Day Eleven of Eleven!

Day Eleven.

Stonehaven Folk Club.

I cannot believe this amazing Scottish weather. The fair, sunny days continue, after an early fog, through which I slept. I'm so tired, I could barely wake up, and I'm not as sharp as usual. John was up early, dealing with some business things in Australia on Skype, and when I finally woke I tried to ring my Aunty Wil for her birthday, but couldn't get through. I'll speak to her tomorrow, because now its the middle of the night in Brisbane.

We packed up. Again. I can hardly wait for the day when I don't have to do that in the morning. The more tired I get, the further I seem to be able to spread out my stuff. I had a huge dose of Vitamin C, which cleared my stuffy nose, and off we went along the highway. The route took us past the western side of Stirling, and the view of the Castle and Wallace Monument in the bright sunshine literally made us gasp.

By lunch time we were at Perth, and with a bit of cajoling from John, we went back to the Toby Carvery, because it was cheaper than buying picnic things at the supermarket, and I could have lots of veggies. The big picture windows looking out over sunny Perth are pretty good too. But there's still a 90 minute drive to Stonehaven, our destination.

These carvings are on the river walk in Perth.

Hours later…..and now we are done. We drove in to the pretty little town of Stonehaven, found the B&B, which is run by members of the folk club, Lorna and Dennis, and John had a sleep. I went to the beach!! It was ten minutes walk away, and the magical blue of the sea and sky met the shingle and sand beach, all looking glorious.

After dinner, we drove the tiny distance to the club. Stonehaven Folk Club has recently moved to new premises at the Community Centre, slightly out of the centre of town. They put up a backdrop and make the room comfortable, and are running it as a byo venue. With Eddi Reader on the same night, and a sunny beach just outside, we certainly drew a small crowd, but they were keen singers and did wonderful floorspots too. Everyone was friendly and chatty, and it was so relaxing to see the pale blue sea through the window as we sang, including Scots of the Riverina and Ship-Repairing Men in the set. We had a delightful night, and finished it by sharing some fiddle and concertina tunes with Sandy, who had played some fiddle tunes as a floorspot. So lovely to play Bethany's Waltz, Union Street Session and Josefin's Waltz!

We packed up slowly because I was chatting, drove back the long way to the B&B (oops), and I shared a couple of single malts with Dennis while John enjoyed some cheese! And so we reach the end of our eleven show marathon, and have TWO CONSECUTIVE NIGHTS IN ONE PLACE…. the weekend in Aberdeen!