Quatloos!

I'm starting to firm up my 2016 CAMRA real ale plans for the UK. Bit of travel background. I've been married almost forty years and I have a friend I've known about fifty years. I travel extensively with both of them. Travelling with wife is cultural, New York for the Whitney, Metropolitan, MOMA, that kind of thing. Travelling with my friend is beer swilling. He and I have been to Britain six times since 2002 hitting the real ale trail and, between the UK and Ireland, have had a beer in over 1,000 different pubs.

I'm planning our seventh trip well in advance because we are coming at the wrong time of year (June 8th to July 12) and we're finding accommodation already filling up. In the past we've come in early May or in September but grandchildren have screwed things up for both of us. So far we've booked, in order,

June 8 to12 - London
June 13 - Worcester
June 14 - Chester
June 15 - Bolton
June 16 - Preston
June 17 & 18 - Barrowford
June 19 - Durham
June 20 to 22 - Edinburgh
June 23 to 25 - Glasgow
June 26 - Inverness
June 27 - Aberdeen
June 28 - Dundee
June 29 - Newcastle
June 30 and July 01 - Leeds
July 02 to 09 - not yet booked
July 10 - Brighton

Barrowford is my real British home. I've lived there from time to time since I was less than a year old. We can't go to England without climbing Pendle Hill and having a Pendle Pie and Pendle Witch ale at the Pendle Inn.

While much is still open we also plan to stay in at least Nottingham (pie and a pint at the Elwes Arms), and Sheffield. Nottingham is not on the itinerary just because of Tom Crawford. I like pubbing there. We've been to Nottingham three times since 2002 and we've had a beer in 28 different Nottingham pubs. Having said that Nottingham is, in my subjective opinion, the roughest UK town I've pubbed in and I've been to Derry, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Hull, Nelson, and Burnley.

This is a lot of advance warning but I just want to get an idea who, if anyone (I've been rough on you brits, I'm an asshole) is still interested. If so send me a PM and we'll see what we can work out. Replies I've had so far include;

Losleones
slowsmile
exiledscouser
Normal Wisdom
Philistine

And some other names I've misplaced. Remember to include where you are located.

So, does your wife always stay in North America when you go britpubbing? Or do you drop her off at the British Museum?

Also, have you considered getting tshirts made? You could call it the "No Tap Unpulled Tour".

In front of that: a Union Jack over racks of bottles. In front of that a bar stretching all the way across with a score of taps visible. A smiling John Bull type is behind the bar holding out a mug.

And in the foreground: A chubby pink canadian beaver saying "I'll have one of everything!"

grixit wrote:So, does your wife always stay in North America when you go britpubbing? Or do you drop her off at the British Museum?

Also, have you considered getting tshirts made? You could call it the "No Tap Unpulled Tour".

In front of that: a Union Jack over racks of bottles. In front of that a bar stretching all the way across with a score of taps visible. A smiling John Bull type is behind the bar holding out a mug.

And in the foreground: A chubby pink canadian beaver saying "I'll have one of everything!"

We have a somewhat unusual but mutally satisfactory arrangement. I travel with her and also, separately, with my friend. She travels with me and also, separately, with her friends. As an example this year friend and I did a quick craft beer trek to Arizona in January. Prescott, Flagstaff, Tucson and Tempe. He and I also did a summer beer jaunt of the American NW coast staying in Mount Vernon, Astoria, Newport, Portland, Troutdale (for this http://www.mcmenamins.com/Edgefield, seven pubs in one hotel) Olympia and Bellingham. Wife and I went to New York and three short trips to Vancouver Island. Wife also went to Berlin and Portugal without me. In the past she's also gone to India, Israel, South Africa, Poland, Rumania, Uzbekistan, Turkmanistan, Ukraine and numerous other countries without me. So while I'm in England she may be home or she may be off to Australia. Who knows?

And no, I won't have one of everything. I don't like IPAs or other excessively hoppy brews.

Burnaby49 wrote: And no, I won't have one of everything. I don't like IPAs or other excessively hoppy brews.

In spite of being a proud Man of Kent I'm not keen on excessively hoppy beers either but I am developing Longdog's Hoppiness Theorum which states "The hoppiness of a beer is in inverse proportion the the degree of hoppiness claimed on the pump".

