Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

  • Berwick-upon-Tweed – Pilot Inn

    Berwick-upon-Tweed – Pilot Inn

    This is from the last day of the trip to walk St. Cuthbert’s Way, it’s just taking me a little time to catch up with everything. There was just Steve, Susanna, Gordon and I left at this stage, with the situation of course being that we couldn’t go to a pub unless it was in the Good Beer Guide. I walked us to the Pilot Inn, even though it wasn’t the nearest pub to get to, but fortunately the others didn’t complain.

    CAMRA note that the interior is traditional and they’re not lying. This visit was from a couple of weeks ago when the football was on, I don’t think that the flags are normally there.

    The interior hasn’t been knocked about and it’s quirky, old-fashioned and I really like it. When customers come in they see a corridor area ahead of them, a saloon bar to the left and the former public bar to the right. It took us a while to be noticed, but I think that the staff member was in the beer garden serving customers there.

    There’s some old nautical stuff on display, all adding to the pub’s theme.

    There were three real ales available, none of which were particularly innovative, but at least there was a choice.

    I went for the Strongarm from Camerons Brewery which is apparently their “flagship beer”. I dread to think what their weaker beers are like. Anyway, it was OK and it was well-kept, but it was a little lacking in depth. Although if it’s a session beer, I suppose it’s all fine and it was well kept and at the appropriate temperature.

    There’s a no swearing policy at the pub. There’s a large beer garden that we spent some time in waiting for our collective trains and we were never rushed by the staff. As an environment, this is really very inviting and there’s a community feel to the whole arrangement. For someone new to the area, I suspect they’d get a friendly welcome here from the staff and other customers. Getting to the beer garden is slightly complex and seems to involve walking through the pub’s kitchen, but that’s the way others were going, so it wasn’t just me.

    The exterior of the pub is interesting as well, as the side wall looks like there was a property here that’s been demolished. I accept that the beers here weren’t riveting, but the building interior is interesting, the welcome is authentic, there’s a choice of real ale and I’m glad that it’s in the Good Beer Guide. Some pubs shouldn’t modernise their buildings and this is one of them, I liked the heritage feel of the interior and I’m glad it has survived in the way that it has.

  • Edinburgh – Jolly Judge

    Edinburgh – Jolly Judge

    Apologies I’m uploading these all out of order, this is from my trip to Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago (I haven’t rushed up to Edinburgh again).

    My friend Alexis mentioned how she really liked the Jolly Judge and I couldn’t remember whether or not I had visited when I last came to Edinburgh (this is why I’ve got a blog, as I can rarely remember where I went a few years ago). I remembered when I got there that I had been before, but it seemed only polite to have another little visit.

    I wasn’t convinced this strategy of telling customers to wait at the top of the steps was entirely ideal, as they can’t see customers at the top of the steps (unless there’s a camera there that I didn’t notice). I stood there looking awkward for a while before trying to stand two steps down. I then went down to the bottom of the steps and was promptly in the way of a staff member coming out. I always manage to do things like that…. There was a friendly welcome though and it’s a difficult building to manage Covid safely given its layout.

    The staff member assumed that I’d like to sit outside and he was wrong in that…… Absolutely fine to sit inside though, as did the next two sets of customers, which made me feel a little more normal (although confused the staff member who I think assumed everyone wanted to sit outside). There’s a nice vibe to this Good Beer Guide listed pub, all informal and relaxed.

    The interior of the pub and it has some character in its basement setting. During the colder months of the year there’s a real fire going which must add to the cosiness of the venue.

    This is the Milk Stout from Moonwake Beer and there seemed to be a bit of a tap takeover from this small Scottish microbrewery. The beer was fine with a pleasant flavour, but it perhaps lacked any real depth of taste or strong character. There was a creaminess to the beer and it was a quite a light beer which matched its 4.5% ABV.

    Anyway, this is a quirky little pub and it offers a friendly and authentic welcome. It’s justifiably in the Good Beer Guide as there were a few interesting beers, but there are also plenty of whisky options for those who prefer. The pub is very well reviewed with very few negatives, although I was amused with this 1/5 review:

    “We love pubs!! especially traditional ones with character. To say this pub is just down the road from the Castle I was shocked that whoever owns it hasn’t made it a landmark epic pub and I am going to Judge you. Drab magnolia walls with random pictures of nothingness. We own a bar and this could be so quirky. Why don’t you paint a Scottish flag on the ceiling.”

