The Queer Book Tour

Following a swift but filling continental breakfast (during which Fraser took the wrapping off his mystery book to reveal some vintage Kurt Vonnegut), we left Longworth Hall in Hereford (a Grade B listed country house turned B&B) and set off in the direction of the border-straddling town of Hay-on-Wye, which proudly claims its status as Britain's first Book Town. We had arrived slightly early for our first shop and so had time to explore, which resulted in a trip into an interesting looking crystal and fossil shop and a wander through the Thursday street market having received a recommendation of somewhere to buy a packed lunch.  Of course, our actual destination in the town was Gay on Wye, a charming shop tucked down one of the town's many winding streets of bookstores. A healthy selection of books were on offer, as well as maps offering a Hay on Wye bookshop trail which may be the subject of a future adventure. Despite buying spontaneous salad, pork pies, and teeth (fossi...

We had a slightly slower morning today, making the most of beds that weren't floating on water. The Black Lion Hotel in Manchester had lovely comfy rooms which were very quiet, despite being situated above the pub. After filling up on another full breakfast, we headed out to beg Hyacinth's forgiveness for abandoning her in a random gravel car lot for the night.  With Hyacinth mollified, we set off for a trek south towards the Midlands. Given the history of the area, we stopped in at Middleport Pottery, home of Burleigh patterned ceramics. We had been hoping to find a new bread bin in their factory shop, but left empty handed (though there was much deliberation over whether it would be right to serve oat milk out of a cow shaped milk jug). Sadly, the search for the elusive ceramic, perfectly sized bread bin continues on.   Our first stop of the day was Drop City Books in Hanley, where Alicia reminisced about her childhood in Stoke-on-Trent and Fraser discovered that there's ...

Today started with an unceremonious announcement at 5:45 in the morning, which gave the impression that if we didn't get ourselves up, dressed and out of our cabin by 6:15am we'd be forcibly removed. Despite a night of not enough sleep, caused mainly by a rolling ship, we managed to get out in time to grab coffee and a pastry before returning to our car, accompanied by the newest member of the team - Deano the Dino, who joined us in a late night impulse buy from the on board shop. The drive from the ferry into Liverpool city centre was distressingly eventful for the time of day, with far too many lanes, confusion from Google and a trip through a toll tunnel. Given the early start, we had a little time to explore the waterfront and take in a delicious breakfast at Lovelocks Cafe before heading towards our first bookshop of the day.  News From Nowhere is a Radical, Independent, Feminist bookshop located just around the corner from Liverpool Central station. The shop had a...

After a very nice Ulster Fry for breakfast, we started Day 3 by checking out of the Ballymac Hotel, a well appointed small hotel just outside Belfast. Then we set off in Hyacinth to find our way to the Titanic Quarter. No prizes for guessing where our first stop was... Visiting the Titanic Experience is almost a rite of passage for tourists to Belfast these days. Situated in a purpose built (and quite striking) building at the head of the former Harland and Wolff dry docks, the galleries feature a wealth of information, interactive exhibits and artefacts telling the story of the Titanic. Our highlights included the shipyard ride, a cable car which takes you through a recreation of the shipyard, and one of the final galleries which has a projection of the shipwreck along with displays of recovered artefacts. As with any good tourist attraction, there was a gift shop. Fraser only just resisted buying a book of first accounts of the Titanic disaster, while Alicia narrowly avoided the temp...

Day 2 started off with some spontaneity - though weirdly for us, not of the book buying kind! We took a lovely scenic drive through County Antrim (made more scenic by Hyacinth the Car taking us off the main road and down some country lanes because we insulted her sensitivities) to the Giant's Causeway, where we were delighted to discover a heritage railway! The Giant's Causeway and Bushmills Railway is a 3ft Narrow Gauge heritage line (can you tell this bit was added by Fraser?) which traverses the three miles between Bushmills and Giant's Causeway, taking roughly half an hour each way through beautiful countryside and coastal views. We didn't know it was there until we passed a sign for it, and when we were funnelled down to the carpark next to the ticket office we promptly took it as a sign to take a trip on it.  After satisfying our tiny-train appetites, we resumed our true purpose for heading North - the hunt for Giants. They were admittedly thin on the ground...