Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

Newcastle – Laing Art Gallery (Steel Tailor’s Shears)

Just as an off-shoot of my post about the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle.

One of the most intriguing exhibitions at the gallery is the “These Are Our Treasures” which has a variety of items which are very meaningful to local people. The exhibition has been put together with the help of artist Ruth Ewan and it’s there until 11 February 2023. I have a great deal of time for items which are unexceptional in themselves, but which have a story behind them.

The display label for this exhibit reads:

“Steel Tailor’s Shears. My father bought them from Bowman the Tailor on Newgate Street in Morpeth. He bought them to use in his shop, he was a draper. When I was 10 (I am now 83) I used to stop to see the tailor through his shop window. He would be sitting cross legged on his shop counter working by Tilley lamp (paraffin lamp) sewing suits.

I still use them today and feel they connect me to my family history, place of business and home town. They were used by me after my father died when I took over his business. The shears stayed on Newgate Street right up until 1999, my wife, son, daughter and staff used them until I retired and the shop closed. They have never been sharpened since Mr Bowman used them to cut fabric to make his tailored suits. So it is surprising how sharp they still are! Charles, Morpeth.”

August 29, 2022
Thursday – Brewdog, Head of Steam II and the Newcastle Tap (Part 3)

Continuing on from my little meander which had started at Head of Steam Quayside.

When I visited Newcastle last year, the Brewdog was closed, which meant I never got to tick it off my list.

I was pleased to see the selection from Funky Fluid, one of my favourite breweries, it was just like being back in Poland for a brief moment. Well, perhaps I exaggerate there, but it’s nice to see Funky Fluid beers in the UK. The service in the pub was friendly, engaging and personable, with the team member nonplussed by Brewdog Plus. I’ve used that word deliberately as I’m moderately amused (I need to get out more) that the word ‘nonplussed’ is used to describe complete opposites (ie, a contronym), it’s original proper meaning is to be perplexed. But, mostly it seems used today, and indeed how I’m using it here, to mean the reverse, as the team member knew exactly how to process it. He mentioned he couldn’t serve the Funky Fluid beers yet as they weren’t officially on, which I assume means that they weren’t on the till, but he gave me tasters of two of them. That included the Triple Gelato Peanut Butter and Jelly, one of the finest beers out there, which I had in Krakow a few weeks ago.

The very acceptable Made for Us from Alpha Delta Brewing, a local brewery.

The bar had a laid-back atmosphere, although I had expected it to be a little busier in the evening. It’s very well reviewed on-line, although I was moderately humoured by this review:

“My friend, wearing a yellow suit was refused entry as they do not allow fancy dress. When told that this was his normal attire the BrewDog employee rudely replied ‘I very much doubt that’.”

It was then a quick visit to Greggs to pick up my free sausage roll as part of the O2 offer. This branch opened until 04:00, showing just what a modern and dynamic city Newcastle is. Norwich doesn’t have any late-night Greggs and it’s that sort of cosmopolitan and on-trend approach that we need here….

The Quayside Head of Steam I had visited earlier in the evening had opened in 2016, but this Head of Steam outlet in the city centre is much older and was opened in 1996 (and I think was their first). This bar set-up is a little unfortunate, the pub hadn’t updated its beers on Untappd, there was no blackboard and two customers were sitting in front of the pumps. The only thing I could do was to take a photo of the pumps and get the barman to read them out individually, a situation that wasn’t really ideal in a venue that was otherwise empty. The service was welcoming, although I was puzzled once again why this venue was so quiet for a Thursday evening.

I went for the Cloudy Lemonade from the nearly always reliable Vault City and the Papaya Don’t Preach from Brew York. Both beers were suitably refreshing, but the lemon curd taste from the Vault City was really rather lovely. The bar has now updated its Untappd list of beers and they have some excellent options, but as I couldn’t see at the time what else they had, I just left. My own radical opinion here, not that anyone will care, is that if they can’t keep Untappd up to date, then either list beers on a blackboard or take those chairs away from the bar.

Some of my professional photography skills, let’s call this artistic rather than on the slant. It’s a slightly odd design as well, the toilets are on the ground floor, but the bar itself is on the first floor.

The outside of Head of Steam and next door was the Newcastle Tap (the craft beers and pizza is visible at least) and unlike their neighbour, they had an up-to-date Untappd list and the beers were also clearly listed above the bar.

A fancy interior, I liked the barrel arrangement upstairs, that looked rather decadent I thought. They were serving pizzas as well, and although I had already eaten, they did look tempting, with 12 and 18 inch options. I managed to resist though, which I thought was quite impressive of me. This was another bar with a relaxed vibe and it felt suitably on-trend, with a mixture of cask and keg like the other pubs, but perhaps the widest range of cask options I had seen all evening, including at the Wetherspoons that I didn’t stay long in.

The bar is operated by Pivovar, who also run the Tapped Leeds amongst some others such as Pivni, Sheffield Tap and York Tap. I went for the John Barleycorn from Northern Alchemy, which was a little bland although it was well-kept.

The second beer I went for was the Honeycomb Pale Ale from Seven Bro7hers Brewery, lots of honeycomb here and a very nice drink to end the evening on. They make a chocolate honeycomb stout as well which I’ll look out for, that sounds like a liquid Crunchie bar to me and needs investigation.

Back to the hotel down these steps, I was quite pleased to see that there were numerous others walking up and down as otherwise it would have felt quite eerie.

Back under the High Level Bridge, which had been constructed between 1847 and 1849, designed by Robert Stephenson. It’s not the most subtle of structures, but it is an engineering marvel for the period and it’s Grade I listed. The top deck still carries trains over the Tyne, whilst the bottom deck carries cars (although recently it has been limited to taxis and buses) and pedestrians.

And a healthy evening snack in the Travelodge.

