City Break - Manchester

Manchester, England. Friday/Sunday 30-October/01-November-2026.

It’s so happened that a Dutty Moonshine concert fell on our wedding anniversary and Manchester was conveniently accessible. Therefore we decided to make a weekend of it, book tickets for the gig, spend two days in Manchester and explore the city that neither of us remember visiting before.

Friday 30-October-2026.

We took the train down to Manchester as it is only an hour and a half and no worries about parking.

We had beers at Sadler's Cat and an early suppr at New Century before heading upstairs to the gig which was, of course excellent. One reviewer wrote "Dutty Moonshine Big Band’s appearance at New Century Hall was one of those occasions where the overwhelming feeling wasn’t just one of admiration, but of pure, unfiltered joy."

Full report at Dutty Moonshine at New Century.

Saturday 31-October-2026.

Saturday is #parkrunday as always. It being Halloween Mary had to have a witches hat and wear her pumpkin leggings.

Peel 31/11/26 31:45 [502/686]

A number of others also got into the spooky vibe.

After a shower we had a delicious, light lunch of sushi and sashimi at Sushi Dragon in the Arndale Centre. Then we took a very informative canal cruise. The canals are criss-crossed with viaducts originally for road, rail and water. All synonymous with industrial growth in Manchester. 

Next we visited the Lowry museum. They had a docent (a word I learned in Chicago) who gave us a short a chat about Lowry. We then went into the immersive experience Lowry 360 which animated "Going To The Match"; it only lasted 6 minutes and was well worth stopping for. A final scan round the rest of the paintings then a trip to the gift shop to buy a couple of fridge magnets of our favourite paintings as souvenirs of the weekend.

That evening we had a nice anniversary meal and wine at Bottega San Carlo inside Selfridges. Then beer at New Century where, sitting on long tables, we got chatting to two couples who were there for a Craig Charles DJ set at Locker next door. On the spur of the moment we decided to join them. We went in at 10pm and he finally appeared at midnight. I was not impressed by what I thought was unprofessional tardiness but apparently this is normal club billing with warm-up DJs before Craig takes the stage and his fans know to expect this.

We stayed for about half an hour then headed back to the hotel.

Sunday 01-November-2026.

After the late night it was a leisurely start with a full cooked breakfast. Normally we would not breakfast at the hotel but look for an local, independent cafe. However, for some reason, Radisson decided we deserved free breakfasts. We have no idea why nor did the receptionist but how could we refuse.

After breakfast we did a fascinating walk round the city following an audio guide from VoiceMap. It took about 90 minutes with over 50 points of interest mostly focussing on Manchester's industrial past and much of it along the waterways that criss-cross the city.

En route we were directed to this postbox, a survivor from an IRA bombing in 1996 which we had forgotten about until that moment. 

"On 15 June 1996, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated a 1,500-kilogram (3,300 lb) lorry bomb on Corporation Street in the centre of Manchester, England. It was the biggest bomb detonated in Great Britain since the Second World War.[Wikipedia].

It was strange to think we were standing where the carnage happened. Thankfully there had been a warning call an hour before which allowed the emergency services to evacuate an estimated 80,000 people from the city centre. Miraculously no one was killed though more than 200 were injured and the city centre suffered over £700 million in damage..

The plaque reads "This postbox remained standing almost undamaged on June 15th 1996 when this area was devastated by a bomb. The box was removed during the rebuilding of the city centre and was returned to its original site on November 22nd 1999".

On a more cheerful note, the Corn Exchange was one of the beautiful buildings that our audio guide took us into.

The audio guides often point out things we never would have noticed. At first glance this just looks like a brick wall but the arches under the walkways were originally open and used first for industry then leisure before being bricked up.

The intersection of canal, road and rail lead to the building of some interesting interchanges where the canals ran under the railways to facilitate transfer of goods directly from one to the other - rather like a modern container port. 

A fine example is this very long building is 223 to 291 Deansgate: the former Deansgate Goods Station which was built circa 1899 [English Heritage 1282974 and 1210103].

We had lunch and beer at Bundobost Brewery as recommended by a friend who used to live in Manchester. They serve really tasty Indian vegetarian food that is different from your usual fare. They also offer an excellent range of beers.

Then back to Penrith on the train for a rest!

Dutty Moonshine at New Century

New Century, Manchester. Friday 30-October-2026.

It’s so happened that this gig fell on our wedding anniversary and Manchester was conveniently accessible. Therefore we decided to make a weekend of it, book tickets for this gig, spend two days in Manchester and explore the city that neither of us remember visiting before.

We got to the venue in time to see a couple of songs from the support act, Tankus, who did a fine job of warming up the audience.

