UK TOUR: Cambridge

Half-pint of Guinness makes the pub chips
look enormous.

We left the Cotswolds before the sun rose on Wednesday morning, as it was a 3-hour drive to Cambridge and we had to be at the BBC Radio station before noon. It’s only 150 miles or something, but traffic is always bad, particularly around Oxford, so we got an early start.

We’d been up since 1am in Cirencester having a great chat with The Black Feathers, so it wasn’t pleasant waking at 6:30a for a drive. Tis life on the road, however, and it’s still significantly better than touring in America. A 3-hr drive here is considered a long travel day, while on American tours, it’s typical to drive 8-12 hours to the next gig. I like to leave time to explore the towns, pull off for historical markers, and enjoy a cuppa.

After playing 3 songs and doing an interview on the BBC Cambridgeshire with Jeremy Sallis (who is absolutely delightful, as is his cohort, Glenn!), we arrived at the Six Bells pub, run by Eileen and absolutely wonderful woman. She was reading a novel in her pub and popped across the street to show us our rooms.

I spent the afternoon meandering medieval bits of Cambridge and getting lost among markets and cobblestones, entering the imposing King’s College Cathedral, seeing the dark oak wood carvings of Henry VIII (I particularly liked the H+A carvings, like Henry + Anne = LOVE 4EVA UNTIL I CUT OFF YOUR HEAD!). The stained glass was amazing, and I still don’t understand how any of those massive buildings actually got built, even though I’ve read Pillars of the Earth.

Later, I enjoyed some great conversation with Eileen and then met up with an internet friend, whom I know from a UK Mums Facebook group. She’s American, but has been in the British Isles since 2002. Also, she’s a redhead with two kids and she’s a crunchy-type momma too (and a brilliant urban planner), and it was great fun meeting her in person.

The Six Bells is a small pub and we packed it to the gills. Steve and I played semi-acoustic, with just a vocal mic, so I wouldn’t have to scream over the banjo. The large crowd went silent as we played, as the uber-polite English audiences do, and we just had a blast playing a long set of original tunes. We mingled and made friends and then played a shorter set with some singalongs and requests. It was a grand evening, distracted only by the fact that my phone was blowing up with some stressful stuff back home (we have a house on the market, and of course, everything happens when I don't have a minute to deal).