What a busy weekend. With so many events going off The Subtlety Sisters and The Boys had to decide which ones we were attending. Since one of The Boys is that infamous land pirate, Joey No Fingers, The Pirate Mutiny in Matlock Bath was an obvious choice. That left two other events to chose from, Hebden Bridge or the Doncaster Steampunk’s Annual Punknic to be held on the Sunday. We opted for the Mutiny and the punknic as I felt we should support our local group.
As ever we woke up to torrential rain on Saturday morning and after putting it to the vote with the boys we decided that we weren’t going to be fair weather pirates like many others. Since I wasn’t picking Amanda up; she’d got a lift with our new friends, Pauline and Tom; we managed to be off nice and early. I have never been more pleased to get off the motorway, the spray was horrendous which made visibility poor. We arrived at the main carpark in Matlock Bath to find it practically empty thanks to the weather. And as luck would have it, the car we’d been following for miles turned out to be our friends and Amanda. So there we all were at 9.30, desperate for a coffee and breakfast, trying to get into our pirate outfits in a car park in the pouring rain.
Matlock Bath consists of one main drag sandwiched between the River Derwent on one side and a steep wooded incline on the other and populated by souvenir shops, fish and chip restaurants, arcades, ice cream parlours and pubs; not many of which were open at that hour; I liken it to Cleethorpes but without the sand and sea. And, like Cleethorpes, it is desolate in the rain.
We found an absolute gem of a place; I’m sure I’ve been there before; Charles Restaurant. As we seeped through the door we were enveloped in the warm, golden glow of the interior. The staff were really friendly and efficient and we were soon gulping down mouthfuls of hot tea and chomping on our chosen breakfast.
It was still raining as we left and as we scurried along the deserted street, umbrellas held close, we felt like the only pirates in town. We eventually found where it was supposed to be and wandered round the few craft stalls on offer in the Pump Room before finding our way to where the fun was supposed to be. I did feel a little sorry for the few pirates huddled under their marquees manning their stalls and the bar. Slowly through the next hour the odd pirate wandered down and, like us, mooched desultorily round the tents and along the riverbank in search of something to do.
Before long we were heading back to lurk around outside The Fishpond pub, waiting until we could get inside to listen to The Old Time Sailors; who we’d enjoyed seeing in Doncaster earlier this year. They didn’t disappoint and I was quite surprised when the boys said they enjoyed the music. Almost as much as listening to Tom telling them how to load and prime a musket with gunpowder.
As we exited the pub we found the rain had stopped and it was a little brighter so we took advantage of this brief respite and went for a stroll along the riverside. The boys wanted to hire a rowboat but, after previous experience, I wasn’t about to get myself stuck in the middle of the river with a panicking land pirate!
Joey, as always, managed to find a dog to befriend.
Before heading back to the car we returned to the restaurant for fish and chips. Well, Harry had his usual steak pie and Joey opted for the jacket potato. At least it was dry for the drive home.
Sunday, on the other hand, was bright, warm and sunny. Typically just the day for a picnic when, due to the recent run of inclement weather, the venue had been changed to indoors rather than outside. Not a popular choice with some folks unfortunately but they missed to on a very pleasant afternoon. To be honest, I quite liked the alternative venue since folks didn’t go wandering off but stayed and chatted whilst playing board games or making stuff at the craft table. To be fair, when I picked Amanda up from the station, I was anticipating only staying for a short while but in the end I had to drag the boys out they were enjoying it so much; but that might have had something to do with them being encouraged to eat their way through some leftover pie and cake from a birthday party the previous evening.
