Tickets are now available for the two shows in the north Lake District on Friday 27th & Saturday 28th September 2019. Both shows are in the Threlkeld Village Hall as part of three days of walking and music. Details of the walks and the Thursday evening will be announced later. See www.jj-rr.org/walks-in-2019/

Friday 27th — 8pm start — a standing show with one hour of great songs from John and the band followed by a ceilidh in the village hall. Bring your dancing shoes. There will be a bar.  Click here to buy tickets .

Saturday 28th — 8pm start — a seated show, again in the village hall.  A full concert with two sets from JJ and The Reluctant Ramblers plus guests. Click here to buy tickets.

“You don’t have to have walked to enjoy the music. Meet you there .” JJ

For further information, add a comment to this post or email info@jj-rr.org.

click here to read the gig review by David Pratt on FATEA

The raw stats of miles walked, metres climbed or calories expended cannot ever do justice to the shared experience of walking in all weathers with a great bunch of people like The Ramblers. As Boff says, “Reluctant” is hardly the right word these days; but in a way it reflects that feeling of not taking ourselves too seriously, whatever we do and … some of this was hard. It is The Lakes; inspiring and daunting and changing each time you look up from watching your step.

My thanks to you all for being on the walks and at the gigs and for some great FB feedback and my special thanks to Colin, Tom, Fran and Graham and Vanya for invaluable support – and there were times when I needed it! … And of course to a great band: Rowan, Lindsey, Al and Tim and guest Nick Passmore for making the songs and tunes come alive. JJ

The walkers at the very start – Thursday at the Castlerigg stone circle:

and at Skiddaw House on the Saturday walk:

The band on Saturday:

JJ writes:

“Just back from 2 days of rehearsing with the RR band, blowing off the cobwebs of songs from Rising Road and Never Stop Moving and hearing the new songs Rowan and Lindsey will sing. Finished off with a ceilidh tune session and a curry. Perfect.
Looking forward to playing in that nice little Village hall in Threlkeld with Blencathra looming above us.”

Due to returns, there are now tickets available for the ceilidh and gig next week.

The Threlkeld Activities Association have 6 tickets available for the ceilidh. Please email marketing@threlkeldvillagehall.org if you would like any.

There are also 2 tickets returned for the Saturday evening gig. Email  info@jj-rr.org if you would like these.

The ceilidh in Threlkeld on 22nd September is completely sold out and there will be no tickets available at the door.

The maximum dancers the hall can accommodate is 6 sets of 8 dancers i. e. 24 couples giving 48 dancers at a time. That means everyone gets some rest while allowing others to dance. There will be chairs around the sides and the coffee shop space will be available where there is also a bar.

The administration of the ceilidh by the TAA (Threlkeld Amenity Association) will be that each ticket holder must exchange their ticket for a wristband at the door. This will then allow ticket holders to move around freely inside the village hall and coffee shop. They can also go outside and come back in with minimum fuss.

The walk on Thursday from Castlerigg goes south to High and Low Nest before turning left [east ] to pass between High and Low Rigg past the Youth Centre . At Bridge House we turn left and follow footpaths back to Threkeld Bridge via Moss Dikes where we cross A66 and walk into Threlkeld. 
Anyone not wishing to walk the whole way could meet us at the Youth Centre.

There were three walks planned:

1. Thursday 21st September half day – Castlerigg Stone Circle walk down into Threlkeld

2. Friday 22nd full day – Cat Bells, Derwent Water and beyond

3. Saturday 23rd full day – Blencathra, towers above Threlkeld where we are based

Everyone did the Thursday walk. On Frday and Saturday, there were two routes planned for each day for different levels of walking – A is the most challenging and requires experience, B has less challenges, but remember this is the lakes – nothing is easy. With everyone’s safety in mind, JJ had the last word on who should do which walk.

For further details, click here: 2017 Lakes walk descriptions to see them in a PDF document. This provided enough details to allow walkers to organise themselves.

JJ writes:

“After a classic Lakeland day on Friday of great views and walking through mist and torrential rain, the weather really turned against us on Saturday…..

…. and a huge sigh of relief was heard when JJ announced a change of walk.

The whole group met at the Threlkeld Village Hall and walked around the side of Blease Fell and up the valley to Skiddaw House. Then after a well-earned rest, back down the other side of the valley along the Cumbrian Way to take advantage of the fantastic views from Latrigg. Finally one more climb up to the Blencathra Centre and down into Threlkeld.

While not the highest, this was one of the best 13 mile walks we have done together. A great collective spirit continued into the evening and the village hall rocked.

Special thanks to Graham and Vanya and also to Barbara and all those at the TAA for making this weekend very special indeed.”