I'M JUST A-WALKING TO.........

New Orleans once again. Been wondering where Don Legsy's been? Fear not, for I have been in the Big Easy attending JazzFest. Flying via Dallas/Fort Worth is the longer route, but it sure beats the other option (Travel Tip: Avoid at all costs arriving at Miami Airport - it's a disaster zone). It was lovely to have Carrie Sue from the Inn On Ursulines standing on the doorstep proclaiming "we've been waiting for you" - the IOU has become a second home in Nawlinz and it's gratifying to know that they were looking forward to our arrival.

The wonderful Inn On Ursulines

Don Legsy's room next to the hot tuuuuuurb

I've come in a day early so's I can ferret around and get acclimatized, as well as discovering a few new things. The city is jumping, and all things given, it looks pretty good. The musicians and buskers are everywhere, and I watch Bumblebee Transformer, the best street statue I think I've ever seen (and there's some doozies in Madrid!).

Bumblebee getting ready

Awesome - you should see the video!!

A quick visit to the Louisiana Music Factory in Frenchmen Street flagged some new music Don L had to have, and I moseyed around Jackson Square before ducking into Cafe Pontalba for a bowl of gumbo. The cafe is located in Pontalba, the oldest apartment building in the USA and is pleasant, not great (can't try the really good stuff without Tinno).

Frenchmen Street

Jackson Square - tarot readers everywhere

Jackson Square - looks like a cardboard cutout 

First gumbo for the trip - Cafe Pontalba

Pontalba - the oldest apartment building in the USA

A couple of battleships on rotation from Somalia arrive as I stroll through the food section of the French Market; dangerous place for sailors to be let loose I reckon!

The Natchez - sole surviving paddle steamer in Nawlinz

Welcome to the French Market

Not much doubt what the cuisine of choice is

Tinno, Jacuzzi Jen and Rusty finally rock in on Thursday night and we're ready to rumble. John and Prudy, the only people I've ever met from Boise, Idaho hang over the balcony and welcome us back - life's great.

Festival Day One: The artist roster for this year looks a bit light on, but we put such adversity behind us and head out in the yellow school buses to the Fair Grounds Racecourse. The names of students who normally catch the buses are scrawled above the seats, names such as Torrance, Kenya, Laylah, De'Quincy and Johneika....whatever happened to Jack and Jill???

The sky is very threatening, but we've got our $2 ponchos at the ready. I wander up for a look at Brass-A-Holics who are OK; of the nine members only three play brass and I wonder why they chose the name they did.

 'Cocaine' Wayne Toups was up next and he was really good, playing his accordian on a selection of covers that included a truly magnificent version of Van Morrison's 'Tupelo Honey'.

Next came the Magnolia Sisters, and I was so taken with them I watched their whole set. Ann Savoy is described as Cajun music royalty and she and her 'sisters' take the audience on a fabulous Cajun/Creole music history lesson.

I snatch a few songs of Irish singer Hozier and am surprised at how good he is. Great voice, huge sounding band (only drums, bass, keyboards, singers and cello) and he brought the house down with 'Take Me To The Church', effortlessly hitting all the high notes - impressive stuff.

Hozier from afar

The last gasp of the Tedeschi Trucks Band did nothing to change Don L's opinion that they're an over bloated behemoth (9 members) thriving on self indulgent guitar solos. The predominantly heavily tattooed male crowd loved them though (no, Don L is not being judgemental or stereotyping, just because I don't have tats or a penchant for brain dead guitar pyrotechnics!).

And then the audience transformed from sweaty testosterone to a sea of cowgirls and nymphs - I never realised how big, how popular 'Aussie' Keith Urban was in the land of stars and stripes (go figure!). I managed to put up with half of the first verse, amazed that everyone was singing along, before skulking away. Look, he's a fine guitarist, but seriously, his singing is shoddy and the countrypolitan songs are DRIVEL!

Aussie Keith from afar - not far enough for me!

The heavens were about to open up, so we headed for the Jazz Tent (that's how desperate for cover we were). Here we saw Snarky Puppy! Clueless? Me too, and I suspect most of the audience. I thought SP was a 'he' but it turns out it's actually the band name. They delve into jazz/funk/fusion and were really good.

This is what a Snarky Puppy looks like

After 20 minutes of their set, the festival shut down as the heavens erupted like a bad Derek Trucks guitar solo, and we joined the drenched queues for the shuttle bus, ponchos proving totally inadequate in the circumstances. When it rains in Nawlinz, it rains!!

A good first day, not great. Things are about to get interesting though.....

IF PARADISE IS HALF AS NICE.....

Sunday morning at 9:00 o'clock as the day begins, and sadly it's time to point our trusty steed Concord's nose towards home. The weather has turned very sour, but undaunted we head 25 minutes north and retrace our steps to the truly magnificent Caernarfon Castle (yep, WHS) and the walled town.

 

We have every intention of going in but there are restoration works going on and it's shut. Never mind, we brave the howling gale and sheets of rain to find a nice cafe and then walk past the rather inappropriately named Black Boy Inn circa 1522.

A clue to the origins of the name

It was a tad wet and WINDY!

Although visibility is zero, we decide to cut across the national park and past the foothills of Mt Snowdon. I've said it before, but the region is glorious. Out of nowhere we find ourselves in a snowstorm with battering winds and sheets of ice forming on the road. We are at the pass near the paths that lead up the mountain, although we are having difficulty seeing it. It's freezing and so we push on towards the A5, the yellow brick road to London.

Snowdon is up there somewhere!

Fate is about to deal us a good hand. As we near the border a road sign points to a village called TREVOR!

I'm detecting some anti-social behaviour in Trevor!

What else would you use a road for?

Well, clearly, we have to go and check it out. Lo and behold, we stumble across one of the region's jewels (and in retrospect, Don L clearly needs to lift his game when it comes to travel research), for Trevor is the location of another of Thomas 'The Colossus Of Roads' Telford's truly great achievements. Telford played a major part in the design of the canals that weave through this region, and in particular the Llangollen Canal. Where the canal crosses the River Dee, Telford constructed the  breathtaking Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in 1805. At 307 metres in length, 3.4 metres in width and 38 metres above the Dee, it is the longest and highest aqueduct in Britain, and still in use. The eighteen pillars were made of hollow masonry, unheard of prior to its construction and roundly condemned by other experts at the time - Telford was clearly an engineering genius, I wonder why he was never knighted (maybe he was a  secessionist Scot!). Unsurprisingly, UNESCO has bestowed World Heritage Site status upon the structure. Don L knows of someone in Australia who is coming to the UK in summer for a canal boat holiday - good luck crossing it Big Al!

Which one's yours Big Al?

You've gotta be insane to do this!

Not my foto, but how spectacular is it!

All that's left for the LegsyBoys to do is pop into a sleepy - make that comatose -  Shrewsbury for afternoon tea and then forge on through the driving rain for leafy Ealing. We've travelled 1,208 kilometres in 4 days in Concord and had a ball sharing some unforgettable moments and dazzling sights - 'outstanding natural beauty' simply doesn't do Snowdonia justice.

Our trusty steed Concord

Now to plan our assault on the south of Wales and the big ticket locations - Cardiff, Swansea, Abergavenny (I simply HAVE to take a trip there!), and, of course, Tonypandy - home of the original Tom Jones!