Dutty (Michael "Mike" Rack) looking dapper in his three piece suit fronting the band. At once point he sang "You are my moonshine, my Dutty Moonshine" to the tune of "You are my sunshine" and was mightily impressed at how enthusiastically the crowd joined in.

Abi Nyxx, their new singer, who has taken over from Maria, did a fine job rapping up front.

My nephew Chris on the drums with his beard getting more hipster every time we see him.

Abi shows her background in circus and cabaret in the theatrical costumes.

At one point her routine involved being lifted into a very large champagne coupe by Dutty and Gorgeous George (?) whilst singing all the time.

The crowd taking full advantage of the sprung floor.

Being too old to pogo all night we took advantage of lots of spare seats in the accessible area and ended up chatting to a young lad and his mum, Becky. He was dancing with such joyful lack of inhibition it was hard not to smile. 

Far too soon it was time for the band take well deserved bow.

The young lad is a big fan of Dutty and so at the end we asked my nephew Chris for a set list, he duly obliged and we passed it on to Becky. When Dutty appeared out front he was straight there for a photo.

He insisted on having a photo with his new friends.

Rather than write my own review I can do no better than quote from this glowing review by Gregg Howarth from "We Shoot Music":

Dutty Moonshine Big Band’s appearance at New Century Hall was one of those occasions where the overwhelming feeling wasn’t just one of admiration, but of pure, unfiltered joy. [...]

From the moment the band took to the stage, the atmosphere shifted dramatically. Looking around the venue, it became increasingly difficult to find anyone standing still. This wasn’t a room politely nodding along in appreciation. People were dancing. Really dancing. The sort of dancing that leaves dignity abandoned somewhere near the merch stand and replaces it with a determination to enjoy every possible second of the evening. [...] 

What nobody ever teaches you is how to resist joining in when faced with a brass powered party taking place directly in front of you. Throughout the evening I found myself engaged in an internal battle between photographer and gig-goer, and even now I’m not entirely sure which side won.[...]

I managed one final photograph moments before the band took their bow. Looking across the stage, nobody appeared ready for the evening to end. Nobody looked like they were clocking off after a shift. Instead, they looked like a group of friends who had just spent two hours throwing the best party in Manchester and couldn’t quite believe they got paid for it. Judging by the reaction inside New Century Hall, neither could anybody else.

Read the whole review with lots of quality photos at Dutty Moonshine Big Band Turn New Century Hall Into Manchester’s Biggest Party.

Set list.

Second Distillation Tour

Most Wanted (half) Most Wanted Remix (2nd drop) Vamonos Me Gusta (short) Teke Teke Empress (half) Lucy What You Wanna Do Antagonist Cafe Patron Villain Boing (half) The Arrest (2 verses) Do Want Me Bad Guy

Stick Up Skank Out (2 verses) Click Clack Boom (half) The Lonely Gangster Distillin Distillin Remix Gold Dust - HG Fiança + Remix Bang Bang Big Band Fam Gangsters Remix Outlaws Fall From Grace Fly Girl (2 verses) Shut Up Ya Face (No outro)

Wine Tasting - Hungary

WASP (Wine Appreciation Society, Penrith), Roundthorn Country House Hotel, Penrith. Thursday 29-October-2026.

Wines presented by Jenni Hutchinson from Lake District Wines in Keswick “Sipping through Hungary”. A very enthusiastic and knowledgeable presenter.

She has been all over Hungary and seems to know all the producers personally. She is clearly a plant from the Hungarian Tourism Board!

Price Colour Wine, Vintage ABV

• Grapes
• Jenni’s Tasting Notes
• Mary’s notes
• Additional info.

£35.50 Fizz Kreinbacher Prestige Brut NV Somlo, NV 12.5%

• Furmint, Chardonnay
• Traditional Method, Lime, Floral Notes, Stone
• ✱✱✱ Fresh, lovely flavour, lime, mineral, stone fruit / white peach, yeasty
• Won gold in 2020 wine challenge, included in top 15 best wines. Aged 24-30 months. 

Somlo region touted as a “good for your health” zone.

£17.00 White Takler Kiralyleanyka, Szeksard, 2022 13%,    

• Kiralyleanyka
• Fruits, Brioche, Gentle Mousse, Minerality Apple, Pear, Citrus, Grape Flower, Fresh Acidity 
• ✱✱ Little nose; slight savoury / smoky, gentle flavours, fresh, light, good acidity

More recently traditional winemaking styles have been tweaked to make them more appealing to UK and European tastes 

£22.00 White St Andrea Egri Csillag Napbor, Eger, 2024 13% 

• Harslevelu, Chardonnay, Egyeb, Olaszrizling, Sauvignon Blanc, Zengo
• Peach, Lychee, Citrus, Grapefruit, Exciting Acidity
• ✱ light nose, agree with flavours above, mineral,y, OK acidity, shortish
• Fermented in stainless steel, temperature controlled. 