    Please don’t paint a Scottish flag on the ceiling, I want experiences, not tourist traps…. Although that review was from over four years ago and the pub haven’t paid any attention to it, so all appears well.

  • London – Redbridge (Borough of) – Ibis Styles London Seven Kings

    London – Redbridge (Borough of) – Ibis Styles London Seven Kings

    [NB, I wrote this post mid-stay, and it got a little worse…..]

    I was very excited to hear about the opening of this new Ibis hotel in Seven Kings, near Ilford. Ibis Styles is my favourite brand within Accor, I like the quirky, informal and innovative design approach which often has some intriguing and brave themes. It’s also located next to a railway station and some rooms have views over the new Elizabeth Line trains (not yet officially called that, but they’re running into Liverpool Street and being tested through the central zone).

    I was eyeing this up to be my new favourite hotel given that it’s this side of London, especially as I’ve stayed at Ibis Styles Kensington 15 or so times over the last year. The omens were positive that Accor could pull something off here. I e-mailed the hotel asking if I could take photos of the public areas, as other hotels have said to ask them that and they can ensure I see everything that they want to show off. This hotel didn’t reply, but since it only opened on Monday, I thought that they might be busy. Although as a side issue, hotels ignoring e-mails does irritate me, it normally shows up wider problems.

    I had good cause to be hopeful, as the Ibis Budget Whitechapel have had a sensationally good renovation and they are absolutely on it. The management there replied to e-mails nearly instantly, they’ve got a cool design theme and they use Instagram to promote their hotel. I really rather love that hotel and will have to stay there more often.

    And before I start writing about this hotel, I know that nearly no-one will care and this post will never get more than 2,000 or so accesses, but there we go….. And I am also aware that the hotel has different rooms which might have led to me writing a very different post.

    The check-in process was torturous, although the team members here are enthused, friendly and clearly trying their best. Three asked if I had been having a good day, so I assume that’s part of the training. Unfortunately, the management here have skipped the rest of the training, with the knowledgeable and personable team member at reception not knowing much about Accor’s loyalty programme. That isn’t ideal for a new hotel opening, but these things happen and I didn’t view it negatively. It did mean I had to request a drinks voucher, which the hotel don’t have yet, but after consulting with a manager, they agreed they would provide a free drink.

    I paid for the room, after some confusion about whether the hotel accepted Amex (they thought they did, but it transpired that they don’t). I then realised that I had already paid for the room in advance, leading to a quick refund being issued. Anyway, I was still quite content at this stage as the team members were really engaging and so it would be unnecessarily harsh not to expect some mistakes here. To reinforce that point, the team members were as friendly as realistically could be possible, they were really doing their best.

    Back to the design, I’m not sure what the hotel’s theme is, I think it’s just an environmental one. I still like some of the mainland Europe themes, like Romans or space, something very different.

    The view from the hotel bar and reception, they’ve got a really good location here. It’s a fast rail route into London Liverpool Street, all really convenient. There’s also free car parking available for those who want to drive in.

    The room is dreadful and entirely inadequate as far as I’m concerned. The room photos for this room type had photos of a desk, but this small room didn’t have one. This sort of room size is in Ibis Budget territory (and Ibis Budget provide a desk) and it’s only marginally bigger than the deliberately designed small rooms of Hub by Premier Inn.

    I’ve on five different hotel advisory panels (including two from Accor, although I suspect with posts like this I’ll be purged) and they come up with some brilliant and innovative ideas. Premier Inn’s Hub concept is really thought through, they’ve made great use of the space, they’ve built in a desk, air conditioning and all I could want in a very small room. Other hotels have put forward for advance feedback some intriguing room concepts. The room designers here haven’t burdened themselves with any design attempt, they’ve shoved a bed in and some clunky lumpy thing in the corner. That green wall might look fine in a larger room, but in a small room it’s made the thing feel really quite drab.

    The next problem here is that the hotel windows don’t open. I don’t like this, but it’s manageable if there’s air conditioning. The hotel is boldly advertising that every room has air conditioning, but they don’t have, they have a cheap centralised air warming and cooling system (although I suspect the hotel operating company will argue they paid a lot of money for it). The rooms are simply too hot and there’s nothing that can be done. No windows, no fans, no cooling mechanism.