Might I suggest that as you're going to be in Leeds and you have a space in your diary you might take a trip along the M62 to Hull. We have plenty of excellent real ale boozers in the Old Town... And we have white phone boxes

The Lion and Key is worth a particular mention.,. All those pumps and one tap of cooking lager for the weirdos

Burnaby49 wrote:We can't go to England without climbing Pendle Hill and having a Pendle Pie and Pendle Witch ale at the Pendle Inn.

And calling the people there "Pendlejo"?

longdog wrote:

Burnaby49 wrote: And no, I won't have one of everything. I don't like IPAs or other excessively hoppy brews.

In spite of being a proud Man of Kent I'm not keen on excessively hoppy beers either but I am developing Longdog's Hoppiness Theorum which states "The hoppiness of a beer is in inverse proportion the the degree of hoppiness claimed on the pump".

Might I suggest that as you're going to be in Leeds and you have a space in your diary you might take a trip along the M62 to Hull. We have plenty of excellent real ale boozers in the Old Town... And we have white phone boxes

The Lion and Key is worth a particular mention.,. All those pumps and one tap of cooking lager for the weirdos

Well, I disagree with you both. My favorite brews are all IPAs; but having said that I have tasted many an IPA where the brewers try to beat you over the head with hops, and the bitterness prevails. However, a West Coast style IPA, if brewed right, is the nectar of the gods.

Burnaby49 wrote:I'm starting to firm up my 2016 CAMRA real ale plans for the UK. Bit of travel background. I've been married almost forty years and I have a friend I've known about fifty years. I travel extensively with both of them. Travelling with wife is cultural, New York for the Whitney, Metropolitan, MOMA, that kind of thing. Travelling with my friend is beer swilling. He and I have been to Britain six times since 2002 hitting the real ale trail and, between the UK and Ireland, have had a beer in over 1,000 different pubs.

I'm planning our seventh trip well in advance because we are coming at the wrong time of year (June 8th to July 12) and we're finding accommodation already filling up. In the past we've come in early May or in September but grandchildren have screwed things up for both of us. So far we've booked, in order,

June 8 to12 - London
June 13 - Worcester
June 14 - Chester
June 15 - Bolton
June 16 - Preston
June 17 & 18 - Barrowford
June 19 - Durham
June 20 to 22 - Edinburgh
June 23 to 25 - Glasgow
June 26 - Inverness
June 27 - Aberdeen
June 28 - Dundee
June 29 - Newcastle
June 30 and July 01 - Leeds
July 02 to 09 - not yet booked
July 10 - Brighton

Barrowford is my real British home. I've lived there from time to time since I was less than a year old. We can't go to England without climbing Pendle Hill and having a Pendle Pie and Pendle Witch ale at the Pendle Inn.

While much is still open we also plan to stay in at least Nottingham (pie and a pint at the Elwes Arms), and Sheffield. Nottingham is not on the itinerary just because of Tom Crawford. I like pubbing there. We've been to Nottingham three times since 2002 and we've had a beer in 28 different Nottingham pubs. Having said that Nottingham is, in my subjective opinion, the roughest UK town I've pubbed in and I've been to Derry, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Hull, Nelson, and Burnley.

This is a lot of advance warning but I just want to get an idea who, if anyone (I've been rough on you brits, I'm an asshole) is still interested. If so send me a PM and we'll see what we can work out. Replies I've had so far include;

Losleones
slowsmile
exiledscouser
Normal Wisdom
Philistine

And some other names I've misplaced. Remember to include where you are located.

Chester for me - 14 June now in the diary.

If you do drop in to Nottingham i'll join you for a pint although mine will be a soft drink as i dont drink alcohol(i dont mind buying rounds for those that do partake in beverages that help alter your judgement ).

Chester for me also. I've PMd Burnaby but not sure its sent. I'm flexible on time of day

If you do end up drifting through Nottingham or Sheffield , shout.

It would be rude not stopping at the home of uk sovcit insanity

If, and I realise it's a pretty big if, Burnaby wants I can show him and his friend around some of the secret areas of the Water Rats in Kings Cross (the stuff that the normal hoi polloi are largely unaware of). It's also a pub that Burnaby has admitted to never having drunk in in London and I can have a word about getting some good old Canadian beer in.

