We didn’t actually intend to go to the top – we sort of expected that at some point the track would do a sharp turn straight up the hill at which point we’d say in unison “bugger that, I’m not a mountain goat!” and turn around, but it didn’t, it just kept winding and climbing, but a good track and while tiring and not many moments of relenting, it wasn’t a hard path to follow, so by the time we’d got halfway it seemed downright wussy to turn around, so to the top we went… where we found an absolute gale blowing, plus two work friends of djelibeybi’s who we promptly invited to dine with us at the Shakespeare pub tomorrow night. The view would have been spectacular… if the entire country hadn’t been covered in mist. The wind truly was spectacular. At one point I had to cling to the trig marker while djeli told me all about how it worked.

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We spent the afternoon at Blist’s Hill Victorian Town which is one of those recreation-village type things, but this one was way way better than any other I’ve been to. Whereas Old Sydney Town was basically populated with random people in costumes, this one actually has real live craftspeople, and the town makes a sideline living out of making bricks and rooftiles and rocking horses and so on. Many of the things for sale – from hot cross buns, to postcards and little plaster plaques, are made onsite using Victorian methods. The printer not only prints postcards, but also bags for the other shops, money envelopes for the bank and handbills to go in the shop windows. The draper’s sells bonnets which are sewn by the woman running the shop. The whole thing was fascinating and very well done. AND there was egg dancing Altogether a tip-top day out.

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around Market Drayton and the Shropshire Canal (which is actually in Staffordshire). Absolutely gorgeous day, and we finished it off with buying gingerbread (a local speciality) from a baker in Market Drayton to have with our afternoon coffee.

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… in the pouring rain, as it turned out. Very beautiful walking up the “dingle” though. Gorgeously peaceful.

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Uh… yeah. Not spectacular, I know, but it helped, not least with providing cornflakes for breakfast.

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At the “Last Debutantes” exhibition at Kensington Palace. Very interesting! Some great 1950s clothes. Also had a lovely walk through Holland Park on the way home.

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Only had the morning really in Brussels before needing to get lunch and go and check-in for my train, so I went to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, which was absolutely fantastic and huuuge and worth a good deal more than the measly €5 they charge to get in. Had a last wander round the Grand Place with my lunch when I was done, then bought specaloos and some PIMs for John from the supermarché near the hostel before collecting my bag and heading to the station.

Knitted on the Eurostar on the way home and a French lady opposite told me my scarf was “très jolie” and that she’d always wanted to learn how to knit, so I told her it wasn’t very hard – only 2 types of stitches to be learnt. Nice to have a good exchange in French, however small.

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Went to S.M.A.K. (contemporary art gallery) and then the normal art gallery in Ghent. I wasn’t that taken with anything much in S.M.A.K. but it was marvellous to see a gallery devoted entirely to the work of living artists, and there was a very nice wonky stool made by some Italian chap which I rather liked. The other art gallery was fabulous, especially the modern section – mostly Belgian artists I’d never heard of, but some beautiful pieces there.

Had frites for lunch, then boarded a train back to Brussels and went and wandered around the Grand Place for a bit, visited the Manneken Pis to see what he was wearing (nothing at all, but apparently earlier in the month he’d been dressed as a dentist) and then went and indulged in a hearty and not too expensive spaghetti bolognaise for dinner. Yum! More knitting when I got back to the youth hostel.

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Taking photos all the way. Negotiated the Belgian train system, went to Het Gravensteen (castle), a couple of interesting art exhibitions in an old monastery and spent hours and hours just wandering the streets drinking it all in and taking tons of photos. Oh, and had the best coffee in the world ever. Mmmm. And did some knitting in the evening too.

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and used up the rest of the current roll of film. On the to-do list for tomorrow: get all the backlog of used film actually processed!

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