    The air conditioning system they’re using seems gloriously ineffective as well at pushing any fresh air into the rooms, it’s like the old aircraft that pump the same stale air around. At least Dreamliners and the like pull in fresh air to circulate, but goodness knows what system is in place here. I’ve digressed to writing about aircraft…..

    As part of the hotel’s plan to make their rooms as dingy, sterile and miserable as possible, they’ve put in sound proofing from the outside. I accept that’s likely appreciated by nearly every guest, but I like road noise, although I can’t really fault the hotel for my strange likings. Internally, the hotel doesn’t feel well built, as sound circulates around the building and I can hear neighbouring rooms.

    Nothing says “welcome” like some smashed biscuits. Although to be fair, they didn’t have to offer this.

    Anyway, rather than complain here when it was too late, I went to tell reception that I didn’t like the room and asked if they had one with a desk. Apparently they don’t, otherwise they’d have upgraded me, only the hotel’s five suites have a desk (which is not what the photos suggest). I did offer to pay more money for a better room (although Platinum guests should be upgraded anyway for free), but they apparently couldn’t help. The team member was polite, but it was clear that this was the best room the hotel had available. The Accor web-site has substantial room availability for this hotel on-line, so I’m not sure if the hotel’s room inventory system is broken (they were having technical problems with their hotel management software).

    Back to being positive, the hotel bar is much better, the designers have put some considerable effort into having a bright and airy feel to the public areas. For customers who want it, they can enjoy a drink with a view over the station for those who like people watching, it’s nice. I have no idea what the food menu is though as it’s not published on-line or in the rooms, but they serve meals.

    The beer selection is the worst I’ve seen in an Accor hotel in recent years, limited to Corona and Budweiser. Two generic beers with sod all effort made at localising the menu or offering some local beers. I’m not expecting decadent craft beer (although some hotels do make an effort in this area), but other Ibis hotels in the city do manage to have local beers from London. Accor were meant to be promoting an element of their localisation of their food and drink, but I can see no evidence that the hotel is reaching out to the community and local producers at all here.

    I think it’s clear that I don’t like this hotel and I can’t recall any Accor I’ve ever stayed at having worse rooms. For a new-build hotel where the rooms are five days old, this doesn’t bode well for the future of the hotel industry if this is the sort of rubbish that is going to be pumped out. Travelodge rooms are simply far better and I think even by their own measure, Travelodge are seen to be at the lower end of the scale in that regard. Really this hotel is operating at Ibis Budget standards, although is still someway behind locations such as Ibis Budget Whitechapel.

    Early media reports stated that this hotel would be the first UK venture for Novum Hotels, who I’ve stayed with numerous times and have been impressed with. They don’t list the hotel on their web-site, but if this mess of a hotel is anything to do with Novum I’ll be extra disappointed [I’ve checked since writing this, and I’m delighted this has transpired to be nothing to do with Novum and I’m not surprised at that. It’s actually run by Black & White Hospitality, part of the Marco Pierre White operation]. I suspect that this hotel will score fine initially in reviews, as I’m not convinced their rooms are all as basic and so I can imagine might be quite exciting with views over the railway and some seem to be more airy. But, I can only judge what they gave me, which was worse than I’d expect in an Ibis Budget.

    A five minute drive or a twenty minute walk away is the Holiday Inn Express Newbury Park, I’d recommend anyone stay there instead. The quality of the whole experience there was in a different league to this Ibis Styles. Incidentally, I should add that the prices here were low, but seem to be increasing, so they might have had lower rates initially to build up occupancy. And I have to credit this hotel with being the first one I’ve stayed in since the pandemic started which is cleaning the rooms daily, with the hotel paying for plenty of staff to be available.

  • Edinburgh – Ibis Edinburgh Centre South Bridge Royal Mile

    Edinburgh – Ibis Edinburgh Centre South Bridge Royal Mile

    Accor have several hotels in Edinburgh, hence the rather long name to identify this from other nearby locations. It’s just a short walk from the central railway station and also from the heart of Edinburgh action. The city isn’t exactly quiet at the moment, but there certainly aren’t anywhere near the number of leisure visitors that would usually be expected.

    I haven’t seen a Platinum Accor envelope like this before and it’s a handy little concept, place for the welcome drink and for the room key. And I should add that I very much liked when I e-mailed this hotel about an early check-in that they responded quickly and with a really helpful answer. The staff member at check-in was helpful, engaging and welcoming, really all very personable. The lobby felt an inviting place to visit as well, so my first impressions were all positive.

