September...

Mad busy in September, so I have not had time to update the blog...

The first weekend in September, the Enid were playing at Bury Met. I haven't seen them for probably 20
years and, other than Rob Godfrey looking even older, they are just as good as when I saw them last Century.



Vin Garbutt was on at the Trades in Hebden Bridge on Sunday, very funny.

I was down in Baldock during the week, so popped into the Orange Tree for a quick pint. They have just finished a superb smoking shelter out the back.

 On Wednesday I was down to Pridewood Farm again, for a great sunny day around the Hop fields.

Fuggle was just being harvested, so I picked up 10 kilos of fresh hop to do a Green hopped beer.













































 I managed to get a room at the Talbot, so had an evening of great beer, great food, and a fantastic breakfast the following morning (bacon from their own piggies!).

The following weekend was the black pudding throwing championship.  I think this weekend should be made into a Black Pudding Festival, rather than just the championship on the Sunday.












Another week passed and it was time for the Ramsbottom Music festival.

We spent a day putting up marquees in and out of the rain, while the stage grew out of the ground the opposite side of the cricket club. 

The music was great over the weekend, but the rain continued to pour.

Some of the bar staff started looking a bit rough...

The highlight of the festival for me was the Sunday.  Mid afternoon we had the absolutely stunning Racheal Sermanni, alone with her guitar in the middle of the huge stage, her superb voice and powerful playing made me forget about the rain for a while.




Kan followed and had the crowd jumping up and down (splashing), while dancing Dave was puddle jumping!

Thea Gilmore was fantastic as was Seth Lakeman rounding off a fantastic Sunday.
Once the music was over, the crowds dispersed, and the volunteers got to the beer tent for a well earned pint or three.

Thursday and it was down to Visbikky and Elgoods Brewery for the judging of the East of England Beers. this was a much bigger competition this year with, I think, 190 beers being judged.

I was judging the Milds in the third round, and it was a close call between, what turned out to be, Batemans DM, and the eventual winner, B&T Shefford Dark Mild, both of them being amongst my favourite milds.

Down in the Bilge

On Sunday, I managed to get to the boat for the afternoon. A boat had appeared beside me, by the looks of it they have a bit of work to do.

I now have a checklist of jobs for when I get to the boat, and this saves me spending the first hour wandering around wondering where I had got up to the last time I was here!  The first job was to wire up the bilge pump and bilge alarm. Ten minute job ?

By the time I had grovelled in the bilge under then Engine long enough to get the pump and alarm sensor in, and run the wires in a protective cover clear of the prop, then an hour and a half had gone!

Wiring the panel up was reletively easy, it is easier to wire when standing upright, rather than dangling upside down under an engine.  The panel is now complete, other than one additional switch I will fit to isolate the battery alarm while starting the engine.

I carried on tidying all the cabling away down the length of the boat, when I ran out of cable ties (again).

Snott in ham

It was "cultural Exchange" time at work again, this time we thought we would try the Midlands, so Nottingham came to mind.
To quote ISIHAC

 Nottingham, formerly Snottingham - "home of the Snotts".  The S was dropped and the town became known as Nottingham - A move widely resisted by the residents of Scunthorpe

Just up from the station, there is the church of St Mary the Virgin.

Down the side of this on there is Castle Rock's new bar, the Keans Head.  Great atmosphere, Great Beer and Great food.  We could quite well have stayed in here all day!






Never mind, other places to see.  Around the corner is the Cock and Hoop, where we had some stale and sour beer that none of us finished

There is loads of great architecture in Nottingham, a throwback to the days when it was a flourishing trade centre.

Next stop was the Bell Inn.  The sign outside proclaims "Nottinghams oldest Inn"

Walking back to the main road "Maid Marion way" we spotted an interesting pub.  This looked extremely narrow and quirky, so we thought we would investigate. The  pub is somewhat "work in progress" but what a great bar, a good selection of beer, great food, and a great atmosphere.














Next stop was the Old Trip to Jerusalem, proclaiming "the Oldest Inn in England".  So, Nottingham isn't England, or the Trip isn't in Nottingham?

















Last couple of stops were the Fellows Morton & Clayton, followed by the canalhouse.

Finaaly back to Nottingham Station for the Journey home.

A Capital Day

A few of us went down to London for the GBBF Trade day.  It was almost impossible to get to Kensington Olympia due to all the pink tabard-wearing morons who couldn't get a grasp of the idea that I AM NOT GOING TO THE OLYMPICS.

"Olympics this way"
"I AM NOT GOING TO THE OLYMPICS"
"You are going the wrong way, the olympics are this way..."
"I AM NOT GOING TO THE OLYMPICS"
"Olympics this way"
"I AM NOT GOING TO THE SODDING OLYMPICS"

After about an hour of conversations like this with the volunteer idiots, I finally got to Kensington and to the GBBF.

 which was a bit boring this year.

There seemed to be more food stalls than beer stalls, and the beer range seemed to be exactly the same as the beers from last year.

There were pink pigs,





but I preferred Hogsback Brewery's Green Hog...

We left Olympia and met up with Q for a couple of beers in the Cask and Glass, great pub,

 then a couple of refreshers in the Shakespear, just accross from Victoria Station.

I don't think I've ever seen the outside of Victoria Station before.  Pretty Impressive.

Stupid Fish

Grabbed a quick day off up the Lakes.  Having pitched tent, and a superb Ham buttie from the old for sustinence, we decided to go up Side Pike.  Normally you go up to Blea Tarn and up the path to the rear of the pike.  However, we aren't normal.

What followed was a full frontal assault, up the northern front, followed by a free climb up the rock face at the top.

Great views over Langdale all the way up.

The top of the pike is a proper pinnacle.

Once over the top, there is a great view over Blea Tarn, and the path we were supposed to follow

 

Hi Mandy, hope you are OK. Good to hear somebody is reading this stuff!

Just found a reference on Wikepedia :

 Side Pike (362 m, 1,187 ft) ...is a fine rock tower that is only accessible from the west and south. Walkers wishing to visit Side Pike from Lingmoor Fell are blocked by unassailable crags and must traverse round to easier slopes to the south.

Oops!

Never mind, we got back to the Old, and washed a Lamb Shoulder down with a pint or twelve of the Yates Bitter.

Manchester Canals

The bus got into Manchester a bit early on Monday, so I had half an hour to wait for a train.  The sun had got his hat on, so I decided to walk from Ancoats down the Rochdale canal.

This is where the Rochdale canal meets the Ashton Canal, just under Ducie Street, where I leave to get to Piccadilly station

Down south to the Mutual, and they have a great Ploughmans on the menu