Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

  • Leek – (C)oral

    Coral’s sign in Leek market place has apparently been like this for over a year. Perhaps it’s time that they got it fixed….

  • Leek – The Roebuck

    The Titanic Brewery is one of my favourite in the country with their beers having a real depth of taste and flavours. It hadn’t occurred to me that they also operated their own pubs, but it seems that they have a handful primarily based around the Staffordshire area and by chance we walked by their Leek outlet.

    That’s a very exciting selection. Well, for me at least. There were plenty of Titanic beers, but there were also some other beers sourced from around the country.

    Some of the selection of the Titanic range, with the Plum Porter being a beer that I’ll nearly always order if I see it. However, I’d never seen the Cherry Dark, so I opted for that one and it was reasonably priced. The quality of it didn’t let me down, a real taste of cherry which is far stronger than perhaps many brewers would dare offer. Served at the appropriate temperature and tasting well-kept, this was a delightful beer.

    The bar area of the pub, which also had a back room and a downstairs cellar bar which opens at weekends. The food menu looked very appealing and I was disappointed that I didn’t get the chance to try some of their food during my couple of days in Leek. There were numerous beer related dishes and the company is also proud of the Totally Leek Burger where all of the ingredients are sourced from within 100 metres of the pub.

    The service in the pub was friendly, engaging and welcoming, with a modern and on-trend feel to the operation. The pub was clean, comfortable and there was a laid-back atmosphere, with numerous events being advertised that were planned for the pub.

  • Leek – Never Drinking Again

    Nice sign…. Outside, or at least I think it was, the Beer Dock pub in Leek.

  • Leek – Fountain Inn

    Leek surprised me with just how many pubs it had, with The Fountain Inn being one of three in the town which is in the Good Beer Guide. It’s a short walk away from the centre of the town and it also has its own rooms for those wanting accommodation. Operating at a pub since 1831, The Fountain Inn is also a fortunate survivor as it was nearly demolished in the 1970s.

    The selection was excellent with eight real ales and two real ciders to choose from, with an appropriate mix between light and dark beers. I opted for the North Star Porter and it was reasonably priced at £1.50 for half a pint. It was well kept and had a dark black colour with a taste of liquorice and chocolate.

    The pub has the most complete collection of Good Beer Guides that I’ve ever seen, and also a set of Encyclopaedia Britannica books for those who want a quick browse…..

    An old sign to the right of the main bar giving information on how to bottle a Bass. The pub interior was quirky but comfortable, with a welcoming and inviting atmosphere. The service was efficient, polite and helpful which all combines to making this one of the best pubs that I’ve visited. It’s no surprise to me that it has won numerous CAMRA awards as the whole operation seemed well managed, organised and there was a community feel to the pub.

  • Megabus (Heathrow T5 to Gatwick)

    Today I’m going from Heathrow T5 to Gatwick, ready for a flight tomorrow. Usually I’d get the Underground Piccadilly line up from Heathrow and then get a train to Gatwick from Blackfriars with Thameslink all using Oyster. However, since it was early morning that would mean that the prices to do that would cost getting towards £20 and it would also take a couple of hours.

    I checked the National Express price, and that remains at a ridiculous £26 for a single journey.  Although it’s a convenient service to take, I find it unfortunate that a company price gouges like that, it’s not a great image for tourists. The price is so ridiculous that for any group of two people, it’s just as cheap to take an Uber.

    Fortunately, the wonderful Megabus have taken an interest in this route. If booked ahead this ticket can be under £10, although mine was £15 booked just before the journey. This is more expensive than going from Norwich to London with Megabus, but at least it’s a chunk cheaper than National Express and I’m sure they have some high overheads to operate to and from airports.

    The bus arrived on time, at 10.00, with a scheduled journey time of 70 minutes. It was clear from the ticket details where to wait for the bus, although the actual information at the bus stop could be clearer as it was nearly all for National Express. I was confident that I was in the right place though and there were Heathrow staff nearby to offer assistance to anyone who wanted it.

    The driver looked at the ticket on my phone seemingly confused, although he must have seen hundreds of them before. He looked at his watch, looked puzzled and so perhaps he thought it was a different time of the day to what it actually was. Who knows…. The driver didn’t exact engage like the American Megabus drivers, but that’s not unexpected.

    I got the seats at the top and there were plenty of working power outlets and there was also wi-fi available.

    I had a lovely view of the sweeping countryside. Well, the motorway.

    This photo doesn’t really show it, but there were an alarming number of chips and cracks on the bus’s windscreen. I can’t imagine that it’ll last too many more journeys. The driver seemed competent though and his driving was professional and smooth throughout.

    Anyway, the bus arrived into Gatwick early, so the journey took just 50 minutes. For the price I think this is a really decent service and hopefully it’ll take some trade away from National Express who I think are over-charging quite heavily for such a short route with such a captive market.

