DERBY REAL ALE 29.8.07 I decided to go into Derby to get some advance Derby Wayfarer tickets, and to make a day of it. A friend from the Wellington came along too, and I took some bottles so that I could bring some back for Ray if there was a good selection around. We went to the Babington spoons pub first. This is unbelievable for a spoons pub as there is a board showing 16 real ales, their strength price and an indicator as to whether they are light or dark beers. On checking the board I found there were 9 beers I had not had before. I had 3 of them and bottled 4 for later. From there, we walked down to the Flowerpot and I had a meal there along with 2 beers. I went into the Tourist Information for my Derby Wayfarer tickets, then we walked over the river to the Smithfield but there were no new beers there. We did get leaflets for their beer festival running from 6th – 8th September. Next was the Alexandra where I had 1 new beer, and we finished up at the Brunswick where I had 2 beers. It had been a grand day, and I had a total of 12 beers from which I bottled 5. I had only had one of the beers before.
BIRMINGHAM REAL ALES 28.8.07 We went to the Anchor at Digbeth and had 4 beers and 2 of them were new breweries, Green Mill and Stonehouse. From there we went to the Lamp Tavern and had 2 beers. Next we went to the Wellington where I had 5 beers, then to the Briar Rose (spoons) where we had 2 beers and a steak meal. This included a pint of Pedigree and they would not let us swap the Pedigree for a half of one of the guest beers, so we ended up leaving most of the beer. After such a good night, we found it hard to manage the Pedigree. We stopped off at Moseley so we could see what was on at the Prince of Wales. They are stocking more beers from microbreweries now instead of the regular big breweries so we had a couple there. It had been a good evening as not counting the Pedigree, we had 15 real ales. We had only had 2 of them before, and 2 were new breweries.
After we got home from our Devon holiday on Monday 7.8.07, Ray went back to work on the Tuesday while I went to the Great British Beer fesstival at Earls Court with friends. This was a fantastic day out, I got through 15 beers and the range available was brilliant. We had our day out in Birmingham on Thursday 9th visiting both the Briar Rose and the Wellington and picking up 7 beers.
Friday 10th we took the caravan to Oxford meeting a couple of friends there, and we walked into Oxford and visited Far From The Maddening Crowd, Kings Arms, Turf Tavern and Aldgates. We picked up 10 beers in these pubs, but nothing in the Eagle and Child and Lamb and Flag. We caught the Park and Ride bus back to the caravan site.
Saturday 11th we caught the bus into Oxford as we were going back to the GBBF by train. This was another super day out and along with Ray we had 27 beers. The great thing about this festival is the third pint glasses as we were able to sample a lot more beers. We called into Far From the Maddening Crowd for another couple before heading back to the caravan site on the bus. Another brilliant day out.
Tuesday 14th saw me and Ray at the Anchor and Wellington in Birmingham, and we sampled 8 beers with good company.
On Thursday 16th I went off to Sheffield on my own and visited the Cask and Cutler, now called the Wellington- 2 beers and 1 bottled. Next was the Milestone 1 beer. Then the Fat Cat 1 bdrunk and 1 bottled, and the same at the Kelham Island Tavern. I had 1 at the Harlequin and bottled 1 at the Riverside. I had 1 at the Hillsborough and bottled 4 from a cellar run. I had 1 at Rawson Spring and 1 at New Barracks. I finished at the Moon where I had 2 and bottled 1. It was great to see so many of the flood hit pubs up and running again, and I did call at the Gardners and put a note of support through the door for their flood recovery.
Friday 17th we met up with our caravanning friends in Worcester, and although the beer festival had been cancelled due to the racecourse being flooded, we had decided to go anyway and visit the pubs. We went to the Bell and Berkley on Friday night, having a couple of beers.
Saturday 18th we called first at the Swan with 2 nicks for 3 beers, the Plough for 4 beers, the Dragon for 6 beers, and the Postal Order for 2 beers. We found plenty of new beers as well as some we hadn`t had for a while, and it had been a good weekend.
Tuesday 21st Ray and I had our run to Birmingham and had a total of 11 beers at athe Anchor, Wellington and Briar Roae.
Thursday 28th I was off to Peterborough beer festival with Wellington friends, and drank 11 beers and bottled 13 at this excellent festival.
Friday 25th Ray and I took the caravan to a NON BEER event to a rally at Wighill near Tadcaster in Yorkshire. We did get to a pub on the Sunday for lunch and had a couple of beers but were not impressed with the food or the beer at the White Swan. There was real ale on site at the rally, so we enjoyed the Daleside Blonde there instead. It was a great weekend though with plenty of sunshine.
Today we are off on our Tuesday jaunt to Birmingham and this will probably end my August Blog as we are off to the Camping and Caravanning Club`s National Feast of Lanterns on Friday near Exeter, and I will start my September blog with that one.
