Festival of Thrift

We went to the Festival of Thrift. Its a pretty amazing collection of everything you could think of to do with recycling, reusing and reducing in general. Its an annual event and this year was held in the Mighty Redcar - a place I have some fondness for as I worked there for a few years in my previous life as a daily grinder. I'm not sure but I think its very much a Northeast event and is held up here rather they being a national thing- I hope so because its good to see something so positive happen in an area which often get neglected when it come to culture.. (yes I know that is up for debate but compared to the south it is poorly served).

cardboard art

The traffic approaching the area was terrible but there was plenty of on site parking and in the end the event was worth the waiting in lines along the the A174.. I don't now how the festival organisers could change that - its just a testament to how popular the event is!!!

The festival was much bigger then I expected it to be, sited in the grounds of Kirkleathem Hall, a place which in spite of being on the doorstep I had never been to before. The Hall looked really interesting and I will be heading back to look again when it isn't surrounded by fabulous craft stalls, amazing food, workshops to build go karts (or bogeys as we called them,) bird boxes , tetrapac wallets... and much much more. All giving tips on how to be more environmentally aware, repurposing and potentially save the planet in a fun and often very creative way.

There was skill sharing in abundance... lots of workshops on the go, weaving, lino printing, with woodwork, felting, tea blending, fairy wings, cooking on open fires ..... the list could go on forever such diversity and so entertaining and a really excellent introduction or affirmation of sustainable living!

gateposts at Kirkleatham Hall

It was a fairly huge affair, we kept thinking we had got to the end of it all and then round the corner it would stretch away yet more stalls and more recycling ideas and opportunities to try things. There was live music and street theatre and places to picnic it was a buzzing place and a very excellent day out just wandering about.

the most amazing stained glass and mirror mandelas made by Cotfield Mirrors http://cotfieldmirrors.co.uk/

After covering every last bit of the festival but still not finding a coffee place without a massive queue we headed down to the Mighty Redcar sea front. The tide was well in so forgoing coffee we got a Lemontop ice cream- possibly one of the best ice creams in the world defo up there with Rome ones and instead of a stroll on the beach we climbed the vertical pier. I personally don't care much for this particular structure - I'm guessing its built from steel to represent the steel works that Redcar is so famous for (not having any more) - I think the pier is ugly but it does give amazing views up and down the coast line and through the telescope on the top it is possible to see Sunderland!!!

iconic Redcar with Steel works in the distance

Sadly Redcar looked very empty... hopefully everyone was up at the festival learning tips to try and save the planet ... but there was still an air of abandonment and slight despair - I really hope Redcar isn't as doomed as it felt on that late Saturday afternoon... hurrah for lemontops I say ... but not much solace to locals losing industry and job opportunities....

Vigo

We left the ship to explore Vigo. Its a much larger place then we expected... although tbh I hadn't given ut a lot of thought. Its a real mish mash of old and new and having got a map from tourist info we decided to follow the walking trail to the Monte Castro... the highest point of the town. Most of the town was pretty much as everywhere else... lots of traffic... lots of people... one or two interesting buildings and a lot of shopping. We headed to the art gallery - this has been a year of gallery visits so we we seen o reason to change now. The Museo de Marco is housed in the towns ex prison building and its very grand. In fact, I think that on this occaision the building might have been more interesting than the art.... Although the visiting exhibition by Susanne S D Themlitz was strangely compelling. It was a huge varied collection of eclectic items... found, salavaged, manipulated and arranged in lots of ways - weirdly inspiring - and mostly enjoyable to look at...

verdant lushness

Its a never ending island hop... today we hopped of the boat at Kingstown, on the island St. Vincents and Grenadine. Once through the usual port duty free - cheap booze and diamonds to go milarkey we were straight into the town... crazy noisy smelly chaos... refreshingly no tat shops for tourists, just local markets and street traders all vying for local sales. Music blasting from everywhere, cars (very battered and often very pimped) all over the roads - parked in the middle of the street, loading, unloading, chatting seemingly oblivious to the total traffic jam caused behind them... We walked through this mayhem - the temperatures were rising probably about 30 degrees - tourists evident by trying to walk on the shady side of the street - even when we turned off the main drag and there were less people it was still like carnival time with music blasting everywhere. Its very atmospheric and mostly promotes a good vibe although I have heard '3 little birds' everywhich way a...

Almost last chapter... In which our Go Stargazing team watch Astonishing Aurora Borealis seen from the deck of the Astonishing Borealis!!!

The weather brightened considerably and the snowy peaks lining our sail down the fjiords looked glorious and sparkly in the sunshine against a (mainly) blue sky back drop. More awesome scenary.... the Go Stargazing team wrapt up their lectures ... only searching for the illusive Northern Lights remained. The tension from the night before dissolved in the sunshine the forecast for Aurora borealis was looking fairly positive - it was the captains farewell cocktsil party so everyone had their gladrags on.. We ate dinner and sky remained clear so we headed back to our room and donned as many layers as we could move in and proceeded to deck 10 in anticipation of stars and northern lights..... it did not dissappiont - just we got there as the bridge announced that the lights could be seen on the starboard side of the ship. It was stunning. Slowly the intensity built. The auroral green became brighter and bigger areas appe...

Planet Ruby Starrs

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