This is a little late in publishing as I forgot to do it in the run up getting ready for my USA trip so my apologies.

Whilst chatting over lunch it was revealed some friends had developed the itch to go to a music festival & in the process to see it scratched hubby & I were invited along.

It was blues festival & required camping so this was quite a proposition as hubby not so keen on the prospect of either if truth be told. Still the weather was warm & with the promise of copious amounts of beer to numb the pain of sleeping on the floor plans were set in motion.

So it was we found ourselves heading to Upton on Severn to join our friends for a weekend of festival fun. By the time the coffees had been collected the tent was up & we all sat chatting & working out what to do.

Turns out that my lightweight little festival tent is a good fit for the top box of the motorbike & as we only had the weekend free this seemed like the ideal form of transport. The exceptionally hot weather led to me wondering what to wear as the thick armoured suit I normally don would be akin to riding in a personalised sauna. So it was I found myself scouring the internet for what turns out to be the most expensive pair of jeans I have ever purchased. This is because they are made with some clever fabric that outwardly look like a pair of skinny jeans whilst affording a high level of skid protection to skin should you be unfortunate enough to come off. As a former nurse I can still recall a biker brought into the operating theatre, the shredded leather clothing literally having saved his skin from the same fate. My helmet is pretty cool too as it has a built in tinted visor & the comms system enables me to listen to my favourite music as we blast along.

Wandering into the town to catch a few sets dotted around the various venues seemed like a plan & we spent a really lovely evening sat drinking in both beer & the music.

We were doing ‘camping lite’ so without a stove between us we set off in search of breakfast the following day & found a tiny place that served the most amazing bacon butties & mugs of tea. Fully repleated we pitched ourselves in a shady place to listen to the bands we had earmarked as worth a listen.

As festivals go for it was a bit of a change as for one I am normally working as a steward for part of it & the conditions considerably rougher. Neat rows of camper vans & fully functioning ablutions instead of the higgledy- piggledy mess of criss crossed guy ropes & dodgy toilets.

The other slightly weird thing was instead of the normal crush of people at the main stage they were all sat around in their deck chairs. Still we opted for a spot under the nearby trees where we could enjoy the music but still chat.

Like other festivals there were some tents supplying food & whilst not vegan I have found this to be the infinitely better option as its less greasy & usually contains vegetables.

Unlike other festivals the local historic flight did a fly by which considering the age of the aircraft was quite impressive.

Prior to the festival I was aware of blues music but if you had asked me to name a blues band I would have struggled & I certainly was unfamiliar with any of the artists mentioned in the programme. Still the musicians were really talented people & it was fascinating to listen to the various groups. I am no music historian yet it was evident how this style of music underpins so many other genres. Strangely as someone who loves rock & punk I have found playing the blues style pieces given to me by my guitar teacher the easiest and most enjoyable to play.

Now given the somewhat genteel feel of the festival & one of the bands were playing in the local church the chance of being close up & personal to a fight seemed somewhat remote. The closest I have been to a fight at a festival was in the crowd at Transmt but to be fair it was in Glasgow ! So was totally unprepared for the fracas that broke out when a bloke lifted what was his backpack from the floor near to us. A middle aged woman launched herself at him, grabbing the backpack & yelling to give her bag back. Fact is often stranger than fiction as what were the chances they had identical rucksacks & hence the confusion. Unlike the Glasgow fight in which the security appeared like ninjas to quell this relied on a lot of pointing & eventually embarrassed looks to resolve. So for the righteous judgey folk this was an example of those old enough to know betters turn to take a leaf out of the younger festival goers books about behaving in a crowd after clearly imbibing more than was good for you.