My Ukulele/Bike/Open-Mic tour

[Nail Soup]

Last week I took my ukulele  to a local folk session. I wanted to have a couple of pints, so instead of driving I went by bike. Uke/case on a shoulder strap.

 

That reminded me of the Uke/bike based adventure I treated myself to for my 50th birthday. Hope it's OK to share the memory.

My hobbies at the time were open mic nights and a bit of cycling.

Basically I put some clothes and toiletries etc in a rucksack, and strapped the uke (in a case) to the back of the rucksack. Then cycled from my home near Dunstable to Portsmouth in 4 legs with overnight stays in hotels. Each of the 5 nights I played the uke at an open mic night. Got  lift home.

It took a fair amount of planning and preparation. Also had to increase my bike stamina as I was a 10-mile-ride guy prior to this.

It only rained once (but absolutely whizzed down for a few hours).... but it was the last leg so didn't seem to matter as much.

Here is the itinerary and map (the map still shows a stop at StAlbans which was cancelled by the venue, and replaced by an extra night in London)

 

May 10th – 14th 2015

• Sun: Paper Dress, Shoreditch
• Mon: Bedroom Bar(?), Dalston
• Tues: Jolly Tanners, Staplefield
• Weds: Fishbowl, Brighton
• Thurs: Crown Inn, Portsmouth

It was an absolute blast, met some great people - one of my treasured memories.

[Waddo Soqable]

Top man ! Wish I'd have known about this at the time as I was often around Shoreditch in 2015 and would have happily come and hurled things at you ! 

[Nail Soup]

Yeah, the Shoreditch one was interesting. I got to stay two nights in a trendy hotel (the Z).

The open mic itself was held in a clothes shop. At the end of the day all the clothes racks are moved to the side and it becomes a kind of venue.

 

[Waddo Soqable]

2 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

Yeah, the Shoreditch one was interesting. I got to stay two nights in a trendy hotel (the Z).

The open mic itself was held in a clothes shop. At the end of the day all the clothes racks are moved to the side and it becomes a kind of venue.

 

Unless you had blagged the hotel as a freebie, you coulda' saved a pile of dosh and crashed at our flat in Islington back then 👍

[Nail Soup]

On 20/09/2021 at 20:09, Waddo Soqable said:

Unless you had blagged the hotel as a freebie, you coulda' saved a pile of dosh and crashed at our flat in Islington back then 👍

Cheer! Yeah, the costs did rack up a bit by the time I’d included everything - I naively thought it would work out cheap. But worth it!