Tour of Britain

Today was the eighth and final stage of Tour of Britain featuring Team Sky with our Tour de France/Olympic cyclists needing cheering on. This final stage came through Guildford twice, so we planned to try and see them both times. We found the whole of the High Street barricaded off with our usual side all parked up with the huge support vehicles, so no good for viewing, but managing to cross at an official crossing, we just had time to get a carry-out Starbucks and find a space opposite Vacansoleil's truck before the circus began.

Was this a track tester?

Who is that in the lead?

First of all we had the speeding police bikes with blue lights aflash and sirens blaring. Then several support vehicles with anyone from commentators, guests, judges, controllers and medics inside came hurtling by. A couple of lone cyclists raced up the road, but no numbers and no followers, so we thought they may be 'testing' the track for the real racers.

The Peleton

At last came the lead group, flashing by in an instant and then a long gap to the peleton, who also raced by with plenty of cheering, whistling and waving.They went off into the Surrey countryside, leaving the spectators with a couple of hours to kill before their return for the finale.

   

We struggled through the crowd down to the top of the High Street and took a sharp right down Jeffries Passage to the relative quiet of North Street. We soon wheeled round the corner at the bottom and came back onto the High Street where they were holding a little side show race between several folk connected to the sponsors and broadcasters.

 

A Bamboo bike by Zamboo

They went off a ramp in pairs competing against each other up the cobbles starting with 16 and eventually ending up with a grand finale where Mr Johnson of Johnson Health Tech was narrowly beaten by the winner, whose name we didn't catch!          

Even the event mascots had a go!

Time for another break, and when we got back on the track, we found a place on the bridge over the Wey Navigation where the riders would sweep round the corner from the Godalming road, across the bridge and then up the full hill of the High Street.

We had quite some time to wait, but eventually the whole jamboree came whizzing by; and at last the cyclists all tightly bunched, cheered on by thousands of fans as they swept up the hill to the finish line. Amazing fun, enjoyed by all!

Up the cobbled High Street

The finish line

For the presentations

The Winner, Jonathan Tiernan Locke

Mark Cavendish gives an interview

Tour of Britain
Visit Surrey
Guildford

Olympic Torch

Tonight the Olympic Torch Relay ran through Guildford to Stoke Park and we watched it hurry by.














There was lots of razzmatazz with bands playing, police on bikes high fiving the crowd and eventually the jamboree of sponsors' coaches, buses with runners and their torches, and at last the main event which hurtled by with hulking bodyguards in grey running suits.

In the middle of it all was Gemma Howell, Team GB Judo medal hopeful in her white track suit, holding the flame aloft and suddenly she was gone and it was all over. But what a great thing to see the flame on its way to the Olympic Stadium for next week's opening ceremony and the rest of the Games.










Olympic Torch Relay 2012
(for as long as it lasts)

Cambio at the Castle

Cambio has been the leading restaurant in Guildford for some years now, and it was with sadness we had watched its doors close. Then for Christmas last year the new Cambio at the Castle opened, dressed like a Christmas parcel with a large red ribbon tied around the old 19th century building. We have been into this new incarnation before, but thie weekend, M&N were staying with us and there were two birthdays to celebrate, so we decided it was time to revisit it.

We were not disappointed, and soon had our orders in to the chef, after choosing from the menu while sipping glasses of prosecco and an Archer's for our none fizzy drinker. Soon our starters were arriving - there were tiger prawns, pate with toast, salmon with a quails egg and gnocchi with mushrooms and truffle oil.

These very tasty dishes were followed by fillet of sea bass with roasted potatoes, asparagus and caper dressing; monkfish with potatoes; confit of wild duck; and pork with sage on tomatoes, none of which disappointed.

Then three of us went for the chocolate fondant that took an extra twenty minutes, but well worth waiting for its unctuous oozings! And our fourth member took the decidedly delicious looking pannacotta. We dicided that we would wlak home and take tea/ coffee when we got there!
It was a memorable evening.

Interestingly, Cambio has its own deli and fishmongers that are open from 10am - 6pm from Tuesday to Saturday.

