Home to Hep Cats Dance weekend

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Wed 4th

Set off from London along the A25, my preferred route, so much prettier than the M25 with towns strewn with charity shps and cafes. This takes so long that i have to get back on the motorway to get to Southampton in time. I meet a friend for a meal at Shamrock Quay, then find a campsite on the way to Salisbury. It looks rural and faces a lovely evening sky, but is audibly close to the M27.

Thurs 5th

The morning was sunny enough to have me sitting in the field finishing yesterday's paper. The soap opera that is Barclay's Bank Libor scandal sends me to but today's instalment which I raed in a cafe in Salisbury. I hope i pick up the culture by osmosis, all I saw of the town was a 6-foot dragon built of plants: spiky sempervivum and grasses for his back and something red and green for his Dumbo-like ears. The whole thing was on wheels and according to the poem pinned to the railings round it is to be found in various locations round town. This evening i spent in the carpark of The George pub in Norton St Philip. It was creepy enough to look like a monastery from 14th Century stone and overlooked a valley and church. Apparently in 1685 someone took a potshot at the Duke of Monmouth during the unsuccessful 'Pitchfork Rebellion' against James II. As I feel my way along the thick stone walls to the loos, i wonder if he touched these walls too

Friday 6th to Monday 9th

Hep Cats weekend at Sand Bay holiday resort. All things 30's, 40's, 50's - in dress, shoes, hairstyles, and most of all dance. i share a chalet with a friend and her friend and we meet up with others from the Bromley contingent of Lindy hoppers. Many people change several times a day; there are dance workshops, coffee, strolling along the seafront - all could have a different outfit.We dance till 2am every night, and when I get too tired, there are fabulous dancers to watch in wonderful costumes ranging through flaper dresses through shorts and wide-legged pantaloons to twirly skirts and stiff petticoats - i have one of these and i can tell you, you can't sit comfortably in them.I loved the dances and have already paid a deposit for next year.

Monday 9th

Today was a touristy day - the full works at Cheddar Gorge; open-top guided bus tour, a look around two caves, a museum and a walk up Jacob's ladder and upo the viewing platform, along one side of the gorge, down across the road and up the other side and back along the top.The whole thing was about 3 and a half miles and very pleasant with great views down into the gorge and across the Mendips to Glastonbury Tor, though rather muddy on the ascent and descent sections. All this after dancing all evening and 4 hours sleep the night before.

The Gorge is fascinating. The caves have links with Jenolan caves in Australia, which I'm sure I saw over there, and the area reminds me of the Blue Mountains with the sheer rugged cliffs poking above the green valley. The Gorge was formed by the ice caps on the Mendips melting each year and are Britain's highest inalnd cliffs. They inspired Tolkien after he visited on his honeymoon, and you can see why, there is something other-worldly about them, a natural habitat for goblins, elves and quests.

The caves beneath are beautiful and fascinating and you can take as long as you like; self-guided with a whimsical audio set, and on a dull Monday pretty empty. The day before the caves had been closed because of flooding and there wa still a fair amount of water dripping down in places.

i bought some Cheddar - two types, Marmite and smoked, and tried several others. Later I saw a shop selling 'the only Cheddar made in Cheddar', but never mind. it tasted good. i also bought a moon-gazing hare from a shop selling mainly Indonesian goods, so who needs indigenous souvenirs?

I camped behind the Rodney Stoke Arms at Rodney Stoke, 'a thankful village' (no losses during either World War), a lovely place to eat, and camp with a sunset one side, frisky calves the other and the spread of the Mendip valley to the south.

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