As many of you know, I have a great love for the United Kingdom & the people that live there. It has also been clear, for many years now, that the United Kingdom also shares a great love for yours truly & my music! My first trip there, back in August of 2019, was actually a trip entirely planned around a festival, Park Fest, in Stranraer. Again, that was back in 2019. Naturally, due to the global pandemic, Park Fest was put on hold for 2020 & even 2021 making its resurrection this year some what of a homecoming for a lot of those involved. I was asked fairly early on in the planning phases of this year’s Park Fest whether or not I’d be willing to make the trip to play it, I was more than happy to snag a spot in the line up.
THE UNITED KINGDOM
PART ONE:
Day One
The original plan for the trip was to arrive Thursday morning, grab the rental car, & immediately make our way to Dumfries. When planning Ali, who was gracious enough to play host to me & contract Ross to help assemble a band on my behalf, & I had originally talked about having the band rehearsal for the show on that Friday before heading to Stranraer on Saturday for the festival. However, plans change & we ended up having to push rehearsal to Saturday afternoon to accommodate all of the musicians playing, totally fine! So now having a new day free we decided to go up the East Coast of England & stay the night in one of the towns there.
We arrived around mid to late morning having barely slept a wink on the flight over. Our immediate mission on the way to the rental agency was to poll our destination. We reached out to all of our UK friends asking whether we should go to Newcastle, Nottingham, Cambridge, or York. Everyone basically unanimously gave us York, so we started up Central England towards York.
We arrived in York in the early evening beelining to our hotel where the plan was to shaft from our travel clothes to something nicer in which to explore the town & take a few choice photos here & there! Our hotel was the Hilton York Tower, set literally across the street from Clifford’s Tower, one of the largest remaining fragments of the York Castle.
Once checked in, showered, & changed we set out to explore the town of York before our evening reservation at the North African restaurant, Los Moros.
Evan had this idea to take what he referred to as my OOTD, or Outfit Of The Day. Despite having packed in a frenzy I had managed to piece together a unique outfit for each day of our trip all while maintaining a suitcase weight of around 40 lbs & compensating for the swings in weather & the varied temperatures we would be experiencing throughout our eight days spent in the United Kingdom.
We actually did a proper photoshoot too, going around the York City Centre finding cool backgrounds to fill the negative space of each of the photos. For this OOTD I had chosen a Scotch & Soda Tan Knit Button Shoulder Sweater, a pair of Light Blue AG Jeans in the Tellis fit, Brown Aston Grey Work Boots, & Keiko glasses by Warby Parker. It was a tad chilly in York so the covering was much appreciated.
After we were satisfied with the photos taken we stopped off in The Shambles, the street of shops that inspired JK Rowling’s creation of Dragon Alley for the Harry Potter books. The parallels are abundantly clear to all who have seen the street as well as partook in Potter media. After our exploratory walk it was dinner time.
Los Moros is up near York Minster on the North side of the town center. It is in a small, unassuming three story town home that you would never guess, from its exterior, is brimming with color & flavor. Upon arriving we were shown upstairs to our table over looking the street below. I swung back downstairs to wash my hands having tripped on one of the steps near the riverside & was greeted by the cutest of outdoor courtyards where people dined under lattice adorned with tiled lamps & greenery.
Dinner was exquisite. We ordered a bottle or Romanian Pinot Noir to split & order off the menu “family style.” Our dinner consisted of a bowl of Casablanca Olives, Hummus with Rose Harissa, Olive Oil, Pine Nuts, & Flat Bread, Batata Hara, a Spicy Potato dish with Coriander, Garlic, & Turkish Pepper Paste, ZFC Chicken fried in Za’atar & Sumac with a Preserved Lemon Mayonnaise, Smoked Haddock Crocketts with Rosa Harissa Aioli, Beef Tanjia; Slow Cooked Ox Tail with Saffron, Preserved Lemon, Button Creamery Cumin Gouda Mash Potatoes, Pickles, & Lamb Jus, & a Chocolate Cardamom & Coffee Mousse with Chantilly Cream & Pistachio Crumble. Need I say more?! All of it, without exception, was incredible. There isn’t a thing within that order that I would change or alter!
