Who needs balloons when you’ve got the Corifest?

It was a pretty busy weekend in Clifton and two very

different days for the Bristol Balloon Fiesta in terms of weather.

On Saturday we made the decision early on to stay in Clifton

and watch the balloons rise from Ashton Court if they went up at all, and it

turned out to be the right decision.

We had a bit of lunch at the Albion, just off Boyces Avenue,

but ended up staying a little longer than we anticipated as we sheltered from

the rain over a couple of pints of Bath Ales Gem.

Clifton was fairly bustling as it seems lots of people had

the same idea as us and we headed round to the Cori Tap  to check out the Corifest, the now annual

music and cider festival at the Coronation Tap.

We got there just in time to see Bristol’s finest jazz sax

player Andy Sheppard, who played a great set under the gazebo, which did a fine

job of keeping the rain off the band. We spent a good hour or so introducing a

friend we had staying from London to the delights of the Cori’s own Exhibition

cider.

In the spirit of the overly-optimistic Brits that we are, we

did head over to the Observatory in the hope that the brief break in the

weather might provide an opportunity for some balloon flight. At the same time

last year the area was packed with picnickers and spectators, but this year the

crowds were quite sparse, unsurprisingly. We stood and waited taking in some

great views of the gorge, the Suspension Bridge and the south of the city, but

predictably no balloons filled the view.

All that standing around was thirsty work so we found

ourselves in the Clifton on Regent Street enjoying some refreshment. By now it

was turning into a bit of pub crawl, unexpectedly, and it wasn’t long before

thoughts turned to food again as we discussed the merits of several of Clifton’s

curry houses. But it was a busy night and we had to station a number of our

group at different curry houses, waiting for tables to become free. A couple of

us waited at Posh Spice on a promise of a table within half an hour while

keeping an eye on Bombay Spice across the road to see if a table for ten might

become available!

In the meantime I waited in the Brunel wine bar, which

seemed like the most sensible option, before we finally found a table at the

JoyRaj, where I finished a long day off with a traditional chicken vindaloo

and a couple of Cobra lagers.

After all that, it may come as no surprise to hear that we

didn’t do very much on Sunday at all and

didn’t even make it as far as the Downs to see what balloon activity there was.

Although I did hear the Red Arrows flying over the flat as I recovered from our

day of excess. Of course I’m not advocating binge drinking, but an impromptu

pub crawl around Clifton every now and then is a lot of fun.