A Rainy Night In Soho

LETJOG E2W – Day 33: Thursday 16 May – MIDLETON to CORK (17.2 miles)

I first started planning this LETJOG E2W walk in concept about a year ago, and certainly by last autumn I had set out in some detail (on the Ordnance Survey App) some potential daily walking routes for the England and Wales sections. An ongoing busy diary at home, and maybe some unacknowledged inner reticence (perhaps at the size and complexity of the challenge) prevented me from finalising my plans until well into this year. But the catalyst for turning my dreams into action was Bruce Springsteen, whose tour announcement, and in particular his concert at the Pairc Ui Chaoimh stadium in Cork on Thursday 16 May, not only gave me the impetus to confirm the walk but also set my timescale. And by hook or by crook*, having kept to the deadline, here I am – in Cork, on said date! More of all that later!

Just a few photos to share today, as I made my way through the outlying towns and suburbs into Cork.

Writing this piece thus far, after my walk today but before the concert, I can now reflect on the completion of the fourth of my five sections of this LETJOG E2W challenge. To date I have spent over a month on the trail and I have covered over 550 miles on foot, through some of the finest countryside in England, Wales and Ireland. I have seen a great many new places and met some wonderful people, but in some ways it is the final section, Cork to the Dingle Peninsula, that holds for me the most unknowns. Certainly this is true from a planning and logistics viewpoint, as I have no detailed maps or route plans going forwards, any overnight accommodation seems to be increasingly hard to find and procure, and I am now completely on my own. With uncertainty comes excitement, and (hopefully) eventual fulfilment. That is all for tomorrow – tonight is all about celebrating the completion of my fourth fifth, and about enjoying The Boss!

Well, now after midnight, and I’m buzzing. Springsteen is renowned for a good show. He can write, sing, play guitar and harmonica, arrange and produce – but what really sets him apart as a live act is the ability to perform. In his case it is about reading the audience. It is astounding that, after nearly 60 years of playing, no two of his shows are the same – venues vary, set lists change, and each event is tailored to the locality, but what really makes Springsteen unique is the rapport with the audience, mixing with the crowd, handing out guitar picks to children, selecting prompt cards for requests, and all with a sense that he, and his quite amazing E Street Band, are performing for their own enjoyment. That spirit is echoed by the audience, and in Ireland in the rain, it made for a special evening indeed.

Along with his more obvious Dutch roots I was reminded on several occasions tonight that Bruce Springsteen does have some Irish ancestry. Regardless of that there is no contest for the song title that I have chosen as my Blog heading today. ‘A Rainy Night In Soho’ is a Pogues number from 1986, written by Shane MacGowan; it was quite a master-stroke from Springsteen tonight to close with his cover of this song as his final encore, immensely fitting, given the audience and the weather – we don’t enjoy enough improvisation these days, but The Boss, as ever, delivered!

*The phrase ‘by hook or by crook’ may have an Irish connection. Although the words are of obscure origin, a commonly repeated suggestion is that the saying refers to Hook Head near Wexford and the village of Crooke in County Waterford, and that the expression derives from an alleged vow made by Oliver Cromwell to take Waterford ‘by Hook or by Crooke’.