Cambio at the Castle

Brubecks play Brubeck

Wonderful concert given by the sons of jazz legend Dave Brubeck and sax player Dave O'Higgins at G Live, Guildford. Lots of wonderful classics composed by father Brubeck as well as pieces composed by Dan, Chris and Darius. They came out to the foyer afterwards to sign CDs and programmes. Fantastic stuff!

Brubeck Music
G Live

Henry V, Propeller at YAT

It was amazing to walk into Yvonne Arnaud Theatre last evening to find it packed with people. Such is the draw of Propeller Theatre who are performing Henry V this week at YAT and will continue on with their tour well into 2012. Propeller is an all-male Shakespeare company that presents a very modern approach to the plays, mixing in modern music, imaginative sets and a very physical presence. Their artistic director, Edward Hall, denies any dumbing down, rather he makes the plays relevant to today with all their complexity, challenging the audience with each performance.

The stage is set

As we made our way to our seats, we noticed a couple of 'squaddies' at the edge of the theatre crowd dressed in camo trousers and vests - not the usual attire for YAT audiences. We squeezed into our seats and looked at the programme, noticing that there were 29 parts to be played, including three parts for women, by a cast of 14 men. The stage was set with various pieces of scaffolding, some wooden crates and a flagpole flying the English flag. The auditorium was packed and the doors were closed, but no lights went down. Suddenly the doors were flung open and a troop of soldiers marched in down the stairs to the stage singing as they marched. It certainly grabbed everyone's attention and we remained spellbound to the interval. - with just a dig in the ribs when Henry appeals to his troops to dive

'Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.  -  -  -
-  -  -  The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

Spoken from atop the scaffold and very rousing.

A capacity audience listen to the cast singing

 We went out into the foyer at the interval and discussed the action so far over an ice-cream, when suddenly the actors marched through from the auditorium, singing. They sang several songs, then explained they were raising money for charity, so please give generously while they sang some more, then marched back into the auditorium as the bell went for us to return to our seats for part 2. The charity they are supporting this year is Lifeworks; it is concerned with children with learning difficulties, giving them new opportunities as well as giving families support with respite care.

Part 2 was just as good as the first half and we were treated to ferocious battle scenes, a princess in the bath,  as well as the emotional speech of Henry on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt, 25 October 1415 (St Crispin's Day):

The 'soldiers' march back to the auditorium

 ' - - -  And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
- - -'
At last the final couplet was uttered, the lights went down and a great cheer and applause broke out all over the theatre. What a wonderful response to this stirring production.


Propeller
Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
Lifeworks
About the feast of Crispin Crispian

Fireworks in Guildford

Halloween and Chrissie

Today Guildford wasn't sure what time of year it is - on the one hand wonderful Halloween cupcakes and on the other all dressed up for Christmas. You would think House of Fraser could have waited a day or so!!

3 Days in May

The three days of the title are in May 1940 when Mr Churchill, the new prime minister of UK, is balancing on a knife edge with some of the war cabinet wanting to negotiate a surrender  via Mussolini  and others claiming it would be better to fight to the death rather than succumb to the horrors of becoming a vassal state to Fascist Germany. With France on the brink of capitulating, what is left of the allied armies are holed up at Dunkirk, with Belgium on the brink of being overrun; and a garrison of British led soldiers is fighting off the Germans at Calais. It seems a hopeless situation, but  Churchill will never surrender, and persuades the ailing Chamberlain to vote against the proposal to surrender thus triggering the Dunkirk evacuation that saved thousands of fighting men to face another day. A pivotal point of WWII, we see how the wily Churchill wins the day that leads to the allies winning the war.
Warren Clarke makes a wonderful Winston Churchill and is well supported by Jeremy Clyde as Lord Halifax, Robert Demeger as Neville Chamberlain and with James Alper as Jock Colville, Churchill's Private Secretary and our narrator. Other members of the cast are Timothy Knightley as Paul Reynaud, the French premier, Michael Sheldon as Clement Attlee, Dicken Ashworth as Arthur Greenwood and Paul Ridley as General Dill.

Ben Brown's 3 Days on May moves to the Trafalgar Studios for a run in the West End from Monday 31st October – Saturday 3rd March 2012. Directed by Alan Strachan, it is a Bill Kenwright Production.