Plymouth holiday 20.7.07
On Friday 20.7.07 Ray had finished work for a fortnight so we picked the caravan up just after 9.00 and headed to Edithmead where we were having an overnight stop near Weston Super Mare. The journey down the M5 was aweful with heavy rainfall, but everyone was taking care on the motorway, and we made it without too much of a delay. We got set up and decided not to go out that night.
We were quite surprised to see on the news that the M5 was closed, so it would appear that we were lucky to get down as we did. The next morning we found out that some had spent the night in their cars and were stuck for around 15 hours.
Saturday morning we had quite a good journey down to our caravan site near Modbury, 12 miles from Plymouth. The last couple of miles were on narrow roads not really geared for caravans, yet there were 5 sites by California Cross where our site was. We were actually 3 miles from Modbury with no public transport. This was a bit of a disappointment as we wanted to leave the car on site and travel into Plymouth.
The site was tiered hard standing pitches, but we found it a bit tight to get the caravan onto the pitch. We set up and got the awning up, We walked to the local pub, the California Country Inn, and had a lovely meal. They only had Fullers London Pride and Abbot on, but there was a cask of local brewery Quercus Prospect waiting to settle.
Sunday we travelled 6 miles to the local supermarket to get stocked up, and I got some meat and veg to make a dinner. It was a lovely day and we spent the afternoon relaxing by the caravan.
Monday was wet – very wet. We spent the day watching TV to see the shocking pictures of the floods around the midlands. Tewkesbury, Evesham, Upton and Gloucester were facing disasters from the rivers Severn and Avon. Later on we had a wander down to the California in the rain and had a drink of the now settled Quercus beer. Very nice it was too.
Tuesday we had arranged to go to Paignton to see friends there. Part of that road was very narrow even though it was an A road, and passing was difficult at times. It was a lovely road along the coast to Dartmouth though, and being so warm, an area at Blackpool sands was crowded and it was actually looking like summer. We called into the Weary Ploughman in Churston where we had dinner and a couple of beers from Otter and Hidden breweries. After leaving our friends we travelled back via Totnes.
Wednesday we were up early as we had arranged to meet other friends at Bodmin and didn’t know what the road through to Cornwall would be like. It was a very wet day again and we did think it could be wise to cancel, but decided to go anyway. We had a good run to Bodmin with a delay only where roadworks were making a bypass, then the sun came out. We met up with our friends and went to the pub at Bodmin Jail where we had a meal before going round the jail. The meal was a little disappointing where the potatoes and chips were concerned which was a shame because the actual lasagne was very tasty and they served loads of vegetables and salad. I had a Princetown and St Austell beer with dinner. The jail was very interesting on various levels in all directions. Loads of small cells with scenarios of various deeds that had caused folks to be imprisoned in bygone days. Before heading back, we had a stroll round Bodmin in the sunshine.
Thursday was wet. We decided to go into Plymouth, taking the car to the park and ride, and taking our bottles so we could bring beer back with us. We got soaked, almost drowned as we walked round looking for the tourist information to get a street map. In the end we gave up and went to the spoons pub, the Union rooms where we had dinner and a Theakstons. We saw the Pavillion opposite so knew where to come on the Friday for the beer festival.
Not far away was Sippers, a lovely multi roomed pub and we actually sat outside while I had my Otter Ale. We were still trying to find the tourist information by the Barbican, and on the way found the Fishermans Arms so popped in and I had St Austell HSD. They had lovely tables here made from barrels. After getting my map and directions to the other pubs at the tourist information, we went to the Dolphin Hotel where the only real ale they had was Bass! I had a half and bottled it to bring back. We walked over the harbour swing bridge by the sea life centre and found the Thistle Park Brewhouse. This was the brewery for Sutton beers before they changed to South Hams and moved the brewery there. They had 3 beers on though so we bottled South Hams XSB, Plymouth Pride and Wild Blonde. Our final pub was the Maritime where I had Summerskills Devon Dew, and we took our drinks outside but then the rain ame down again. We bottled the beer for later, and walked back for the bus to the park and ride. It had been a strange day weatherwise, but we had enjoyed our walk around Plymouth. On our way back, we called into a garden centre and found a stand for holding the bird feeders as the copper pipe one Ray had constructed was now past its best. Back at the caravan we enjoyed the beers collected during the day.
This was supposed to be summer. We were spending a lot more time in the caravan than usual, but were keeping in touch with what was happening with the floods and watching Big Brother a lot. It was exciting!!!!! The roads were so narrow I was nervous going out. The promised bus service had been cancelled. We had to either book a fare car in advance for specific times to get to Modbury for the bus costing £2, or we were left having to pay for a taxi that would be £7 - £8. With the weather the way it was, it was proving difficult to want to book anything in advance.
