Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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  • Norwich – Rumsey Wells

    Norwich – Rumsey Wells

    Since I’m back in Norwich for what feels like months (it’ll be nearly two weeks) I thought that I’d pop into a few pubs in the city to see how they’re getting on. This is the Adnams owned Rumsey Wells pub on St. Andrew’s Street in the city that I haven’t been to for a couple of years.

    The beer selection was very orientated towards Adnams and I liked the engagement from the staff member who was pro-actively offering samples. Adnams have clearly decided they can’t be bothered with listing their new beers on Untappd, which to me is usually a sign they’re worried about their poor quality. They might disagree with me on that (or more likely be entirely uninterested in what I think), but it’s a slight red flag to me. I went for the Raspberry Scotch Ale which was mediocre but tolerable, so I can see their point. It was well-kept though and I liked the enthusiasm from the pub.

    I visited on a Tuesday afternoon so it’s not surprising that it was quiet, although there were a few customers dotted about in another part of the pub. The pub is designed, at least in part, to appeal to students and they cater for that market well, although they could perhaps do with a few more on-trend beer options as well and maybe more guest beers as the choice is currently very Adnams dominated.

    There we go, the photo I couldn’t upload to Untappd as the beer wasn’t listed….. It’s the Raspberry Scotch Ale from Adnams, which wasn’t exactly packed with flavour.

    Anyway, as a pub, this is a perfectly clean and comfortable environment. They serve Pieminister pies, which are a handy way for a pub to offer some food without making a major commitment to expensive chefs and kitchens. The reviews for the pub are broadly reasonable positive and I can see why given how friendly the staff are. I’m not sure that I’d recommend that anyone makes a special trip here, but I like the friendliness of the welcome, which to me is an important consideration. Someone on TripAdvisor recently wrote that this was a “solid” pub, and that seems a fair assessment.

  • Hull – Atom Brewing at the Corn Exchange (Visit 3)

    Hull – Atom Brewing at the Corn Exchange (Visit 3)

    It would be a fair point to query why I’m writing up another visit to Atom Brewery in Hull, given that I’ve already been on two occasions (visit 1 and visit 2)….. But it’s one of my favourite bars and they continue to surprise and delight me with their beer options, so I felt the need for a quick few words.

    Part of the beer selection that was available, covering a range of beer styles and with a suitable choice of decadent and less decadent options. The service was friendly and engaging, with the member of bar staff being knowledgeable about the beer options. Although it was a Tuesday afternoon when I visited, there was a constant trade and most customers were ordering some form of food.

    I went for a third of the Stoutzilla 20 from UnBarred Brewery (so it’s an over-poured third, not an under-poured half in the above photo) and a third of the Cherry Skies from the marvellous Vault City Brewing. Starting on the Cherry Skies, this was an exceptional sour with a rich flavour, a strong aftertaste but nothing too harsh. I like cherries (especially in beer) and there was no shortage of them here, with a little bit of vanilla in the mix as well. This was my first of the two beers and I merrily scored it 4.75 on Untappd, but the Stoutzilla was for me a 5 on Untappd as far as I was concerned. It’s possible to overthink these things, but I spend a lot of time thinking about beer, so that’s fine. The Stoutzilla was a rich 10% ABV, but absolutely pleasantly so, with flavours of coffee, vanilla and some Bourbon to add into the mix. Talk about decadence and a range of strong, but not overpowering, flavours. I have a real love for beers where there are a range of competing flavours, that must be a very difficult thing to achieve in the brewing process. UnBarred Brewery and Vault City both produce some brilliant beers, I tend to always opt for those if I see that they’ve got something new on.

    Whilst in the bar, I thought that I’d have a little snack with my decadent beer, and I went for the Chorizo Picante pattie buttie. The buttie is a local delicacy, which is effectively mashed potato in a white roll, served with mushy peas. As Tony from the fabulous Hop & Vine pointed out, the chorizo version isn’t really a local tradition, but it’s important to mix the old and the new. The chorizo added some texture to the whole arrangement as well, which was a nice little snack, with the mushy peas being a handy little sauce to dip everything into.

    I see that Atom Brewery now have a bar in Beverley, so next time I’m in Hull I think that I might spend a day there (in the town, rather than specifically the bar). As for this bar in Hull, it’s really quite marvellous and I very much recommend a little visit. As a side note, it’s not in the Good Beer Guide as it’s perhaps too keg orientated, but I think it should ideally be listed.

