Monday 31st July
We left at 6:30am on our holiday. WE wanted to leave as early as possible to try and beat the traffic on the M25. So where did The CJ family go on holiday? The Seychelles? The Canary Islands? No... Derby! (And why not, it's the dead centre of the country- Literally)
We didn't have a place to stay so we were going to get a B&B when we got there.
We tried the SatNav again but ended up turning it off as it appeared to be laughing at us; it being halfway up the M1 when we were still stuck on the Roadworks on the M25.
We got to Derby at about 11am and headed for the city centre. The Tourist Information managed to get us a Bed and Breakfast for 5 nights quite close to the town centre and with a car park. Brilliant! It had everything we needed- a Bed and ...er a Breakfast. Then we saw the decor. Whyis it that B&B's always have the most hideous carpets and Bed linen? It really was bad. I thought I was staying in a Moroccon brothel... again.
WE spent the afternoon in town enjoying the chatter of the colourful locals.. mostly about arganising deug deals (I kid ye not- they were!).
we sauntered up to the Derby Gaol to have a nosey around and book a place on the Ghost Walk for Wednesday Evening. Whilst we were there we spotted Minor Celebrity Richard Felix, who ownd the gaol. Oooh. Get us- mixing with the stars!
We had dinner at the Friary pub, Two meals, two pints and two WKD drinks for less than £10. Little did we know that it was a haunted pub, although some of the satff looked a bit scary, especially the one dressed as a Ninja Turtle.
It was getting late and we had travelled a long time so we thought we would turn in for the evening, and dream of the wonderful breakfast awaiting us.
So we slept, but we were rudely awoken by the arrival of some very drunk men in the hallway. One of them had forgotten which room he was staying in and was banging loudly on all the doors and trying to get his key to work. It was actually quite frightening 'cos the doors weren't the most secure we've ever seen. It took a while to get back to sleep after that.
And so ended the first day