The original plan after dinner was to go out, to hit the town & a few cocktail bars, however, the lack of sleep caught up to us & we made our way sheepishly back to the hotel with stuffed bellies. Pretty sure we were both asleep before our heads hit the pillows.
End Of Day One
Day Two
We awoke later than we had intended, our initial plan was to get on the road early to Dumfries but we decided to roll with is & grab breakfast before our cross-country drive. I had scouted a restaurant just a short walk from the hotel called The Blue Barbakan. The Blue Barbakan is a Polish Restaurant with an “extra multi-European twist.” We, however, arrived around fifteen minutes prior to their opening & resort to initiating the daily hunt so many of us engage in for caffeine.
Coffee was found just across Foss Bridge from The Barbakan at a very quant little cafe called Kiosk. We used to queue formed out its door as a gage for the coffee being brewed inside & were not let down by the parade of patiently placed patrons. The coffee was wonderful, the venue charming. The owner had even thrown an assortment of ceramic ware specifically for his shop of which the title card for them read “Here There Be Monsteras,” something I still am in awe of each time its cleverness passes my brain.
Coffee acquired & consumed & time passed it was now time to return to The Blue Barbakan!
We stepped up into a wood paneled room adorned with framed photos & chalkboards baring the restaurant’s specials. We were instructed by a woman, who I assume was the owner, to sit anywhere we like so we chose a table sat next to a lace curtained window overlooking the bridge. I ordered another coffee & a water & when I asked the matron of the house what I should get she suggested the Full English. Not usually one to do so, I ignored her recommendation as a weeks worth of “full english breakfasts” were staring me down. I opted for the Duck Rumor with Smoked Salmon & Evan the Poached Eggs with Smoked Salmon.
I was elated with the Duck Rumor. Truthfully, I am so glad I ignored her suggestion & went with my gut. Duck Rumor is a ramequin filled with Buttered Creamed Spinach, topped with Smoked Salmon & a Duck Egg before being baked in the oven. Think of it like an Eastern European Uova In Purgatorio. It was served with fresh Brown Bread to scrape the contents of the ceramic over, I could have eaten it forever.
After we paid the bill we popped back over to our hotel where we gathered our belongings & set off again, waving York a very fond farewell.
The ride to Dumfries took us up by Newcastle, where we originally had planned to stay. We got stuck in traffic here as one of the highways is currently undergoing rather massive renovations. Passing by the Angel of the North we made our way West along the A69, a route that used to be used to patrol Hadrian’s Wall, of which many of the pieces still exist to this day. From Carlisle we went backroads all the way to Dumfries where we arrived in the mid-afternoon.
Not to miss my OOTD, Evan immediately had me go out into the neighborhood & do I brief shoot. Never have I felt more self conscious doing a photoshoot than in the middle of a residential neighborhood but that day the outfit consisted of a Blue Goodlife Pullover, Tan Tellis AG Jeans, Yardley Glasses by Warby Parker, & White Goodfellow Trainers!
The rest of our evening was pretty relaxed; we ordered Indian take away from Seimo Seito with Carolann (Tikka Masala, Assorted Naans, & Seimo Seito Masala), then Ross & Ali joined after overseeing Panto auditions for the Royal Theatre. We sat around the rest of the evening exchanging stories, talking about the plans for the day to follow, & generally having a grand ole time. It wasn’t until one or two AM that we were all off to bed.
End Of Day Two
Day Three
The Saturday started about 9 AM with a briefing on the day’s plans from the Donowhos & a cuppa. Ali had a midday set in Stranraer in addition to an evening set in Loch Raven. The plan for me on the other hand was to grab some brekkie, go to band practice, & then make my way to Stranraer where we were to stay the night after my 7 PM set & interview. So having keys in hand & having said goodbye to the Donowhos, wishing Ali lucking in my own special way, we went in search for breakfast in the Dumfries town square.