  • Flights – Boston Logan to Heathrow T5 (British Airways)

    My favourite aircraft is the A380 and this was the plane G-XLEG which was delivered to British Airways in 2014. It was a moderately busy flight, although my bulkhead row of ten seats had just one other person on it, although the crew moved another two onto it just before departure. This meant plenty of space for me, rather different to my American Airlines flight of the previous day. Sitting on the lower deck of the A380 it is genuinely difficult to know that this beautiful aircraft has taken off, I never tire of just how much of an engineering triumph this is.

    The initial drinks run took place around 45 minutes after take-off, with the crew member saying she was surprised how little alcohol was being requested. I was content with my orange juice, sparkling water and mini pretzels.

    There was plenty of choice on the in-flight entertainment system, although I had hoped for some episodes of Friday Night Dinner again which unfortunately weren’t there. There were though some episodes of People Just Do Nothing and This Time with Alan Partridge which I hadn’t seen before.

    The meal was served around 20 minutes later, consisting of a salad with dressing, roll, chicken casserole with mashed potatoes and vegetables, caramel dessert and then cracker with cheddar cheese. Several people declined their food tray, but I most certainly didn’t. There was also the option of pasta with cheese, which I think has been an option on nearly every BA long-haul flight that I’ve ever taken.

    The quality was fine, the chicken was tender and had a decent amount of flavour, the vegetables retained some firmness to add some texture and it was all served hot. The dessert was also above average in terms of the richness of the taste. The salad was a little dull, but the dressing helped somewhat.

    I had some problems with my screen during the flight, but the crew member was able to successfully reset it. The moving map didn’t work though even after the reset. The crew were helpful with this and everything else, they were also visible throughout the flight. I thought that the temperature in the cabin was just right, although I suspect that this meant most other people were cold. The pilots and crew members made appropriate announcements throughout the flight and they came across as friendly and professional.

    The breakfast option was a croissant with tomato cream cheese, which tasted better than it looked. Another customer, who had refused his evening meal, didn’t look thrilled and a fair few of these were returned uneaten to the crew. The presentation really does need looking at and perhaps some choice to improve the options somewhat.

    However, overall, I thought that this flight still represented superb value for money. Coming in at under £125 there is pretty much no money in this for British Airways, but I won’t complain about that. The food and drink was served efficiently, the aircraft was clean and the crew were helpful and friendly. Lots of space and British Airways is once again becoming my favourite airline.

    The landing of the A380 was though quite heavy at the end of the flight which led to a crew member saying “we’ve certainly landed, I can guess that’s the First Officer landing that”.

  • British Airways (Heathrow T5 to Boston)

    The British Airways 747-400 service from Heathrow T5 (B Gates) to Boston Logan Airport. It had 22 crew and is aircraft G-CIVE, which has been operating for the airline since 1994. The boarding was well managed, with a staff member guarding access to the desks and checking that customers boarded in the correct group.

    I did hear a few customers complaining that they weren’t allowed to board whenever they wanted, but if someone has Group 5 on their ticket and they’re calling Group 1 only, it shouldn’t come as a complete surprise to them. The person behind me was also extremely displeased at the queue of customers who needed priority boarding for whatever reason. I heard a “he doesn’t look ill” and “that one definitely isn’t ill, he must know the pilot” with lots of tuts.

    My seat was 40D, which is a bulkhead aisle seat, and there was also no-one next to me, so the whole arrangement was spacious and comfortable.

    The first drinks service, which was my only alcoholic drink of the flight (and indeed day) which was a gin and tonic. British Airways have done away with Tribute ale and instead have the slightly ridiculous products of Heineken and Tiger. Ridiculous given that BA is British and quite why it isn’t serving anything British is a mystery to me. The lady in the row behind asked for Tribute and rejected the other beer options, and quite right too.

    The other drink was a sparkling water, and a water which the crew member accidentally poured. Best to stay hydrated though.

    I think it’s fair to say that British Airways don’t serve the most beautifully presented food in World Traveller. One half of the cabin was advertising the choice as “chicken chasseur or pasta with a pesto sauce?”, the other was offering “chicken or pasta?”. I’m not sure that this really is chicken chasseur in any traditional sense, but it tasted much better than it looked. The chicken was tender, the sauce had a decent flavour and the vegetables retained just the slightest of bites.

    As for the rest, the posset actually contained lemon and was satisfactorily sharp, the cheddar cheese was excellent and the starter was tolerable. The roll was soft and the two portions of butter were, well, butter and not margarine. For the cabin, I thought that this was a perfectly good meal.

    The mid-flight ice cream.

    The second meal was basic, but this is an east coast flight, and this is better than it was for a while on British Airways when Cruz’s first cuts came in. The seeded roll had some tender chicken in as well as some tomatoes, which I wouldn’t have guessed were slow roasted. That might be over selling just a little. The chocolate bar was, well, chocolatey.

    The in-flight entertainment system, which now has the seat number handily showing on the front of the screen. Saves looking up I suppose.

