Welsh Mud

January saw the National Winter Ales Festival come to Manchester again.  This is now held in the Sheridan suite on Oldham road. It is a good venue, but I still prefer the old one which was by Victoria Station.  Much easier to get to.

 



Last Friday, I set off to Wales for a couple of days walking and drinking with other brewers.  It was going dark as I left the end of the M54, and I had a thought that, if I can't find this place I'm going to, I don't think I can spell it, and I certainly can't pronounce it.  I had a good idea where it was though, and by  7:30 I arrived in Llanwrtyd Wells.  We stayed in the Neuadd Arms Hotel, home to, amongst other things, The Monster Raving Loony Party HQ, The Bog Snorkelling Championships, man vs beast marathon, and the Heart of Wales Brewery.

On the first night, Johan finished the Dragons Breath curry and was given a medal.

Saturday was a great day, blue skies, sunshine and everything, so we set off walking some of these Welsh hills. After walking through a couple of miles of Welsh mud, we found a nice little property with great views, but in need of a little TLC.

There is a statue of an osprey, I think, in the town square.  This must be where they have re-introduced these birds into the wild.

Back home on Sunday, and down to the Major for Sunday Dinner. I had the new Steak Pudding, which was probably the best steak pudding I have ever had, while Lady P had the most enormous roast chicken dinner I have seen.

Sunday night is the time for the Train back down South.  I book tickets in advance to get the cheapest rates, but the fares are so inconsistent you have to try some random routes.  This week I am getting a train to York then the London connection because it was £20 cheaper than going direct. This means I have half an hour to spare in York.
It would be nice to get a quick pint in at York Brewery, but that would be a bit of a rush, and I dont like rushing for trains.

Luckily there is a new bar at the North end of Platform 3 called the York Tap.  20 handpumps serving a great selection of mostly Yorkshire Beers.

Warming up

Back at the boat, Handy Andy finally turned up and fitted the rebate locks to the doors. I had a play with Photoshop to try our some ideas for graphics on the front of the boat.

I've got a boatmans stove, so I can get a bit of heat into the place.  J has welded a back boiler to it, so I can run a radiator off it as well.  All I need to do know is build a hearth for it, and connect up the chimney, and we have somewhere to burn all the offcuts of wood!

I started putting in the main wiring runs, all done in tinned thinwall cable.  I have five lighting circuits, the front three run in 6mm cable to avoid voltage drop, the rear two in 4mm. Red for 12V, Black for 0V and Blue for the link wire of the two way light switches.

The colour scheme may not be standard, but I have a limited number of colours available, so I will make do with what I have got.

Once the runs are in, I make them into bundles using cable ties every 6".  This is a lot easier using the cable tie gun I got from ebay for £5.99.  This takes all the strain from my aging fingers.

New year nowhere (just left of the middle)

Spent New year up in the Lakes again.  Fantastic night with the obligetory pint or two of Yates, and a bit of music provided by a couple of Festerers.

Wet - not really the right word.  Liquid mud more like!

I got home and hung the tent up outside to let January's rain wash the mud off!