    As another of my random asides, this leads me to start being annoyed at some of the London Accor hotels who are making no effort to do anything and in some cases aren’t even responding to e-mails. The quality of Ibis hotels in the UK is all over the place, not least because of all of the different operators. At least in Poland there is just one operator of Ibis hotels, Orbis, meaning that the quality is consistent. Anyway, I digress, but I’d mention that this hotel isn’t taking any short cuts (or none that I noticed anyway).

    This is an enhanced room the staff member mentioned and other than the generic bathroom that Ibis use, it doesn’t feel like the usual Ibis room layout. I thought that it was all very light and modern, with the designers making use of the architecture of the historic building that the hotel is located in. I’m not a big advocate for losing large desks in hotel rooms, as I find these useful, but I accept that it would have looked rather out of place in this room and I assume that the hotel usually gets a lot of leisure guests. For my needs, the table and chair that they had were entirely sufficient. The room was spotlessly clean, fully stocked and the temperature was easy to control with the air conditioning. The windows were entirely sealed for guests (although the hotel can open them), which is a slight shame as I’m one of those strange guests who likes to hear street noise and traffic in the background.

    The view was really lovely, that’s Arthur’s Seat and I very much enjoyed sitting there looking at that late in the evening (I had forgotten it gets dark in Scotland much later than down south…..) As another aside, shortly after check-in, a staff member offered a dressing gown, which isn’t something that I want, but I really can’t recall any other Ibis trying to offer me this, so I was suitably impressed.

    And full marks for actually producing this, which is information about the hotel and something that many locations seem to entirely neglect. I’m never sure how hotels expect guests to actually know what is available as it often seems to be something of a secret, but everything was clearly laid out here. It’s a different way of doing things in these Covid times, but nice to see that the hotel has actually thought about it.

    The menu for the hotel’s bar and restaurant is easy to find and is clearly displayed. The hotel is located across several floors and because of the nature of the building’s architecture that means the reception desk is on the fourth floor (although that’s also at street level) and the bar is on the third floor. My room was on the top floor, which was the ninth.

    The welcome drink and I chose Innis and Gunn as that’s a nod towards localism. OK, in an ideal world there would have been some decadent craft beer, but they did offer me any beer that I wanted and so there were no limits placed on me. I visited before going back out into the city and I was the only one in the bar, but it was still welcoming and laid-back, a nicely set-out environment. The staff here were again friendly, especially when I realised that I had forgotten my room number (it was written on the drinks voucher which I handed over, forgetting I had meant to take a note of it before doing that) and the poor guy had to open the till to remind me. I expect they’re usually used to more competent guests.

    All told, this was one of the best run Ibis hotels that I can remember staying in. Punching above its Ibis weight a little, the welcome was genuine, the rooms clean and the quality of the experience high. I’d be very pleased to come here again and I liked the farewell where the staff member seemed genuinely interested if I had enjoyed my stay. Really all very well managed and I appreciate their help with the early check-in after my arrival into the city on the sleeper train.

  • Gateshead – Holiday Inn Express Newcastle Metro Centre

    Gateshead – Holiday Inn Express Newcastle Metro Centre

    Going back a week or so, this is the hotel that I went to after completing St. Cuthbert’s Way last week. It’s a slight faff to get to from central Newcastle for walkers, it really requires a train to the MetroCentre railway station and then a ten-minute walk from there. I got this train to get there (I felt that I had done enough walking), although I walked back via Gateshead the following morning which took about an hour (or would have done if I hadn’t stopped at the pub en route). Anyway, the hotel is usually quite keenly priced, not least as it’s not very central and it’s probably more usual to drive there.

    The welcome drink of a Goose Island IPA, which is a perfectly acceptable drink to start a hotel visit with. The bar wasn’t particularly busy, but the staff member was enthusiastic and friendly, so it all felt inviting.

    The room, all clean and comfortable, with some modern touches around the room (including a slightly fancy Bodum kettle that I forgot to take a photo of).

    The breakfast is included in the price here, although this particular IHG is perhaps making more of Covid restrictions than some others in the chain. I had to pre-order my bacon roll the evening before and had to give a time that I wanted it, which seems a little excessive (it’s not a complex cooked breakfast order). Other IHGs just stack them up in a big pile, but it was ready when I asked for it, so all was well. Much of the breakfast has been removed, although the area itself is self-service.