    This was a highlight, a film that I had wanted to see last year. Free Solo is the incredible documentary of when the free climber Alex Honnold ascended El Capitan. He did this climb up what looks to me like a sheer rock face and it’s 3,000 feet high. He did this without any ropes, so if he made a single mistake during his 3 hour and 56 minute climb then he would have died. Brave isn’t the word for it….. On reflection, if he had made a mistake in the first few minutes, he wouldn’t have died as he wouldn’t have fallen very far. But the rest was very dangerous indeed.

    A mid-flight view.

    One important thing to note about this flight is that it cost £128 for a single trip (which includes the positioning flight from Newcastle), plus I received back around £5 back in Avios. Taking into account it cost BA £78 in air passenger duty, it cost £56 in Heathrow charges and about £26 in US airport arrival charges. They then had to cover the costs for my lounge access at Heathrow T5. It doesn’t take a Labour Shadow Home Secretary to work out that this is more than the ticket cost I paid……

    Taking into account the cost of the ticket, this flight was IMO excellent value for money. The flight arrived on time, the crew were helpful, the seat was comfortable and everything on board worked as it should. All very lovely.

  • British Airways (Newcastle to Heathrow T5)

    It’s the first time that I’ve flown from Newcastle and also, I think, the first time that I’ve taken a flight starting and ending in England. It was aircraft G-EUXL, a British Airways Airbus A321.

    The boarding process was one of the smoothest I’ve had with British Airways and the lines were clearly divided between boarding groups 1-3 and boarding groups 4-5. It was also one of those times where I managed to walk through the boarding pass scan just as boarding started, so I didn’t have to wait at all.

    I assume he was de-icing the plane……

    Reading material.

    Seat 24F, an exit row seat which has the advantage of not having a seat in front of it. So, lots of space, especially as there was no-one sitting next to me. The flight was around 75% full with, I think, four rows in Club Europe up at the front of the aircraft.

    The crew did their M&S buy on board trolley run and managed to sell very little. The flight only lasts for 45 minutes, but the service seemed efficient and well managed. The crew member was excellent, she was merrily making conversation and was personable, it’s these little things that British Airways can do really well. She said that she was then about to fly to Geneva and back, which now makes me realise that I should go back to Geneva at some point….

    Anyway, the flight arrived on time and at Heathrow T5 A Gates, making it easy to transfer to my next flight.

  • Newcastle – Metro System

    I’ve never used the Newcastle metro before and my first plan to get a train from the station next to the central railway station were foiled after I discovered it was shut for maintenance. Fortunately there was a sign saying where the nearest open station was, which was only 0.4 miles away, so it could have been worse.

    The metro, which is properly known as the Tyne and Wear Metro, was first opened in August 1980 and they’ve added on chunks since, with 60 stations now on the network. There are two lines and the one I was going to use was closed, but they had merged the services together a bit during the maintenance which meant that I could still get to the airport easily enough. The journey from the city centre to Newcastle airport took around 25 minutes, not including the 20 minute walk to get to the damn thing.

    It was more like the London Underground than I had anticipated, including a train to a similarly named station. There were staff members at the entrance to the station who were helpful and engaging.

    I was pleased to discover that it’s like the DLR in London, so it’s possible to sit at the front (or rear) and pretend to be driving. I’m too mature to be impressed by that of course, but I’m sure Dylan and Leon would like it….

    It wasn’t the busiest train. By not the busiest, I mean that I was the only passenger in the carriage. It was all very efficient and the price of the trip was included in my rail ticket, so there was some integrated ticketing going on. It looks a well-run service, if only Norwich could have something similar.

  • Newcastle – Britannia Hotel

    Since I arrived into Newcastle late at night and was leaving early in the morning, my initial intention was just to faff about at the 24-hour Greggs at the airport for a few hours. However, the airport hotel operated by Britannia was selling rooms for £22.50, value which was hard to turn down. So I didn’t.

    Britannia have a reputation for, well, not being very good. Which Magazine continually rate them as the worst hotel group and some of their hotels, such as the Liverpool Adelphi, have some of the worst ratings in their locality. But, for £22.50, it wasn’t clear how much they could get wrong.

    The room came with toiletries and tea/coffee making facilities, and was actually perfectly well presented. It didn’t have a feeling of having been deep cleaned, but it was adequate when taking into account how much they’re charging.

    The bathroom was again moderately clean, it was clear that no-one had burdened themselves by spending too long cleaning the room, but it’s hard to be too critical with the price point where it is. And the service at the check-in desk was well above average, warm, friendly and efficient. They had my booking ready even though I had only placed it around an hour before, so there were no delays.

    The internal soundproofing was though dreadful, and especially for an airport hotel, it isn’t ideal as they’re going to have guests arriving and departing at all manner of times. I only had a couple of hours sleep by want of when I was arriving and leaving the hotel, but fortunately I wasn’t woken by anyone else, but I could hear doors closing (and shaking the walls slightly) further down the corridor and from the floor above.

    For £22.50 I thought this was much better than I had expected, although I’d be cautious of booking a longer stay here. I’m not sure I’ll ever be a fan of Britannia Hotels, but if they keep putting rooms out at this price, I might yet be tempted again.