The first blush Zinfandel was an accident when white wine production was interrupted, the must was left on the skins so they made the wine anyway and a rosé was the result.

£18.00 Rose Sebestyen Rose, Szeksard, 2024 12.5% 

• Kekfrankos
• Bright strawberry, red berries, and peach, a touch of green/herbaceous nuance, gentle spice.
• ½ sweet nose, smokey, red berries, too sweet / sherberty 
• The most ancient grape variety.

£21.50 Red Sebestyen Kadarka, Szeksard, 2024 11%

• Kadarka
• Raspberries, Cherries, Violet, Spice
• ✱✱ looks light but good flavour, green notes, pinot noir style
• Oak barrels made from Hungarian oak.  

Hungary is the third largest producer of oak barrels after USA and France.

£25.00 Red Takler Orokseg Kekfrankos, Szeksard, 2021 14% 

• Kekfrankos
• Cherry, Forest Fruits, Integrated Oak, Subtle Smoky and Spicy Notes, Milk chocolate and Mineral Touches.
• ✱✱✱ dark purple, good balance, strong flavours, plums
• Generally not oaked

£19.00 Red Bolyki Bikaver, Eger, 2022 13.5%

• Kekfrankos, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Zweigelt, Baluberger, Portugeiser + 
• Dark, Stewed Fruit, Chocolate, Black Pepper, Sour Cherry, Cranberry
• ✱✱✱ strong nose, oaky, deep, dark fruit, yummy, slightly sweet 
• This wine could have up to fifteen (!) grape varieties as long as the wine is composed of at least 50% indigenous grapes.

£21.50 Sweet Tokajicum Borhaz, Tokaji Aszu, 5 Puttonyos, NV 10.5% 

• Furmint, Harslevelu
• Honey, Apricot, Candied Orange Peel, Forest Mushrooms, Acacia Blossoms, Marmalade, Creamy Texture, Volcanic Minerals 
• ✱✱½ good freshness, yummiest! Sweet but fresh
• UNESCO heritage zone. First ever noble rot wine.

An interesting contrast to the tasting we did in Budapest which included more on the geology and history whereas this focussed more on the producers. An enjoyable evening and we all came away having increased our knowledge of Hungarian wines by at least 100%.

The Gathering 2026

Penrith, Cumbria. Saturday 24-October-2026.

Weather turned our plans upside down again. Two years ago we ran a charity stall at Winter Droving 2024 for Friends of Carlisle Victorian and Turkish Baths. The event was a great success with the tombola raising our best ever event total. Unfortunately, last year it was cancelled due to a forecast of high wind. 

This year Winter Droving was relocated to Carlisle as part of their carnival much to the disgruntlement of many Penrith residents. The Penrith Business Improvement District partnership organised an alternative event called The Gathering to be held in Penrith town centre.

We flew back from Italy in time to prepare for our Carlisle Carnivale stall but then they cancelled due to Storm Boelo and we suddenly had a free Saturday.

Penrith 24/10/2026 32:18 [182/359]

First order of business was of course parkrun which we were now able to attend. Mary volunteered instead of parkwalking because her cunning plan is to do her 300th parkwalk at a location celebrating their 300th event (an unofficial challenge know as "Match of the Day"). By luck there is a suitable one not too far away which will be at Dean Country Park parkrun on 19th December which also happens to be in Kilmarnock, her place of birth. This plan means that she has to skip parkwalking for two Saturdays to synchronise hence the volunteering this weekend. 

The Gathering was planned to be held mostly indoors so that it would be independent of the weather. Unfortunately the Drum Nation parade was outdoors and they were looking very soggy but determined.

There were events organised in the Parish Rooms, Penrith Library, Saint Andrew's Church and Penrith Playhouse. 

The main event was in a marquee at Mansion House.

We arrived in time to catch the last part of Harry Tricks set and then got ourselves a couple of beers to watch the whole of Street Beats.

They went for a full stereophonic effect by having the drummers lining the sides of the marquee, presumably because they could not fit everyone on the stage.

The next act were the King Bees from Newcastle who were excellent, playing a selection of Rhythm and Blues

Dockray Hall have not have yet started doing food again so we had an early supper at home and then out there to see Bare Wires featuring our friend Paul on lead guitar. Excellent as always, they played two sets so we got a full evening of rocking, live music.

Dockray Hall had put on a couple of excellent beers that were very much to my taste: proper brown beer, a Gargoyle Stout with strong notes of coffee and chocolate, quite sweet and Sneck Lifter, a strong dark ale. 

 

The band played right though to 11 o'clock so it was time for us old fogeys to go home.

City Break - Gallipoli

Gallipoli, Puglia, Italy. Friday/Sunday 09/11-October-2026.