    My breakfast of orange juices (the glasses are little), yoghurts, the bacon roll and a croissant. Nothing overly exciting, but since the room rate was cheap and this breakfast was included in it, I was entirely satisfied.

    The hotel is generally well reviewed, complaints are mostly about the road being loud (they tend to be, or at least the cars on them tend to be) and noisy guests. The hotel says that it puts families and groups in different parts of the hotel, which sounds a good idea in principle, but they might be better trying to manage noise pro-actively rather than some random room selection like that given the issues they keep having. I’m not sure why this should be a party hotel given its location, but perhaps the price is what sends some groups there.

    All told, this wasn’t the easiest hotel to get to for a walker, so I probably wouldn’t pick this one again. However, that’s hardly the hotel’s fault (I find it bizarre when people rate down a hotel as it’s not near where they wanted to go, as if that’s the hotel’s problem to solve) and I liked everything else about this place. Quiet internally and externally, with a fan that worked sufficiently well, all really rather lovely.

  • Brighton – Brewdog

    Brighton – Brewdog

    I continue on my tour of the Brewdogs of the United Kingdom and I’m making steady progress, so thought that since I was in the area it’d be wrong not to pop into the Brighton location. I was disappointed to miss the Newcastle location last week, but they were temporarily closed for Covid-19 reasons.

    I booked a table, although I’m not entirely sure that they ever found the booking. It’s quite a large location and it seemed to be booked for most of the evening, so I assume it’s making them some money given how busy Brighton is at the moment. Everything seemed clean and tidy and I spotted some tempting beers in the fridges.

    I saw the staff member looking at giving me a small table by the door, which seemed ridiculous given that the entire bar was empty, but then without my saying anything a colleague mentioned that two larger tables were available. I was pleased by this and they had power available as well for my devices. So, all was well.

    I ordered a third of the Cannon Blast, which was unexciting, although it had a clean citrus flavour that wasn’t unpleasant. It was the first drink I’ve ever had from a Brewdog bar that was under-measured. I mention this not as a complaint that I received slightly too little liquid, but that it’s only fair since Brewdog have given me several free drinks by mispours over recent weeks.

    I was eyeing up the very well rated Tuesday (2020) from Cycle Brewing Company from St. Petersburg in Florida as one of my later drinks here. But, the service just felt wrong, it’s that Pret philosophy that their shops should seem inviting. I’m sure there were external factors, but the service seemed disengaged, cold and the staff didn’t seem very engaging about beer. To be fair, I could have started an engagement given it would be hard not to like the barrel aged imperial stout that I was considering, but then I decided that I’d just leave and head back to the campsite that was so far away. I don’t normally need to be upsold to as I’ve busily already ordered it, but I needed a bit of convincing to stay here and it wasn’t forthcoming.

    This was probably one of my most pointless Brewdog visits, lasting ten minutes of my two hour booking and I never even started charging my devices. On the bright side, it cleared a table for them as they seemed to have very limited availability. They received £1.79 for my one third of a pint and I left dreaming of the service of other Brewdogs. But, I’ll keep my eye out for that Tuesday (2020) beer in other Brewdogs, that’s too good to miss.

  • London – Barking and Dagenham (Borough of) – Ibis Barking

    London – Barking and Dagenham (Borough of) – Ibis Barking

    Of no great relevance to anyone other than me, but I’ve realised that I’ve never written about the Ibis at Barking, despite having stayed there three times. Given I can be quite a completist, I feel the need to quickly note a few things about the hotel for my own record if nothing else….

    This hotel is about an eight minute walk from Barking railway station or around ten minutes from East Ham underground station, so not ideally located for those using public transport (especially if they’re carrying things), but it’s also not in the middle of nowhere. There’s also an Ibis Budget very nearby, although I’ve not yet been to that one. Perhaps because of the location of the hotel, which is more suited for cars, it’s generally one of the cheaper Accor hotels in London, which is its main appeal to me. There is a reasonable amount of car parking on site, which is of no relevance to me, but it seems reasonably priced.

    The hotel has been clean and welcoming on my three visits here, all entirely functional and comfortable. There’s a small bar and restaurant area at reception which isn’t the largest, but it seems sufficient for the number of customers who want to use it. They have a slightly annoying system that the floor numbers don’t match the room numbers, so that the second floor has room numbers beginning with 3, but fortunately I manage not to let that concern me overly. All of the rooms appear to be the same, so there’s not much to add other than the photo above, with the usual Accor prefabricated shower pod being used as usual.