G Live opens

We approached the entrance to G Live with some excitement last evening as we were to attend the opening concert of this amazing new venue in Guildford. The famous orchestra, the LSO were playing an evening of Tchaikovsky under their conductor, the illustrious Valéry Gergiev.

The foyer was abuzz with concertgoers. Some were finishing meals in the Café-Bar and some had attended a champagne and canapés reception, while others had been to the pre-concert talk given by Guildford resident and principal flautist, Gareth Davies. The venue is an impressive building and we descended the stairs to entrance no.2 (tiered stalls), collecting a free programme on the way. The concert hall filled up and the audience noise increased; the orchestra entered and took their seats and then, as anticipated, a huge round of applause welcomed Valéry Gergiev to the platform. He quickly began the Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy. The sound is very bright, with many individual instruments clearly audible such as the harp. The orchestra is, of course, world class and lived up to their reputation. The audience really appreciated their performance.
Now the scene changed as the grand piano was wheeled into place for the Piano Concerto no 1. The soloist, Daniil Trifonov,is the winner of the 2011 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition and was warmly welcomed by the audience. He sat and the conductor began the piece. It was spellbinding - until suddenly with a slight crack all the lights went out, leaving only the emergency lighting throughout the auditorium.
The music went on as battery powered lights were passed quietly out around the orchestra. They finished the first movement and received a standing ovation for their efforts. Discussion followed as some people left the auditorium, and much of the orchestra, too. Then young Mr. Trifonov sat down at the piano and played a Chopin Waltz. More ecstatic applause and then we all trooped out for an unscheduled interval.


The lights in the foyer were all on, but obviously lots of power was off as the door magnets were not working, nor the tills for a while and we had one moment when everything went black for just a second or two. It took about half an hour, but eventually we were called back to our seats and the MD of the management of G Live climbed onto the platform to explain that the venue had lost power but it was all alright now. He also told us that the orchestra would now reprise the 2nd and 3rd movements of the piano concerto despite their not having yet played it.There was also a comment from someone from Guildford Borough Council. Unfortunately it was all to clear to see that all was not well - there were no platform lights and the rest of the concert was performed with the house lights up.


Despite all this, the orchestra returned as did our intrepid soloist who performed the remaining movements of the piano concerto superbly, and received yet another ovation from the audience. We then moved quickly on to the final piece of the evening, Symphony No.4, which once again was played to the highest standards and rightly Valéry Gergiev received massive applause from the appreciative audience. It was a wonderful opening concert and to give G Live credit, they did invite everyone for a free drink as we left the auditorium. It was here that we stumbled across some old acquaintances from our time overseas. What a coincidence!




G Live
LSO 
Gergiev 
Trifonov

G Live Guildford

G Live is open for visitors - this is the new venue in Guildford and from our visit today it looks wonderful. The first concert is on Saturday and we will be there to hear the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. They are performing an evening of Tchaikovsky:  Romeo & Juliet Overture-Fantasy; Piano Concerto No.1; and  Symphony No.4. The pianist is the winner of the 2011 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, Daniil Trifonof.

We sampled coffe in the new cafe and enjoyed the setting - very light and bright. Can't wait 'til Saturday!

G Live

Dinner at Cau

After all our exertions at Great Dixter we walked into Guildford to try out a relatively new restaurant called Cau, which stands for Carne Argentina Única and is pronounced 'cow'. It prides itself on its beef from Argentina and it appears that there is just one other Cau restaurant in Europe and that's in Amsterdam.
The decor is stunning and the staff were very attentive. We started with some crispbread and dips - aubergine and spicy tomato, while we chose our steaks, sauces and sides. We went for the smallest portions - 8oz, and varied from rump to medallions and a rib eye. The sides included with the steaks were thin chips or salad, so two had chips and two had salad and the extras were two triple cooked chunky chips and peas! The sauces were blue cheese, horseradish and a herb and garlic aoli.
If you look at the menu you may wonder how we managed to pass on the side-walking crab salad or a
Tira de ancho at 18oz, but they do suggest it's perfect to share. (Phew! but there was one weighing in at 22oz, too.)

