Harrogate

It's nice to see Harrogate during the day. I've been three times before but that was for work, and I've only been out in the town at night. It was sunny for a while when I arrived so I had a nice walk around the Valley Gardens and Montpellier, then went to find some lunch. They were queueing outside Betty's tea rooms so I went to the Blues cafe bar round the corner. They have live blues music every night of the week, but unfortunately weren't playing much blues music when I got there. Also, the place seemed to be moonlighting as a crèche with 4 different mother & baby combos inside. Then two girls came in and ordered four black sambucas. I left.

I'm staying with my friends Charlie and Rachel while I'm here, and in the afternoon we made our way to the Harlow Inn for some food and then on to the Harlow Hill Working Men's Club. It's been a long time since I've been in a working men's club, and the first time ever I've been somewhere where rugby league is on telly and people are actually watching! It was also the first time I've ever seen someone with 'love' and 'hate' tattooed on their knuckles. We didn't win the meat raffle, but afterwards we went to Charlie's brother's house and he showed us his collection of cheeses. I love the north.

This morning we went for a walk around Knaresborough to see the castle ruins and a little bit of the village. Then we headed to Morrison's to buy some continental stuff for the Eurovision party we're having this evening. I am bravely (or naively) attempting to cook paella again....

Knaresborough