It used to be that Salento parkrun was the remotest in the world as the next nearest were Etna or Rome both 400km away. No more as a new one started up at Gallipoli. Sirenhello parkrun is only 62km away from Cisternino. So we had to fit in a visit before our return to the U.K.

Friday 09-October-2026.

Heading to Gallipoli, we stopped off in Manduria for a quick wine tasting and lunch.

For the wine tasting we went to the Museo Della Civiltà del Vino Primitivo where we could do a free tasting. Of course, like most people, we bought some bottles so I’m sure they don’t lose out by giving the tasting for free.

They had a huge range on offer so we focussed our selection. First we tried two method champenoise sparkling. We had a white and a rosé, one each so we could compare-and-contrast. Then we tried three primitivo from the same producer but different quality and price levels. We both preferred the middle of the three.

Lunch was trickier as many places were closed and we ended up a local café with a limited selection of panini. We chose Italy's answer to a ham and cheese toasty and very tasty it was too!

The imposing Palazzo Imperiali - Filotico build by the Imperial princes of Francavilla starting in 1717. From the signs outside it now includes a bank and a restaurant.

However, thanks to the time we spent wandering around the town, we caught a procession of amazing Ferrari as they passed through the town centre. 

This was part of the Rossocorsa Classiche Puglia 2026 featuring:

• Vintage Racers: The Ferrari 340 MM (winner of the 1953 Mille Miglia), a 340 America (which raced at Le Mans in 1951), and two 750 Monza models.
• The Hypercar Trinity: A rare sequential display of technical evolution featuring the F40, F50, and the Enzo.
• Icons: The 250 California Spider, Daytona, and Testarossa.

Driving the rest to the route to Gallipoli we passed vineyard after vineyard of what we assumed were mostly Primitivo.

Our accommodation was an about half an hours walk from the centre so on a recommendation from our host we dined locally at La Lampara. I had a very tasty vongole sauté basically the clam version of moules marinière and Mary had polpo arrosto, Italy’s version of the The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.

Saturday 10-October-2026.

Sirenhello 10/10/26 32:00 [5/7].

Italy’s second newest parkrun, it was only at week seven. It is a convoluted, labyrinthine course, Italy’s answer to the Curly Wurly (Somerdale Pavilion parkrun)! Daniele the RD very proudly explained that he designed it himself.

An unusually wet day with no locals at all apart from the volunteers. 100% tourists, with six from the UK including a couple we met the week before at Salento and one person originally from Poland. By the time Mary reached the finish line she was soaked.

After lunch we went drove as close as we could get to the centre before the ZTL kicked in. We had been to Gallipoli years ago but neither of use have any memory of it other than a seafood restaurant wouldn’t serve us coffee with milk in it - an Italian belief that mixing milk and seafood is bad for you. So it was good to revisit, taking a stroll around the outside of the peninsula. Not so scenic were the narrow streets of the centre full of restaurants, BnBs and tat shops.

The castlello hold a commanding position over the port.

A curious bird-like sculpture in the water next to the castello.

Late afternoon we had a wine tasting at Cantina Coppola. First a bit history on the cantina and a tour of the facilities with wine pumps and a barrel weighing device.

The Coppola family tree of winemakers extends back an impressive five centuries to 1489!

As part of the tour we could see into the cellars through glass floor tiles. The small barrels hold Primitivo, the large barrel at the back is Negroamaro. They also make sparkling wine by the metodo classico (as used in Champagne) and the racks (pupitre) hold the bottles with the yeast being riddled (shaken down).

Then on to the tasting. We had booked for Negroamaro four ways: sparkling, white, rosé and red. At the end they offered us a bonus glass each so Mary had another Negroamaro and I had a Primitivo:

• Coppola Dosaggio Zero
• Rocci Puglia Bianco IGT 
• Licuti Alezio Rosato DOC
• Licuti Alezio Rosso DOC
• Doxi Alezio Rosso DOC Negroamaro 80%, Malvasia 20%
• Patitari Salento Rosso IGT Primitivo 100%

Fascinating to see the different styles from one grape variety. We enjoyed their wines and bought some sparkling and red.

A lot of restaurants around us were closed as it is the end of the season so, rather than dine at the same restaurant as Friday night, we walked 25 minutes to another fishy restaurant Vista Mare "Lu Spariolu". While we were in there the heavens opened and we walked back through torrents of water and flash floods in the streets. We were were sodden by the time we got back to the apartment.

Sunday 11-October-2026.

We decided on a gentle drive back across country to avoid the boring SS16 which we drive up and down every Saturday when we go to Salento parkrun. We broke our journey for a coffee at a lively café in Torre Santa Susanna and were back to Cisternino in time for a very tasty and appealing lunch at Chirico.

 

Finally a quiet evening in to round off the weekend.