Tuesday 14th December (Day 20)
Salisbury City Hall, Salisbury

One of my favourite towns. Wiltshire never fails to appeal to me, there is something not only visually pleasing about this part of the country, but I perceive it as peaceful and tranquil. I'm sure that there are those that would say it's just because I don't live there.

We stayed at a beautiful hotel and through the French window of my room was a rather idyllic view, with the greenest expanse of lawn stretching out toward the river Avon. All this beauty, peace and tranquility (a far cry from the London traffic), I decided was only allowed in measured amounts - the staff at the hotel being carefully trained to never close a door or go about their work in general without creating the maximum amount of loud and sudden noises in order to give those misguided residents a shock, or repeated shocks, more like, to the system. All this was designed to commence at 7.30am prompt.

Once out of the hotel one was safe and the walk into town was very scenic, taking you through the Cathedral grounds.

The City Hall seats over nine hundred people and that is exactly how many were in tonight. We have returned back, more or less, to our usual set, with two exceptions. We've kept 'I Live Not Where I Love' in Set 1 and switched 'See Amid The Winter Snow' and the '1st Nowell' with each other, 'Nowell' now becoming the first encore song.

Terry Pratchett, the writer lives in this neck of the woods, and once again, as was the case on my first tour with Steeleye in 2002, he was in tonight's audience.

Wednesday 15th December (Day 21)
Cheltenham Town Hall

Another favourite place of mine. Arrived at the Thistle Hotel quite early after a drive of not much more than an hour and with my cold symptoms not showing any signs of significant improvement, I was pleased to see that there was a health and leisure centre which was free to residents. So not long after checking into my room I headed for the steam room and jacuzzi in the hope that it may clear my head a little.

Another full house in the evening in what is a lovely town hall. This is possibly the fourth time I've performed here. The acoustics are always difficult with its hard surfaces and high ceiling, but nevertheless we got on with it and I didn't hear anyone complaining.

Friday 17th December (Day 23)
The Arts Centre, Southport

Just fifteen miles from Preston and I've been looking forward so much to spending some time, albeit a very brief amount, at home. On arrival in Southport I noticed that the library was directly across from the hotel, so I headed over to use their Internet, and check my emails. They gave me a 15 minute quota and a password to enter. After waiting a while for an available PC, I proceeded to attempt to log on. After around 10 unsuccessful efforts, I decided to go and get something to eat instead.

The weather was dreadful. Saw a man, standing immobile in all this wind and rain with a sign that read 'massive golf sale' with an arrow pointing towards the relevant retail outlet. I need some new clubs I thought, and this could be a good opportunity. Wilson, Taylor Made, Mizumo, £75 off, £100 off, new and used. It wasn't long before total indecision set in and I knew I would not be leaving with a new set; so back into the elements I wandered.

Brian, our lighting man had kindly let me use his hotel room for the afternoon. Usually the crew don't get to see their accommodation until after the show, and as I was staying at home tonight, I didn't have a room of my own. I was grateful to have some space within which to relax, do my twenty minutes of meditation and generally get myself into a good frame of mind for tonight's show.

Two years ago we performed at what I think in now called the Southport Theatre, but used to go by the name of the Floral Hall. It's a much larger venue than the Arts Centre and consequently the 470 seats for tonight's show were all accounted for. It feels like quite an intimate venue, it's a good size and the seating reaches a lot closer to the performers than many other concert halls.

Still tinkering with the set order; we had tried taking 'See Amid the Winter Snow' from it's encore position and putting it with '1st Nowell'. The effect though seems to slow the 2nd Set down a bit too much, so we've switched back now to the original positions.

It was very nice to see some familiar faces tonight and particularly good to have Carol transport me along the A59, back to a home I haven't seen in four weeks.

Sunday 19th December (Day 25)
University Arts Centre, Warwick

Took the train to Coventry at 12 noon. Well, the first part of the journey from Preston to Crew was by coach, due to work on the rails or whatever they do on Sundays. Still everything seemed to arrive and leave at the right time and I landed at Coventry just before 3pm.

This is the forth time I've performed at the Warwick Arts Centre, the last time was 2002 with Steeleye - a memorable night, as was the previous occasion with the Albion Band, only for completely different reasons. The Albion gig was a live Radio 2 'In Concert' programme which was staged by the same people that produce Folk on 2; Smooth Operations. I could write in length about how disappointed I was with the entire event and the complete lack of recognition and respect I was afforded in regards to my input and contribution to that band. I'm afraid that in this business, people, production companies, and in this case, the Albion Band have agenda's.

These agenda's exist often with limited regard to integrity. At this time the Albions were being promoted on the basis of youth - with Joe Broughton and Kelly While at the front. I felt generally unsettled by this, after all, my whole ethos has leant toward the ideals of music having timeless and ageless qualities; such as, of depth and honesty. I knew I was on a very sticky wicket with all this PR rubbish going on.

I could write pages on the events of that day, the logistics, the work and organisation that led up to the point when we took to the stage. We were introduced by Mike Harding. It could have been that I was not considered an integral enough part of the Albion's to get a direct mention in his introduction of the band members, OK, as I said, people have their agenda's. But when his big 'joke' was delivered that these two youthful figures, which he lavished with praise, brought the average age of the band down to 72, I wondered what I was doing on that stage; the camels back was broken and I knew, the sooner the better, I was out of that band.

The next time I stood on that stage was on Steeleye's Reunion Tour and I recall that evening well also. In contrast it felt meaningful, purposeful and extremely rewarding, as did tonight. We played to a full house of 1200.

Monday 20th December (Day 26)
The Opera House, Buxton

Received word this morning that there was snow 'up North'. With Buxton being one of the more exposed areas, we knew it would be smart to be ready for any eventuality. Sure enough, as we approached the town, the terrain became more and more like that of a classic Christmas scene. Then we hit fog. In the end, after what turned into a slow and cautious journey, we arrived at our destination and a very picturesque one it was too.

We checked into the 'Old Hall Hotel' which sits almost directly opposite the Opera House.

Tonight, yet again, we played to a full house and a very ward audience. This is one of the nicest theatres you could ever hope to visit and from the stage it's really quite impressive to look upward toward the upper circle (which, believe me is high) and to see the silhouette of those looking down on you.