  • Woodbastwick – Woodforde’s Brewery + Fur & Feather Inn

    Woodbastwick – Woodforde’s Brewery + Fur & Feather Inn

    At the weekend, I went on the brewery tour at Woodfordes, but I didn’t take any photos of that, so this list of beers will just have to suffice. The tour lasted around an hour and was informative and interesting, showing us around the brewery which has been slowly but surely expanded over the last couple of decades. Their latest addition last year was the canning, bottling and labelling section, so everything from the brewery is now produced in-house.

    After the tour, there was a chance to try some of the beers which are brewed on site. I think it’s fair to say that Woodfordes don’t attempt to be a great brewery in terms of innovation, richness of taste and revolutionary new beers. Instead, they focus on traditional beers, session ales and occasional departures into different beer styles. Their average score on Untappd is 3.36, which is at least higher than Greene King’s 3.25, but well below other breweries such as Titanic who are at 3.64.

    At the in-house bar, there are mostly keg options at the front and cask options at the rear. The staff were knowledgeable about the beer options and they were friendly and helpful. It’s a decent set-up that they have here in the Norfolk countryside, all very welcoming. The brewery is located behind the Fur & Feather Inn, all part of the same complex which is near to the village of Woodbastwick.

    From left to right, the Nog, the Albion Stout and the Nelson’s. I must admit to forgetting what I had ordered, even though they had sort of written on the beer flight what I had. That meant I had to go back in and piece together my logic when ordering, which probably suggests that I need to get more professional at this whole remembering beers thing. Anyway, the Nog is probably the best beer that I tried from Woodforde’s, a bit smokey with flavours of chocolate and burnt sugar. The Albion is the brewery’s attempt at Guinness, and it’s very credible, although it’s lacking any real depth of flavour in terms of the aftertaste. Quite creamy though and I’d order it again if I saw it in a pub. Well, unless there was something that I hadn’t tried, I’m all for trying new things.

    From left to right, the Norada, the West Coast Wherry and the Conquest. Norada was a little devoid of any flavour, probably the weakest that I tried, although the West Coast Wherry wasn’t much more decadent. The Conquest, which is a lager, was slightly better, but there’s a lot more that they can do here. We were seated for this tasting outside, which is rather a lovely area in the summer months, although marginally less appealing in the October rains. It was a covered patio though, so no problems for the tasting. As an aside, I had only tried one beer from the Woodforde’s before, as I usually go for other options, so I was pleased to work through six of their different beers in one go.

    After the brewery tour and beer tasting, we meandered into the restaurant area of the Fur & Feather. The staff were engaging, personable and keen to help, so it’s a comfortable environment. I thought that it was slightly cold, which suited my needs perfectly, but I suspect they might get complaints from others about that.

    For the meal, I went for the beer battered fish and chips, as it’s important to have beer as an ingredient in food when visiting a brewery. I thought that this was all fine, a decent portion of fish and chips, with the batter having a richness of taste to it. The peas were perhaps a little boring, a bit of mushing them up and shoving some mint would have livened them up, but I was suitably pleased by the whole arrangement.

    The entire set-up felt professional and well managed, with the signage being clear and everything was clean and compliant with the latest health requirements. There were no negatives that I’d want to mention, I thought that the welcome was genuine and authentic. As for the brewery, I’d ideally like to see some more exciting small batch stuff rather than some beers which were a little generic. However, they are aiming for the mainstream given their volume, so perhaps the generic is what they want to mostly go for, but there must be room for experimentation. Anyway, for anyone tempted to visit the brewery tour, the pub or the restaurant, all recommended and a lovely afternoon out.

  • Norwich – Norwich Playhouse (Tom Rosenthal – Manhood)

    Norwich – Norwich Playhouse (Tom Rosenthal – Manhood)

    Liam had booked these tickets for us to go and see Tom Rosenthal’s comedy tour when it was in Norwich. This was originally on 26 March 2020, which got delayed to earlier in 2021, but he persisted with yet another date and this one worked out.

    It’s several years since I’ve been to the Playhouse (not including visits to the venue’s bar, which I’ve visited more regularly), the last time was to see Chris Addison.

    The performance started with an introduction from Rosenthal, he’s much faster paced than I expected and also not as tall. He dealt with that matter though, it’s a common misapprehension caused by him apparently often starring alongside short actors, such as in Plebs and Friday Night Dinner. It’s rare for someone to say just how nervous they are, but that seemed a genuine concern of his, all very personal and also personable.

