Day Four at the Weird Weekend 2013

And so to the final day. As we bid farewell to Woolfardisworthy, but only for a year at the most, what have we learnt? Sarah and Maya taught us about orbs and how to catch them on camera ourselves. Ronan told tales of leprechauns and Irish kings. We had James Newton on Bigfoot and Lars on the cryptozoology of Greenland as well as that of Jon's garden, a talk he co-hosted with Nick Wadham. 

At the end of Ronan's speech Jon was presented with a signed Weird Weekend poster as a thank you for all the hard work he had done, and then the man himself delivered his customary keynote speech. Many were moved as he spoke of the passing of Mick Farren, and excited when Jon announced that there would indeed be a Weird Weekend 2014 if he had anything to do with it. Unlike the Pope, Jonathan Downes will not be abdicating his throne just yet, dudes....

Day three at Weird Weekend 2013

First was another sumptuous breakfast courtesy of Becky at Higher West Town, this time including bacon done EXACTLY the way I like it, which is a rare thing in this world, believe me. Blogging came soon after and then it was time to head down to the community centre for the talks. 

First up was An Introduction to Cryptozoology by the dons of the subject, Jonathan Downes and Richard Freeman. Anybody who didn't know when they got there what cryptozoology was left very much the wiser. Barry Tadcaster and Ken the orang pendek then introduced the next speaker: Nick Wadham on the true nature of fairies, and reading from his book on the subject soon to be published by the CFZ. Today was when Paul at last joined the proceedings and filmed these two first talks on the iPhone, afterwards exclaiming how he had enjoyed himself. 

Unfortunately we did miss the first part of the next talk through getting carried away chatting in the bar with Ronan and Steve Jones so we decided to take a trip into Bideford, returning in time for the CFZ Awards where many excited volunteers hoped desperately to reach the pinnacle of achievement that is the golden baboon. This year's lucky recipients were Yvonne Robertson, Jessica and Jo Heard, Jessica Taylor, Timmy Cornish, Matthew Knight, Dr Dan Holdsworth and Mark Raines. 

Other highlights included Shaun Histed-Todd's Civilisation X speech and Darren Naish on his blog and book Tetrapod Zoology. Unfortunately I didn't make it to the expedition talks or Judge Smith's but I will be purchasing a copy of the latter's book, and waiting semi-patiently for the YouTube videos. 

Day Two At Weird Weekend 2013

We got off to an amazing start with a vegetarian fry-up for breakfast. Starting with amazing food is always a good plan. Becky at Higher West Town B&B is a great cook. I also had some of the best coffee of my life. The coffee in Devon must be stronger than up north because it just took two small cups and I was as wired as a rock star on acid. 

While Paul rested up I decided to use my artificial energy wisely and set off to the village and Jon's house to see if I could be of assistance. Everything, however, was in hand, so instead I got to catch up with old friends again and make a couple of new ones. I also met Prudence for the first time and she is as adorable in the fur as she is in her pictures. 

We discovered Atlantis in Bideford in the afternoon, of all places next door but one to Asda. This, of course, is not the Atlantis but a children's nautical theme park, which if I'm honest, I wish I wasn't passed the age restriction to enjoy. Adults can sample the lovely food, though, which was consolation enough. 

Next was Hartland Quay. Words cannot describe the beauty, hence the pictures. 

We're still in shock with the road widths in this part of the world and how it can be justifiable to set the speed limit on such dangerous stretches at 30 and 40! But we are still in one piece.

And lastly, we come to the talks themselves. I made it to all of them and all of them were very interesting. My favourites have to be Ronan Coghlan on the church and evolution (what he said made perfect sense to me and was refreshingly unbiased) and Lars Thomas on the natural history of trolls. 

The volunteers in the canteen are to be applauded. I didn't sample much of the food last night but the crumble was heavenly. 

So for reasons that must be obvious, I'm really rather looking forward to day three. And I'm about to have my third coffee just because I'm daring....

Day One At Weird Weekend 2013

My last Weird Weekend was also my first and I've wanted to come to another ever since but fate always seemed to be against me. 2010 I broke my leg, 2011 I couldn't afford a 10p mix let alone a trip to the other end of the country and in 2012 all our spare money went on getting married. 

As you can imagine, then, it was with rather a lot of anticipation that hubby and I set out at stupid o'clock from Heywood to miss the traffic. The first hundred miles were interesting. I'm someone who loves to look at new scenery even if it's shopping centres at the side of the motorway that I'll probably never go to. The last 188 miles took their toll. The sat-nav was in my lap the whole way but the route was so unbelievably straightforward there was no real need for it. Plus, at the part when we did need it, to find the B and B in Woolsery's narrow streets, the silly thing packed up anyway so we had to rely on signs. 

When I say the route was straightforward I really mean that. Every junction we came to the direction was 'straight on.' Every roundabout. Every seeming turn. Straight on. It made me think of Peter Kay when he tells the story in his gig at the O2 arena of how as a teetotaller he always ends up driving all his drunken pals and family home after nights out and the last one is always so paralytic that she doesn't remember where she lives.  Peter: "where'd you live Sandra, love?" Sandra: (slurred) "Straight on" 

Peter: "We're in Birmingham now Sandra, love."

Sandra:  "STRAIGHT ON!!"

Eventually frustrated I texted my friend Kelly that I was on the most boring route in the UK. 

We arrived in Woolfardisworthy around dinnertime, knackered. Unfortunately there was a bit of a wait to be able to go lie down because we arrived much earlier than the lady who owns the B&B expected so she had to dash up and prepare. Our room is beautiful. It's a double in lovely bright colours and the window seat looks out onto the gorgeous green countryside. Once ensconced we nodded off and didn't wake up till the evening. We quickly readied ourselves for the cocktail party ahead, I remembering heady days in 2009 of far too much champagne and drunken early hours conversations with a palaeontologist who thought I looked like a chick off the terminator series: one of the best nights of my life. 

Today was somewhat different. We failed miserably to find somewhere to park for quite some time and then, hungry at last, grabbed some food at the chippy before heading to Myrtle Cottage. We had some good conversations and I was pleased to see old friends but the goodness knows how many hours of 'straight on' during our second-only motorway trip in our new little car, and the long sitting-down stints having played havoc with my dodgy leg meant we had to make our apologies inside an hour and go back to the B&B and bed. 

Still, it's now day two and we've both had quite a good amount of kip so I for one am looking forward to what the day might bring. 

Cheating??

I have to wonder if admitting this on the blog in question is the best course of action but I am feeling rather fluent having just composed an essay for the first time in a month, so there you go. Despite having written the first post of this blog almost four years ago, I am ashamed to say I have only just noticed that each post has the number of times it has been viewed beside it in the dashboard. Some posts, incredibly, have been viewed hundreds of times (posts by little old me!), while others, until today, have only been seen the once. Whether that was by myself after writing or a friend who likes to read each of my posts, remains to be seen. What doesn't need to be wondered about is that in order to up the figures, I have also discovered that I can do this simply by opening a new window and looking at the published but neglected posts in question myself. Cheating? Maybe. But it is my birthday tomorrow so I'm very much allowed.