As we had planned to go into Plymouth for the beer festival, we had booked the fare car to get into Modbury, and it cost us £2 each to get there. We had a good trip into Plymouth on the 93 bus for £4.20 each return. We could have got an all day ticket for £6 and may do that another day. While waiting for the bus we saw the local bakery had lardy cake in, so we bought some of that and it was lovely – still warm. The bus ride into Plymouth was great and took about 50 minutes. We went srtraight to the Union Rooms and had a breakfast there before going over to the Pavillions for the festival.
We were a little early but managed to get hold of a beer list, and marked the beers needed while waiting. There were 30 beers I hadn’t had, so it promised to be a good one. When we got in, we found a table and went off to find the beers. Most of the 30 I wanted were not ready. Some had not turned up, and I found that of the original 30 there were only 6 available. The heating had been left on overnight and the beers needed to be cooled down again. The air con was therefore going full blast, and those fortunate enough to have coats were wrapped up.
We joined up with three fellow drinkers who had met Mick the Tick at a beer festival in Aston, and we had a great afternoon with them. During the day, more of the beers came on and by the time we were getting ready to leave for the last bus back to Modbury, we were bottling beers to take back. We bought 22 beers, we had 3 new breweries Quercus, Bay and Union. We bottled 8 beers to take back with us. We did not have any food at this festival so when we got back to Modbury, we called in to the Exeter Inn where we had a meal and Sharps Doom Bar. The landlord rang the taxi but it was going to be 20 mins and £10 minimum fare. I said no as we were told £7 - £8. We went out and rang from the mobile and they would be there in 10 mins for the agreed £7 - £8. When it came they clocked the ride and it was £6.40 so I gave her £8.
Saturday 28.7.07 we went out shopping then came back and cooked dinner. I tried frozen chips in the skillet with a cooked chicken we had bought, and it worked fine. We stayed in and had the beers brought back from the festival.
Sunday morning was fine and we decided to stay in till dinnertime. We went to the California Inn for lunch then took a ride down to Burgh Island and walked across the sand to the Pilchard where we enjoyed a Teignworthy and Sharps beer, and a St Austell beer that had been brewed for the pub. It was a lovely day, and as the tide was out we didn`t need the sea tractor used to ferry people to the island when the sands are claimed by the sea.
On Monday 30.7.07 we drove down to the Lizard to see a friend and it was a scorching day. We called at the Lion and Lamb at Ashton for lunch and I had Skinners Betty Stogs. Friday we were off to Paignton for the zoo in the morning, lunch with friends then on the way back we called at the lovely Royal Oak at South Brent where I had a couple of Teignworthy beers. Saturday 4/8 we went to the local show at Lodiswell and had lunch at the local inn along with Sharps Doom Bar. The show was great and reminded me of similar shows in North East villages when I was a kid. I used to enter phots, crafts and cookery exibits and it was great to see similar traditions still went on. We had a Devon cream tea and watched events in the arena. A lovely day.
Sunday we had to set off back home, and stopped overnight at the site at Highbridge used on the way down. A lot drier this time, and we walked to the local Fox and Goose pub for lunch and a couple of Wolvers beers. It was a fitting end to a great holiday.
Bromsgrove beerfest 12.7.07
On Thursday 12.7.07 we took the caravan to Bromsgrove Rugby Football Club as we were going to work at the beer festival being held there over the weekend, and we met up with our caravanning friends at the back of one of their pitches. After getting set up, we went for some fish and chips, and went down to the marquee for some beer. We had 7 beers and enjoyed the evening sitting outside watching the sun go down.
I spent a couple of hours on Friday morning sat in the marquee in case anyone came as most of the committee were out at work, and I had to wait till someone came to finish setting up for the public that night. The weather was terrible. It was so wet and a complete change from the Thursday night.
As Ray had gone to work, our friends took me to Chaddesley Corbett where I had Exmoor Gold in the Fox and Jennings Honey Bole in the Talbot. The latter was a lovely pub, and we had a snack there. I enjoyed a bowl of delicious soup with crusty bread.
After Ray got home, we relaxed by the vans for a while before going down to the marquee where we were working the first shift of the night. It was quite busy despite the wet weather. Most of the beers I drank on the Friday I had drunk before, but we still enjoyed the evening.
We reported for duty again to cover the first shift on Saturday morning and it was a lovely day. People brought gazebos and sat out on the rugby pitches and the atmosphere was fantastic. There were no new beers for me, but I do enjoy working this festival. I came off at 2.00 and had some refreshment, but volunteered to go back on and do another shift later. When the festival finished the workers had a get together in the marquee.
Sunday morning was wet again and we helped to dismantle the cooling system and get the casks down from the stillage in the marquee. It was hard work, and we had to leave around 11.00 to pack up our caravan to head back home.
This is a brilliant festival with a great atmosphere so well done Redditch and Bromsgrove CAMRA.
