I've been away, which I why there's been a few missing entries.
On Thursday morning I went for a ride and verily, it was reet cold. Not icy, but cold and, once again, my feet were complaining. I need to buy some thicker socks, but also some new trainers. These are knackered.
After my ride I went for a coffee with a couple of buddies, one of whom (NC) is off to Alabama in April to ride in the "Bo Bikes Bama" cycle event. There are two events on the day, a 20 mile and a 60 mile ride and raises money for the Governor's Emergency Relief Fund. The event is run by the former NFL and MLB player Bo Jackson.
NC has finally been able to book everything as he has now found somewhere to hire a bike from.
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Friday was the first in a number of trips out for Gel and I. This time it was a trip for a Friday night in The Mytton and Mermaid, a hotel we'd stayed in a couple of times before. It's a big rambling old building with no two rooms alike. The food is wonderful, and they do a Friday Night "Special". For £120 you get bed, lovely evening meal, and breakfast.
Before we got there, however, we meandered our way there through Staffordshire, which is where my maternal grandparents were from.
We stopped at a few places, but by far the most interesting was the Middleport Pottery.
This pottery was established in 1851 and is now the only place you can get underglazed transfer printed wares. The factory still produces wares, but also acts as a museum and there are parts you can wander round.
At the height of the pottery industry in Staffs, there were over 4000 bottle kilns (in which the pots were fired). These were made redundant as a consequence of the Clean Air Act and now there are barely 40 left. One of them is maintained - at some expense (£500k) - as part of the factory.
The wares (plates, cups, saucers, teapots, soup tureens etc) were fired in the ovens, and to protect them from the smoke generated by the coal used to create the heat, were put into containers called Saggars. These were eliptical pots, about a foot and a half deep, a foot and half wide and three feet long. These had to be made on site, and lasted for about 40 firings. A Saggar was made from two components. A flat bottom, and a sidewall of clay. The bottom was made by taking a lump of clay and beating it into shape - it had to fit within a size defined by a brass hoop. The device used to make the bottom of a Saggar is called a Saggar-Maker's Bottom Knocker.
The Saggars were then fired, and when they were used were stacked high into the kiln. Firing pottery is not without problems. The pots can crack, or fire unevenly. It can be a lottery. Workers at the factory were paid by the number of pieces that successfully came out the kiln unscathed.
There was a video showing the construction of these Saggars which looked back-breaking. The fellow in the video did the job for 47 years.....
Middleport Pottery. The structure on the left faces onto the street and is the home of the managers offices, and the designers offices. The manufacturing areas are on the right.
Middleport Pottery: A display of old equipment.
Middleport Pottery. A worker carries some mugs to be fired.
Middleport Pottery. The bottle kiln.
Middleport Pottery: This is the mould store. Middleport have never thrown away a single mould and so can reproduce any form from the last 150 years.
We then headed off for another highlight, the London Road Oatcake Shop. Staffordshire Oatcakes are a thing of beauty and are delicious. This small shop makes 125 doz oatcakes a day, all by hand.
London Road Oatcakes. The surface on which these oatcakes are being made is over 100 years old.
Apparently people as famous a Nick Hancock and Pixie Lott have visited. It is also on the Staff Heritage Trail so tourists wander in with some regularity. I had one (an oatcake, not a tourist) with bacon, cheese and mushrooms in it....nom nom nom.
We then headed to Shrewsbury, stopping off at Market Drayton for a look round.
The food at the Mytton & Mermaid was, as ever wonderful and after a good nights sleep....
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Saturday
Mytton and Mermaid: Full Shropshire Breakfast.
Across the road from the M&M is a Nation Trust property called Attingham Park. So after breakfast we went for a good walk through the grounds and up to the house.
Attingham Park
We arrived at the house just before a free tour of the house was due to start, so we got the opportunity to walk round and hear all about it. And it was an interesting story. Man makes a ton of money, buys a seat in Parliament, buys a peerage, builds a big house. He then dies, and his son inherits, who makes more money but dies young and leaves everything to his 17 year old son who then marries a bit of a tart, and it pisses all away. Family has to auction off the contents of the house to avoid bankruptcy.
This is what he spends the money on:
Attingham Park: On the 'ladies" half of the house.
Attingham Park: On the "chaps" side of the house.
Attingham Park: The picture gallery.
We then went on a wander "below stairs" where the Victorian Kitchen was in use.
The servants dining room.
Where I had an interesting chat with a guide about Non-Conformism.
After scooting around for we visited the market hall, which showed how careful the burghers of Shrewsbury are. The market is indoor, yet they still feel the need for covers for the market stalls.
We then headed home.
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Sunday
Ride. A visit to Caitlin and Andy's new home. They took ownership on Friday, and had worked their butts off and stripped almost all the walls by Sunday.
BAFTAs.
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Monday
I picked up a van and drove Andy and I to Stoke to pick up a wardrobe. It was great fun. Andy is good company. The van was prepaid, we opted to buy CDW insurance for about £30, so was a little surprised to be presented with a bill for over £500 when we got back about 5 hours later.
Computer error. Phew.
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Apologies to all my loyal readers for the pitiful performance in the blog department over the last few days. Hopefully things will be back to normal. It's been a bit hectic.
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