Whitby, nearly the end..

Wednesday was glorious, and I drove to Scarborough to pick up Dan from the trin station who was joining us for a couple of days. Lovely views over the moors and the coast. Back in time for my first storytelling session with Taffy Thomas, Ruthie Boycott-Garnett and a Welsh storyteller who'd I'd not heard of before Guto Dafis.  I love some storytelling, and it was good to see Taffy's tailcoat.

Then I mooched round Whitby for a bit. Took in the views

watched some dancing

and was lucky to see Fools Gambit attempt a quadruple tumble, which they had been dared to do by the MC - a rapper dancer. Of course, they did it beautifully.

 It was just before this that I saw something you only see at a folk festival - a morris dancer with a tankard of beer in one hand and a toothbrush in the other.

Then to the Shambles to meet the others. Some went on to more storytelling, some of us went back for a pre-dinner cocktail. In the evening we all went out for a meal together - by this time there were 18 of us as more family had joined us for a short while. These had come all the way from Turks and Caicos and we hadn't seen them for a year so it was a great get together. The Vineyard looked after us very well and we had a great time.

Then the LNE, of course. this time it was Will Hall calling, and the band were form Sheffield - The Melrose Quartet plus 1.

We danced a lot at this one - right till the end at 1am. Then our usual walk back, past the session that was still in full swing outside the Middle Earth, and a nightcap.

Thursday was nice again, and while the rest went off to various workshops, I mooched again. I can mooch for ages round Whitby, round the harbour, round the shops, round the pubs.....  I caught sight of the flashmob ceilidh which definitely didn't happen,

and finally made it to The Station for a pint with A and D - first time I'd been in all week which is most unusual.

Then we all headed back for what has become a tradition (have you noticed we like our traditions?) -the annual seafood salad tea. We had lobsters (2 plump dressed ones cost £11!), dressed crab, smoked salmon, smoked mackerel, anchovies, rollmops, prawns, and ham!

After tea we all trooped off to the Pavilion Theatre to get in the queue to see Peggy Seeger. A real living legend if ever there was one. Sister of Pete Seeger, married to Ewan McColl, and a singer, songwriter and accomplished musician. At 77 she certainly looked and sounded good!

Then it was all back to Beka and Paul's to prepare fr the most important night of the week - The Pirate Ceilidh!  We didn't go over the top at all. Oh no. We had swords, eye patches, makeup, bunting....

Martyn Harvey and Blackbeard's Teaparty provided the music - and they were excellent. Not heard them before, but they definitely got into the spirit of things. Hope they come back. Took some pictures, but camera battery was flat so couldn't get any video, but I think we were all too busy leaping about. A great evening!  I've heard rumours that someone asked them to turn the volume down - shame on them!