Went for a longish ride on Wednesday and in the evening had a virtual pint down the Hop Leaf with Kelvin and Andy.

Andy Whatsapped to see if me and Kelvin wanted to go out for a ride. I declined as advice has been not to go on group rides. You're supposed to stay 2 meters apart. Its called social distancing.

M thought it would be good to keep a record of what's happening.

This week has really seen a big change, everything is shutting down.

Up until last Friday we were still going out, we went to see Tommy Tiernan at the town hall with Bobby and Fiona. We were a bit unsure about it and probably would not have gone if it was just us.

This gig was suggested by Sally. I'd seen them at EOTR and the jury was out a bit but thought I'd go along. In any case its always great to meet up with Tom and Sally in London and have a few beers, a bite to eat and watch a band. Plus the Orielles are from Halifax.
The ticket was on my Dice app. Very high tech. So much so in fact that I cant take a screen shot of it with my phone for security reasons so I photographed my phone instead.


I'd arranged to meet Tom in the Old Fountain near Old Street at 6 pm. It looked like it might be a bit foody from the website but when I got there it was really lively with the after work drinking crowd.
Got at pint of Fivepoints XPA and bag of nuts, found a table and waited for Tom. The XPA was excellent, just the job. We had to move as I hadn't realised the  table was reserved but found another and Tom got another round of XPA.
Sally arrived and we decided just to drink up and go to Pizza Union. I'd been to one before with them, they're really good for a quick meal. You get your beer from the fridge. Order and pay at the counter, take any nibbles with you and find a table. They give you a gizmo with your number on. When your pizza is ready the gizmo flashes and beeps and you go to get it with any sides. Instead of my usual pepperoni based one I went for the fiorentina. The spinach wasn't cooked like in Pizza Express but the egg was perfect. It was all a little bit dry though. I washed it down with a nice bottle of Moretti Siciliana which weighs in at 5.8.
It was only a couple of stops on the Northern Line to Camden and we got to the gig probably around 7 45.
Keith and Fiona were already there.
The first band were PVA. I'd heard their only track on Spotify and it sounded OK. There's just 2 of them. We weren't really paying attention though and then suddenly they had finished.
Next up was Lazarus Kane. I thought he was just a one man knob twiddler but he had a full band, quite a few of them, about 8. They were OK I thought but we were at the back and not really engaging.
It turns out both of those bands are on at the EOTR so if we want to follow them up we can.
I'd spotted there was a balcony and so went to investigate. Anyone could get up there and there were a few stools and other seats. Worthwhile knowing for any future gigs as M doesn't like standing. However I suspect you need to get there early and queue up in order to get one.
We moved in closer for the Orielles.


They were OK but I thought they could have been better. The material is good but the guitar didn't really cut through until the last 2 songs they did for the encore. Too much delay. I didn't really think the singer's voice was strong enough either and on the bit of video I took she actually sounds a bit off key.
Tom was obviously enjoying it though.


Top tip from Fiona on the way back to Paddington. If you end up the the Victoria or Northern lines and want to get onto the Circle or Hammersmith and City, change at Warren St and walk to Euston Square. Its about 50 meters away.
We got a fast train without having to wait very long and got back without any trouble. I did nearly go out of the wrong side of the station though.
A good evening.

Convenient to be in Wales on St David's day.
Wynn was going to do a Sunday lunch and we had talked about going for a walk beforehand.
In the end nobody else was up for it but it was a lovely sunny morning so I went by myself.
I thought I'd go up a path that goes round the back of the house and either do a loop round or come back the same way depending on the time as lunch was scheduled for 1pm.


It was pretty steep on the way up but easy terrain so I decided I would have time for the loop.
Quite spectacular up there.

Got up about 10ish and had poached egg and beans on toast for breakfast.
After that we drove down to LLantysilio Hall where we will be staying for the wedding. It looks very impressive for an Air BnB



The church is just a couple of hundred yards away.




They are both very near the River Dee which was quite high.

Horseshoe Falls

The plan was to walk along the canal into Llangollen.

We stopped off at the Chainbridge Hotel for a coffee.






















A stream train turned up at Berwyn station just across the river. Its a bit hard to make out because of the light.


A very pleasant walk on the way in we came across a horse drawn barge coming through a tunnel. The clip clops sounded great

When we got into town Wynn added to the green grocer's and we headed for the Cornmill. I had a pint of DHB (double hopped bitter I think).

There were some interesting shops on the way in



We walked back the way we had come and just got back to the cars as it started raining. Excellent timing. I got Whatsapps on the way back to let we know URZ were 2 0 against Barnsley.

In the evening the plan was to meet a Jane and Kevin, friends of Anne and Wynn in the Three Eagles and then eat at the Cornmill.

We were getting a taxi for 6 so it was a fast turnaround. In the end it was late. No excuse, when Wynn phoned to say he'd ordered one for 6 the response was 'So you did'. Taxi's are hard to come by.

The Three Eagles was very lively, lots of young people. The only problem was they didn't sell real ale in the top bar so it had to be brought up. The Triple Crown was pretty good. I went to the downstairs bar for the second round.

Good food at the Cornmill where Wynn is well known. M had some nice beetroot hummus as a starter and I had halloumi fries. Then she had a veggie tortellini that looked good and I had cod and chips. A good evening.

We got a cab back, cracked open a bottle of red and chatted and listened to music on their Bluetooth system.

We are visiting Anne and Wynn in North Wales for some wedding planning. They are getting married in June. They live in Llandynan which is a small hamlet just outside Llangollen.