    This was the section of the performance at the beginning where photos were allowed, and this might have been a really acceptable photo if someone hadn’t decided to stand up at the time. Certainly not ideal. Rosenthal joked that there were a fair few seats empty, but I genuinely suspect he was very slightly annoyed at those who didn’t turn up. I would be, so I’d be pleased if he did too.

    There was then a support act, whose name I’ve forgotten and meant to look up but now can’t find (I had better not verge into theatre reviews), as it’s not the support act comedian who was on other parts of the tour. Anyway, that was also decent, with more political commentary, interspersed with an unusual offer of a gig which he had received earlier that day.

    As for the main event, this was primarily a one hour comedy show about circumcision. That’s a brave and punchy subject to talk about, but Rosenthal isn’t happy with the decisions that his parents, who aren’t particularly religious, made for him when he was a baby. His parents are of course not entirely anonymous here, his mother was a producer for Newsnight and his father is Jim Rosenthal, the sports commentator. It must make for quite an interesting debate around the dinner table when he’s home, as it’s a subject that he admits he’s raised on more than a few occasions.

    I won’t go into the exact routine as that would be something of a spoiler, but it was cleverly put together, delivered at a frenetic pace and was as far as I was concerned, actually pretty impressively done. Rosenthal also admitted that he knew people would go and see him because they liked the comedies that he’d been in, then allowing him to talk about this whole manhood subject. He managed to get some science into the whole routine and he gently questioned the logic that some religions follow on circumcision.

    I was already quite a fan of Rosenthal, he’s a quick-witted comedian with a fair few mental health issues that he openly talks about, primarily relating to OCD. What I thought was quite inspirational was just open, honest and human Rosenthal was. Some comedians often appear to have it all going for them, when actually the truth is no doubt nearly always more complex. Rosenthal seemed quite content with talking about the real him, which I thought he did with competence, integrity and lots of humour.

    For anyone who wants to follow him on social media, he’s on Twitter at https://twitter.com/rosentweets.

  • EDF’s Dash for Cash

    EDF’s Dash for Cash

    [I’m pleased to say that EDF have now resolved this to my satisfaction, although they made it very hard to do so…..]

    And a personal rant, but since it’s my blog I’m allowed….

    My electricity usage is low, it’s fair to say. For the best part of ten years I’ve been paying British Gas about £10 to £13 per month and all was well. I stupidly switched to EDF, who don’t burden themselves with competence, because I greedily wanted to claim a £50 joining fee. Anyway, they charged me £13 per month for electricity as well, so all remained well.

    To cut a long story short, they didn’t read my meter when they said they did, so I had an estimated read and a big bill. We’ll ignore why they told me they had read the meter, but there’s another long story of incompetence there.

    They’ve now produced a new bill with my actual meter read that I sent them. My electricity usage is £53.51 from March to October 2021 (thrifty eh?) including standing charge and usage. That’s not per month, that’s in total.

    That means that my annual usage is going to come in at around £120 per year, probably slightly less.

    How much have EDF decided, with this new bill taken into account, to charge me per month? They’ve gone for £133 per month, so over ten times my actual usage. I don’t know whether they think I have a huge Christmas party for the entire neighbourhood where everyone plugs in lots of devices or am planning to start a cannabis farm or something. Although on a more serious note, reckless actions like this can push people into severe financial hardship and it looks to me like a desperate dash for cash from EDF.

    Pretty unimpressed….

  • Leicester – Travelodge Leicester Central

    Leicester – Travelodge Leicester Central

    Not to be confused with the nearby, new and what I consider to be the inadequate Travelodge Leicester City Centre, this hotel is older and I think that it’s much more functional and welcoming. Some of the public areas need something of a refurbishment (particularly the carpets in the corridors), but the staff were friendly and helpful.

    The view from my room, perhaps not the most exotic and decadent. However, the window opened and there was a fan in the room, which is all that I need to control the temperature to suit my needs.

    The room, all to brand standard. Perhaps not entirely spotless, but clean enough. They’re using sheets on the bed rather than duvets, although the duvet is in a bag in the corner.

    One of the older style Travelodges which still has a bath rather than just a shower. I liked this hotel and it’s moderately well reviewed, although there are a fair few comments about the rooms needing modernisation. Some people don’t like the lack of air conditioning, but I’m not sure that that will ever be the preserve of the budget hotel, it can’t be a cheap thing to implement and maintain in every room. I didn’t encounter any noise issues internally, and I rather liked hearing the city itself when opening the windows, I don’t really like being hermetically sealed into a room. Apparently there’s sometimes a nightclub open nearby, which I can’t imagine is ideal for some guests, although it wouldn’t annoy me.