We chose the Malbrontes Malbec Torrontes to accompany the steaks and were not disappointed.
But that was all we managed, no puds from their delicious dessert menu and home for tea and a movie - RED with Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker and a host of others, an amazing film.
One unusual item on the Cau drinks menu is the Clericot selection. Never heard of this one before, but it is a famous Argentinian wine-based drink served with either a half or full bottle of regional wine and local fruits. For example, Salta: Torrontes white wine mixed with red and white grapes, passion fruit purée and basil leaves. Could be we'll explore that road next time we visit!


Cau
Malbrontes - what Jancis Robinson has to say

RED

Two theatre visits in  less than a week and both to Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford. It's not been great over the last year or so, with just a few good productions, but now two in a row, which is good for everyone.
The first performance we saw was on Saturday - Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins. A tour de force of almost three hours, but well done. With a clever set that took us around the country, we watched the worrying events unfold, ending in relief and tragedy. At the interval we went out to stretch our legs and in search of refreshments - but - oh no! - there was nothing to be had on the sweet side - no ice cream or choccies, and we had not taken any dessert with dinner in anticipation of something at 'half-time'!

Before curtain-up for A Little Night Music at YAT




Wednesday evening we made our way down to YAT again for the Guildford-based theatre company PH Productions' A Little Night Music (music and lyrics, Stephen Sondheim and book, Hugh Wheeler).
As the lights went down and the audience went quiet, footsteps came down the side aisle - a latecomer? No, a lone cellist walked onto the stage and sat on a dimly lit chair and started playing. The curtain rose  revealing panels and sheer curtains about two thirds back from the front of the stage, behind which the 18 piece orchestra began playing the overture and our cellist quietly disappeared off stage. We were then treated to a fast paced opening song from the liebeslieders and soon the story unfolded, punctuated with many Steven Sondheim songs. It was great fun and everyone enjoyed the performance judging by the prolonged applause. And I should mention that this was an amateur production, although many of the cast are either students of drama, or have had some previous experience. And, yes, they had even managed to get in some ice cream for the interval!


Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
PH Productions

Walking with friends

Today we met up with some friends for a walk to a pub and beyond. Their day started with dodging the crowds and closed roads due to the London-Surrey Cycle Race. This was a rehearsal for the Olympics next year - twice up and around Box Hill (SSSI) in the middle, a strenuous uphill zig-zag to test the best of them. We started off walking up and over Pewley Down and down to the Wey where we crossed over by Guildford's golden sands.

 There were plenty of people out and about, walking, biking, rowing and kayaking; and even trying their hand navigating the Navigation in a narrow boat. We made good time to the Parrot, arriving around 13.15, but they seemed to have overlooked our booking although there it was in the diary.

Nevertheless, we did get a table, and soon had our drinks and ordered lunch - roast beef and turkey. We chatted away, catching up on the news from both sides, but no food was forthcoming, so at just after two, we inquired as to what was going on. They had lost the order, so we had to start again, although it was tempting to up sticks and go elsewhere. We could have free drinks as compensation, but that's slim consolation. At 14.35 the meals arrived and after we had dessert, too, we were on our way by 15.20.

Our first stop was to visit Shalford Mill, a National Trust property since 1932, but built back in the late eighteenth century, one of twenty five mills along the length of the Tillingbourne river that rises by Leith Hill and joins the Wey, just across the road from this site. We had a comprehensive tour from our guide, David, who is a complete enthusiast. He has done plenty of research into the history and working of the place and has even built a working model on display inside. 

 

 We clambered  up the steps and ladders to the top to where the new grain was hoisted from the farmers' carts, and then began its journey down the various shoots to arrive to be gathered into sacks as flour on the ground floor.

Now we took the footpath in front of the mill, over the mill race, and up to the Chantries. It was pleasant under the trees, then coming out into the sunlight at the top of the slope, only to plunge down the other side. We turned left eventually, to follow the narrow path between the fields  where harvesting was taking place, even on Sunday.

Neat square bales lay where the combine dropped them. Soon we were back up on Pewley Down to complete the circuit, and we got back home by six for a welcome cup of tea, and to see the start of the last day of the USPGA Golf from Atlanta. Mark Cavendish had won the cycle race, in the meantime!


The Wey
Shalford Mill
Tillingbourne River
Box Hill
London-Surrey Cycle Race