Author: Dick S.

Early start to the Podge ‘Beer from the Woods’ tour with a 6:15 pickup at the Woolpack Pub in Chelmsford.  First time going through the Chunnel – a very interesting process.  ‘Richie’, our driver, asked the group to inhale as he threads the bus onto the carriage – a tight fit!  We got a small view if one of the refugee camps outside Calais.  This one, at least,  was quite orderly.  

Our route through West Flanders passed through a series of small villages with names familiar after years of beer label examination.  We lunched at a very special cafe, the Malenhoff, in Oostveleren.   After a short dive to Ichtegen, we visited the De Struise Barrel shop with its 600+ aging barrels, then on to the family-owned Strubbel Brewery.  Marc Strubbel, the 7th generation owner, gave a nice presentation on the history of the brewery.  Strubbel is one of only 5 brewers still brewing the Flanders Red style.  

We are staying in Aalst for the next few evenings.  Alst is a regional market town in East Flanders with a famous and bizarre festival.   A statue in the town square commemorates one of the festival traditions where the men parade through town in high heels & fishnet stockings.  The wikipedia entry on the story of the festival is amusing.  

Pics: Malenhoff Cafe, Grote Markt in Aalst, Struise Barrel shop, good location. 

After another great breakfast at the Earl, we are headed out for Chelmsford.  The ‘Greater Anglia’ route runs back into London (Liverpool Street Station), then transfer to the Ipswich line.  Both trains are nice – fast & clean.   There is a member of the ‘Presentation Team’ (as it says on their jackets) that passes through the car every few minutes.  

Old friends Steve and Mara meet us at the hotel and guide us to the ‘Hop Shop’, Chelmsford’s CAMRA pub of the year and the city’s first ‘micro pub’.  Pretty much all local real ales.  Mara and I share a birthdate – she’s holding up much better than I!

Later, another good friend Shaun joins us after work and hauls us all to Maldon where Carol joins us for dinner and a crawl of the villages pubs.  Interesting changes to the beer scene since Mary and I were here a few years ago.  Micro Pubs are all the rage now – small, intimate settings in old village storefronts.  

Pics are: the Smith’s at the Hop, the Hop, the Queen’s birthday, the Woolpack.

An absolutely georgeous day in Cambridge.  Staying at the Earl of Derby was a good decision. Ryan and I both had the ‘Full English’ today – really special, and popular.  There’s been a steady stream of workers and locals stopping in to eat.  

Today was museum day.  The main reason we decided on Cambridge as a destination was to see the special exhibit at the Polar Institute in honor of the 100th anniversary of Shackleton’s Endeaver expedition.  Very cool and my favorite stop.  The famous Scottish restaurant ‘Loch Fyne Seafood’ is located across from the Fitzwilliam and made for a nice lunch stop.   

Pubs, pubs, and pubs.   They are everywhere and uniformly good.  Fine selections of real ales & nice menus.  Most have pleasant garden areas that are quite popular on a sunny day like today.  Alas, we’ve exhausted the supply of CAMRA rated pubs so it’s time to move on.  Chelmsford in the morning.  

Pics are:  Elm Tree, Scotch Eggs, Polar Institute, Cambridge Blue

Travel (so far) doesn’t get much easier than this – except for the whole ‘red-eye’ flight thing.  The flight from Detroit landed at Heathrow over an hour early.  We topped off our ‘Oyster’ transit cards and picked up our mobile wifi unit (thanks for the suggestion Ed – works great!).  A painless Underground ride to King’s Cross station and 50 minute Great Northern ride later and we’re in Cambridge.

We’re staying at the Earl of Derby, a pub/B&B a short walk from the town center.  The Earl is tied to the ‘Greene King’ brewery and has a nice set of real ales on Ryan’s first pint was an ‘Old Speckled Hen’.    Good pick!

We took what was intended to be a short walk into town and ended up a recon of the city’s many CAMRA pubs:  the Flying Pig, the Mill (!), the  Hopbine,  and the Maypole.  Sleep came easy

Pics: Earl of Derby, punting on the Cam, Flying Pig pub   

 

 

 

Our journey begins later today.  The limo service (provided by the lovely Ms. Smith) will drop us at Pittsburgh International for our flight to Heathrow via Detroit.  

Pics are: “Queen Victoria” pub in Maldon, Cantillon cask, Flanders welcome