    I noted the review that said:

    “The reception didn’t let me in, and the two ladies at the reception was very rude to me. So she rang the police, and the police had arrived and I had been escorted out, and the police brought back my items from the room.”

    I’d very much like to hear the other side of that story, it sounds intriguing. Unfortunately, Travelodge have got bored of replying to reviews over the last couple of years (although before then they were generic responses which added little value anyway), so there’s not much that can be ascertained here.

    Anyway, this was a reasonably priced night and I’d stay here again, especially as it’s usually the cheaper of the two Travelodges in the city.

  • Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich

    Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich

    This was the end of my little trek around the country that has taken place over recent weeks, the Greater Anglia operated train from London Liverpool Street to Norwich. As can be seen with the poor quality of the photos that I took last Friday, I think I had rather given up with trying to document anything more than the basics here. I was surprised to get a cheap fare for this journey, as it was a commuter service, but that at least avoided me needing to wait for the 21:30 evening service which I often get, as time can really drag waiting for that when wanting to get home.

    I got myself a table seat and everything worked as expected, such as the train itself and the power points, which were the only two things that I really needed to work. The train was at seating capacity and there were some customers who were sitting on the floor near to the doors, so it’s unclear why the rail company was issuing cheap fares for this service. I am pleased that they were, but I suspect they’ll be removing that option soon enough now they can see how popular the rail service is at this time. The whole health thing over the last eighteen months has perhaps put commuters off coming into London, but that seems to be coming to an end now.

    There was not much of interest during the journey for me to comment on, everything ran to schedule and the train seemed clean and organised. I didn’t see a guard during the journey, but there are ticket barriers at every stop along the route, so in theory it would be hard to fare evade. For the price of £12.50, I thought that this was a perfectly comfortable service and that meant I arrived in Norwich at a reasonable time ready for what I consider to be an extended stay in the city over the next couple of weeks.

  • Hull – Campanile Hull

    Hull – Campanile Hull

    Back to last week, I had a one night stay at this Campanile hotel located near to the city centre in Hull. It’s part of an international chain that I think has seen better days in the UK, but they still have several locations open throughout the country.

    The hotel warned me in advance that they needed photo ID from every guest, which suggests serious issues with the guests that they’ve been getting. Although this is potentially something of an inconvenience to me, I still had my passport with me to resolve that issue without problems. The staff at the hotel were friendly and apparently are a new team, so are keen to do their best. I suspect that they’ll struggle given what they have to work with though.

    This type of keycard was introduced in the 1980s and they were apparently reasonably common at this time, usually produced by VingCard. That they survive is quite amazing and an early indication that this hotel is in need of a modernisation.

    The room was clean and well presented, although very dated with the heater and hair dryer being broken. There was just one power point and it was literally that, it required the TV to be unplugged to use it. This is far from ideal and the hotel will at some point have to entirely renovate these rooms to bring them up to some sort of modern standard. They also need to replace the external signage as some letters have fallen off, which is not the first impression that guests are going to be surprised and delighted at. Well, maybe surprised actually. It might be the case that it’s easier to demolish the entire hotel and rebuild it, as the structure doesn’t exactly look that expensively built in the first place.

    I quite liked this hotel and I didn’t have any noise issues either internally or externally. That might have been partly good luck though, as the motel type arrangement means that any late night noise would reverberate around the rooms, something which is evident from the series of negative reviews that the hotel had received about this. And onto the matter of reviews, this hotel is clearly struggling and it one of the worst rated in the city. I’m not sure that I would stay here again as I think the potential downside of noise issues is too high, but if they renovated the rooms and made the whole location a little nicer, then it might be considerably better. But, whether by chance or not, I had no issues and felt that the hotel was certainly something slightly different.

  • London – Hammersmith and Fulham (Borough of) – Holiday Inn Express Hammersmith

    London – Hammersmith and Fulham (Borough of) – Holiday Inn Express Hammersmith

    This is my second visit to this hotel (it seems I couldn’t be bothered to write up the first visit) although it’s the first now that lockdown has come to some sort of end. Located next to the Plough & Harrow pub which is operated by JD Wetherspoon, it’s about a six minute walk or so to either Hammersmith station or to Ravenscourt Park station. I got this night courtesy of IHG’s reward scheme, which has been rather generous this year.

