchair might have helped. When we get back we sample the beer in the Saracens which would probably be a good place to stay as it’s also very dog friendly. Only the Tanronen is not dog friendly and doesn’t look that human friendly either. We eat at the hotel again and have a bottle of wine between us.

The next day L and I run along the footpath to Rhyd Du which is a very nice route. Then we start the drive back towards home via the Glaslyn Osprey centre and then Betws-y-Coed for coffee. We’re not heading all the way home just yet though as we have one more stop planned in Mold. Although we are actually staying in New Brighton which is about 1.5 miles outside of Mold. L and I walk in, to find the bookshop and the Micropub. We are still back at the hotel in time for the Lad’s teatime. We eat at the hotel where they have two real ales on, the best of any of the hotels we’re stayed in. Both from Facers Ales from Flint or Fflint as they call it in Wales. 

On our final day we visit the Mold Museum, the home of the famous Mincemeat soldier before heading back home via coffee and cake in Whitchurch. Once back home we’re both straight in the gym to work off that cake... and everything else.

 (Friday 13^th September)