    The free welcome drink I had last week, which is a perfectly acceptable Brewdog Punk IPA. The drinks selection is not earth shattering, but it’s better than most other Ibis hotels, so I can’t much complain about that. I’ve never had any difficulties with noise, either internally or externally, nor indeed any other problems of note. So, all rather lovely.

  • London – Central London – The London Stone

    London – Central London – The London Stone

    There’s not much that I can add to the collective on-line resources about this stone, but I still find it an interesting survival. It was once part of a larger stone structure that might date back as far as the Saxon period (some say the Roman period), although the written record is more substantial from the medieval period. It’s known that in 1450 Jack Cade, the leader of a revolt against the governance of the country, entered London and struck the stone with his sword, which he claimed made him the Lord Mayor of London. He was dead soon after, the process wasn’t quite as smooth as he might have hoped.

    Here is the stone in its current home, 111 Cannon Street. It was once located at Candlewick Street, which was later widened to create the current Cannon Street. It has been something of a tourist attraction since the sixteenth century (I suppose they didn’t have many other options then, places like the London Dungeon weren’t trading in the way that they are now), although it had to be moved as it was in the way of traffic. Bloody typical that they move items of historic interest to make way for traffic, but nothing much changes. From the seventeenth century, the stone was placed safely in the wall of St. Swithin’s Church, but that was damaged during the Second World War. It was though included in the replacement building to ensure its future.

    The situation became a little ridiculous more recently when the stone became included in the WH Smiths store and got stuck behind the magazine rack. The entire building was demolished in 2016 and today it’s back in a nice alcove so that the public can easily see the stone. It might not be much to look at, but it’s a remarkable survivor and there’s some considerable heritage to the whole arrangement.

    There’s an information board by the stone (clicking on the image makes it larger). I accept that individuals have to use a lot of imagination here when looking at this lump of rock, but I like that it’s there.

  • London – Brewdog Tower Hill (Scramm’s Mead)

    London – Brewdog Tower Hill (Scramm’s Mead)

    My friend Richard was on another of his decadent trips to London at the weekend, which was handy as he was dropping my tent off for my week of camping. We popped into Tower Hill Brewdog and I wasn’t going to write about this, as I’ve written before about this bar which is near to the Tower of London (I’ve taken my main photo for this post from an earlier visit as well). We were slightly surprised to get a table as it two hours before the football started, but, fortunately, the fans weren’t much interested in Brewdog until the football was about to start.

    Two things of note though. Firstly, Richard wasn’t impressed at his avocado and feta bowl (I don’t know why he ordered this, but I didn’t say anything) as it was mostly leaves with only limited sprinklings of anything else. I didn’t bother taking a photo of the meal but would have done if I had known how disappointed he was with it. He was about to tell the staff his thoughts about it, but there was no check back and the staff member who collected the mostly left plate of leaves didn’t say anything either. I was a little disappointed by this, I would have been interested in what they had to say. Probably “why didn’t you order a burger?” or something….

    Anyway, of more relevance was the very decadent Marionberry from Schramm’s Mead which Richard spent a small fortune on. I was fortunate enough to pinch a little of it, because I noticed that this is one of the best rated breweries in the world. Schramm’s Mead are located in Ferndale, Missouri and I’ve decided that I need to have a visit to their taproom at some point in the future. Untappd note that this brewery averages at 4.52 from their 111,386 ratings, a quite phenomenal score. I accept that not everyone gets excited by very high scores on Untappd, but I’m easily excited by this.

    As for the Marionberry, which is a fruit mead (or melomel), this was absurdly good. Made with Marion Blackberries it had the taste of a rich jam and it was moving towards being a red wine in my eyes. Smooth for its 14%, but packed with flavour and a very different drinking experience. Not the cheapest, but I’d absolutely order from this brewery again if I see anything of theirs in the UK. And if not, I’ll just have to wait until I go and see them in the United States. A very lovely drink indeed and full credit to Brewdog for making this available.

  • Shoreham-by-Sea – YHA Truleigh Hill (Walk to Bus)

    Just photos of my walk to get the bus to get into Brighton and Hove. I admit that the scenery in the morning is quite nice, although I’ve got to traipse back to the campsite later again which I’m already pre-annoyed about.

    If I’m being honest, I don’t feel that I offer the same inspirational commentary on walking as Dave Morgan provides. But I do more food and drink photos, so half a dozen of one, half a dozen of the other…..