    The room, all brand standard, clean and tidy. I’m not entirely convinced that desks that size are entirely ideal, but it suffices and there are plenty of power points around the room.

    The view from my window, a bit of a construction site, but there was no noise from it. There were more internal noise problems of doors slamming, something which wasn’t entirely ideal.

    Well, it has been known…..

    The welcome drink and the choice of beers was adequate, but I’m content with this Goose Island option. I’m not sure for what reason this drink seems to now be so commonplace in IHG and Accor hotels, but I’m not disappointed that it is.

    Some of the breakfast selection, all of which is included in the room rate.

    And the rest of it. All back to self-service, as last time I visited there were just bacon and sausage rolls which had to be taken back to the room.

    The breakfast area is large, clean and modern, being use as a bar and restaurant in the evening. Plenty of power points dotted around here as well. I was perfectly content with the bacon, which was crispy and slightly burnt (which is how I think it should always be served) and the other breakfast ingredients. They’re not hugely decadent, but it’s a free breakfast offering and there’s a limit to what’s viable here. I went down at around 07:00 and it wasn’t busy, with the signs around the hotel saying that breakfast only really gets busy after 09:00.

    I had a look at the reviews of the hotel, and they’re adequate, nothing overly positive, but nothing particularly concerning either although they’re oddly much more complimentary on TripAdvisor. It seems that they had a debacle last month, judging by a heap of negativity, with a fire alarm being set off overnight by a drunk guest. The negativity seems to relate to that the staff didn’t know what to do, which really is not an ideal situation and that would have annoyed me too. Otherwise though, I didn’t find any reviews that amused me, which was a little disappointing.

    The staff at the hotel were professional, friendly and helpful, so there was nothing wrong with the welcome. The hotel is quite reasonably priced for reward nights, so I’ll likely return here again, as well as being relatively close to central London and also not inconvenient for Heathrow as it’s near to the Piccadilly line.

  • LDWA – 26th Flower of Suffolk 2021

    LDWA – 26th Flower of Suffolk 2021

    It seems a long time since the last Flower of Suffolk event, which was a very moist affair in October 2019. This was the scene at just before 08:00 a few moments before I set the first wave of walkers off on either their 18 or 26 mile adventure around the beautiful Suffolk coast. There were just shy of 100 people taking part in the event, some unfortunately unable to attend due to the national fuel crisis, but we were pleased with how many were able to get there. Although the 2020 event had to be cancelled, three of us did do the anytime version of the challenge walk last year.

    I’ve trained Richard up at the registration desk and he’s actually getting quite good at it now. We’ll let him come back for future events. He was also able to work out how to keep the doors open, which was all far too complex for me. Richard and I also worked out a very decent system for combining bingo with checking registration numbers, something which we will perhaps repeat at future events given how efficient we were.

    The kitchen crew and volunteers, ready for a day of feeding the entrants (and the marshals).

    The kitchen, with the goulash on the go…..

    Back to the route though, for those walking or running (or something in between) the 26 mile event, they leave Walberswick and head north for a short while towards Southwold, before heading down towards the lost town of Dunwich. They then cut through Dunwich Heath and RSPB Minsmere before reaching the Eels Foot Inn which is a pub with a checkpoint, a lovely combination for the marshals there. Entrants on the 26 mile route than do a loop which cuts near to Sizewell Power Station, before walking back inland towards Walberswick. It’s a really lovely route and there’s a high chance that some of it will be included on the Norfolk & Suffolk 100 which will be held in 2025.

    That’s quite a lot of cheese. This is also the scene of where Hayley spent what seemed like several hours making custard, we must ensure that there’s an electric whisk type arrangement for the next event, although she did a marvellous job as always.

    The goulash with bread roll, which I was very willing to check in my role as official group food tester. Chelle is definitely very good at ensuring that even vegetables can taste nice.

    Just before the final entrants arrived safely back at the village hall in Walberswick, which is the event HQ, there was a little bit of rain and a rather beautiful rainbow. Unlike the situation of two years ago, there were no problems with the weather and it remained bright and warm throughout the day.

    The feedback from the event was very positive, which is always a delight. Thanks as ever to the wonderful marshals for their efforts during the day, and the very helpful Eric Rolfe is sending on some photos which will appear on national LDWA social media (and perhaps also in Strider) of some of the action on the walk itself. As I didn’t get out onto the route itself (it was non-stop at the registration desk), I didn’t get any action photos of entrants enjoying their walk during the day.