Did drink in McSorleys, just the sort of bar I've always wanted to have a drink in, a 'traditional' old fashioned American bar experience.

wserra wrote:

Burnaby49 wrote:We can't go to England without climbing Pendle Hill and having a Pendle Pie and Pendle Witch ale at the Pendle Inn.

And calling the people there "Pendlejo"?

I would guess haining calls them all 'pendlephiles'.

SteveUK wrote:If you do end up drifting through Nottingham or Sheffield , shout.

It would be rude not stopping at the home of uk sovcit insanity

What's the connection with Nottingham & freemanism bollox? Or is it just a myth like the one where lasses supposedly outnumber the guys 3 to 1 on a night out? Suppose the blokes are all down the Town Hall screaming paedophiles or behind their keyboards posting & taking in garbage on t'internet.

No offence to any posters from that region.

Losleones wrote:

SteveUK wrote:If you do end up drifting through Nottingham or Sheffield , shout.

It would be rude not stopping at the home of uk sovcit insanity

What's the connection with Nottingham & freemanism bollox? Or is it just a myth like the one where lasses supposedly outnumber the guys 3 to 1 on a night out? Suppose the blokes are all down the Town Hall screaming paedophiles or behind their keyboards posting & taking in garbage on t'internet.

No offence to any posters from that region.

There's just something in the water here that makes you scream 'I do not consent' and draw you to Maritime law.
Having Ceylon based here probably doesn't help either.

Not sure about the 3:1 thing, but there is a massive nurse training hospital that may well contribute.

Good luck finding a pub that hasn't been shut down and converted into a mini supermarket or old folks home.

wserra wrote:

Burnaby49 wrote:We can't go to England without climbing Pendle Hill and having a Pendle Pie and Pendle Witch ale at the Pendle Inn.

And calling the people there "Pendlejo"?

I'm told the underlying sub-strata is comprised of Pendleonium.

IDIOT wrote:Good luck finding a pub that hasn't been shut down and converted into a mini supermarket or old folks home.

We started serious pubbing in the UK in 2002 and since then it has been a race to keep ahead of the wrecking ball.

Hull? Haven't I previously given my Hull pubbing experience? Here's the list;

The Bay Horse
The City Hotel
The Criterion
The Dairycoates Inn
The Empress
The George
The Hotel Alexandra
The Manchester Arms
The Masters Bar
The Minerva
The Old English Gentleman
The Punch Hotel
The Sandringham
The Strickland Arms
The Whalebone
The Whittington and Cat
Ye Olde Black Boy
Ye Olde Blue Bell
Ye Olde White Hart

And in nearby Hessle;

The Hase
The Marquis of Granby
The Norland
Rayners
The Top House

I've been to Hull at least a dozen times starting in 1950 and I've spent a lot of time there. Family background. My mother was born in Hull and grew up there is some dump called the Jubilee Terrace. She was a weaver and, when the war started, moved to Nelson Lancashire to work in the weaving trade there. She got very friendly with the owner of the sizing and taping mill she worked at and his wife. She actually met my father casually at their house in Barrowford in 1943 at some get-together for locals and Canadian troops. Nothing came of it at the time. She emigrated to Canada in 1946 and, at least as her story went, met my father again by chance in downtown Vancouver. And here I am.

The Barrowford couple did not have any children and when my brother and I were born we were suddenly hot items. They sent my mother tickets for three of us to go to England for an entire summer. In those days that entailed a five day train ride across Canada then to Liverpool via an ocean liner. They paid for at least three subsequent trips. In 1962 I actually flew across in one of these babies;



As far as I can recall I've been to Britain at least fifteen times over the years. Every trip but the last two I've gone to Hull because I had a wonderful aunt I visited who lived in Hessle. After she died I decided to try other places.

I somehow missed the Lion and Key but I'll have to pass. Hull is now history.

What aircraft is that?
A comet?

Pox wrote:What aircraft is that?
A comet?

Comet is a jet, that's a prop. DC7 maybe. My best guess. Although I prefer the Super Constellation