I can’t recall the place we originally planned to dine but they were closed for whatever reason, so we ended up at Elevenses. I ordered a London Fog, which was on special, & Evan had a cappuccino, both were excellent! For breakfast I had the “Flower Of Scotland” which was basically their Full Scottish Breakfast, Haggis, Tattie Scones, & All! By the time we finished our brunch it was time to head over to the rehearsal space which was a studio just south of the town center.
We arrived just before noon where we were greeted by Ross who informed us that our guitarist for the day, Finlay, had unfortunately missed his bus out of Glasgow & was now running two hours behind. So we rolled with it. I played acoustic, Ross drums, & Ruairi played bass & we just went through the set top to bottom taking the time to make changes & corrections along the way. We had a brief break before Finlay arrived & we ran through the songs once more before throwing all of the gear in the rental & beginning the hour & a half trek to Stranraer.
If any of you have read my previous travel blogs in which I have travelled to The United Kingdom, you will know that I have a great love for a little smokehouse off the route to Stranraer/Port Patrick. It used to go by Marrbury Smokehouse but has since changed hands & now boasts the name OakHill Cafe & Deli. Their smoked salmon is still equally as delightful as before & feeling a bit peckish along the way we just managed to squeeze in before closing time to snag one of their incredible Smoked Salmon Sandwiches. Don’t worry, they pre-make them daily so we didn’t put anyone to work at closing time on our behalf.
We arrived in Stranraer around 5:15 & immediately headed to Agnew Park to check in. Having received our festival wrist bands, dropped gear, & squaring everything away with the festival promotion team, who are lovely by the way, we went to drop our stuff off at the hotel & get changed for the show.
My set was at 7 PM, as aforementioned above, but I think we ended up taking the stage closer to 7:10. I had planned a forty-five minute set that actually ended up being perfectly timed on my behalf actually cutting a few songs before we even rang the first notes. I did an acoustic set in the middle of the overall full band set just to break things up & give the band a bit of a break but over all I was more than happy with how the show went & how it turned out! After we finished I helped the guys pack up their things, took my guitar back to the room, & returned to enjoy the festivities.
Of course the OOTD photoshoot had to happen, so that was also a part of the evening. For my set I had wore an Oversized Jackson Brand White T-Shirt (RIP) under a Mauve Suede Zara Jacket with Light Wash Tellis AG Jeans (noticing a trend here?), & the Goodfellow White Trainers.
After the brief shoot I was due for an interview with Jinx Sullivan of DG9 Radio. I always enjoy my interviews with Jinx because she always asks the most interesting questions! When she last interviewed me she had brought a rolodex of questions that we just kept going through because we were having so much fun with the interview, I think it ended up being at least an hour long though. This time I think we ended up talking for 30-45 minutes, recorded that is, we continued to talk after for a long while before my hunger once again set in & I needed to search the streets for sustenance.
My first time in Stranraer I was introduced to Curry, Cheese, & Chips after my set. It was love at first bite & also somewhat very familiar due to its similarity to Poutine here in the States & Maneet Chauhan having Tandoori Chicken Poutine on her Chauhan menu. It felt like something I needed to carry on as a new tradition though. So with that in mind we ended up at Istanbul Kebab & Pizza House where we both got an order of Curry, Cheese, & Chips only this time with Kebab Chicken added to it! It smacked. Truly, truly smacked.
We hung around the festival a bit longer, taking in several of the other acts, before we headed back to the hotel to tuck in for the night. I suppose its also worth noting that what had started as an afternoon in the high seventies had ended in an evening in the high 40s, so we were also a tad freezing & caught unprepared for the chill.
End Of Day Three
END OF PART ONE