On to Chelmsford

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.