August 26, 2022
Thursday – Crossing London on a Rail Strike and Flying to Newcastle with BA (Part 1)

Starting Thursday having stayed at the YHA at Lee Valley, I was fully rested and ready for the excitement of crossing London during a rail strike. Although I’ve trailed that bit with the title of this post really.

Much of Britain has been a bit short of water recently and this is the River Lea looking the driest that I’ve seen it. Incidentally, it can be spelled either Lea or Lee, or as Wikipedia notes “the spelling Lea predominates west (upstream) of Hertford, but both spellings (Lea and Lee) are used from Hertford to the River Thames”.

The railway tracks for the Greater Anglia services are on the left, but they weren’t running at all from Cheshunt, although there were some trains shuttling up and down the line. The Overground was operating, although it wasn’t going to be the next day, but only from 08:00 which is later than usual. I wanted to get across London as quickly as possible for my 13:20 flight, so I caught the 08:02 service. I’m not entirely sure why the Overground was operating later than usual, but I assume it was because there were difficulties in getting drivers in on time.

The service was busy when I got off at Seven Sisters, but I think that was just a lot of people switching to the underground network who would have otherwise got the train into central London. It wasn’t busy for much of my journey, but I can imagine it was nigh on intolerable for many.

This is how I spent much of my journey, in the peace and quiet of the underground. I arrived at Heathrow T5 at around 09:40, which was as fast as I could have expected even on a day without strikes, so I was more than pleased with TFL.

I don’t often fly on domestic flights for environmental reasons (and my flights will be decreasing sharply next year anyway), but I have to note, it is much cheaper and convenient than using rail. However, I didn’t have many options when I needed to be in Newcastle and the trains weren’t running. A single fare cost £30 on BA, which I thought was very reasonable and compared to the railways, it’s just far better in terms of comfort, speed, efficiency and cost.

They’ve changed the security queueing system around a bit and I was stopped from going to the premium security bit by a staff member who said that there was no access via the way I wanted to go. I asked how I could get to the premium security line and she pointed me the way that I had been going. I suspect my dishevelled look must have slightly disorientated her. The staff were all friendly, but there was a woman complaining that her liquids were being seized. Again and again this happens, surely people must realise they can’t sneak stuff through, although I’m always impressed how surprised people pretend to look.

I had time to visit the BA Galleries South lounge and the breakfast spread here has improved no end recently. I’m not saying this is world class, but it’s more than sufficient and everything has reverted to being self-service once again. I’m pleased that they’ve stopped insisting on putting the bacon and sausages into rolls, it’s now served separately.

How decadent.

There’s now a market table as they’re calling it, with salad items and the like, as well as rolls.

And it’s the first time that I’ve seen nachos in a BA lounge as well.

Some of the hot options, which includes pies, chicken curry, vegan curry, chilli and the like. I was very pleased that the gravy was self-pour. They took the breakfast options away just before 11:00 and brought the hot food out just after 11:15, which I think is earlier than it used to be.

I was pleased to see the gravy was self-serve because that meant I could drown my pies in it, just as I like them. I’m easily pleased I accept. They’ve changed to pea and ham pies this month, and the quality is very acceptable indeed. I could have had quite a few of these. I know that as I did have quite a few of them.

There seem to be a lot of screens down around Heathrow at the moment, although the number of staff seems to have increased.

Boarding was a mess and it took them nearly 40 minutes from announcing the gate was open to letting people through. It’s easy to be critical, but they could have explained what was happening as I could see the annoyance on the faces of some people. And, if I couldn’t, the man next to me shouted down his phone to someone “it’s blasted carnage here”. I’ve changed the “blasted” word to be less rude, but readers (if it’s plural) of this blog can guess the word he used. I privately thought that the word “carnage” was a bit strong for a queue of this length, but sometimes people like to recount their stories of drama.

It transpired, as the pilot mentioned it on board, that the computer system had gone down and the gate staff were trying to fix it. They probably could have just said that whilst we were waiting, but they did look short-staffed and perhaps they were just focused on getting people through quickly. Boarding by group fell apart, although the queue I was in moved quickly and so I boarded relatively early. It was all fine, but it isn’t helped that there aren’t enough seats in this part of the terminal, so it’s not entirely comfortable waiting.

I can’t recall many air bridges that are so long, the terminal building is visible at the rear of the photo.

The flight was impeccable as ever and I had plenty of space and no-one seated next to me. The snack was the same crisps and water as with every other flight, but I’m content with that. Helpful and personable crew, but that’s fairly standard in my experience of British Airways.

Safely in Newcastle in under an hour from taking off. We had taken off 44 minutes late and arrived 38 minutes late, but I wasn’t in any hurry, so all was well. The boarding had been a bit odd as people were trickling on the aircraft for over half an hour, but on a day of a national rail strike, I was just glad to have arrived safely.

The aircraft is G-NEOR which as the registration suggests is an Airbus A321 NEO which BA have had since new in 2018. Of no interest to anyone else, but just for my own interest, I haven’t been on this aircraft before. The weather was colder than I’ve experienced in Norfolk over recent weeks, which to be honest was just a relief.

And I’ll leave this post here, starting off again soon enough with getting on the Newcastle Metro into the city and then checking that the pubs were all still open.

August 22, 2022
Wednesday – Sagardi Restaurant, Mikkeller, the Dundee Arms and Lee Valley YHA (Part 2)

Continuing on from part one.

I arrived at Sagardi restaurant in Shoreditch just a little damp from the rain, even though it’s only a four minute walk from Goose Island. I had £50 to spend thanks to The Fork, otherwise I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t have thought to come here and it’s a bit out of my price range anyway. The welcome was immediate and I was offered a choice of seats, but I thought it best to dry off at the rear of the venue and I’m sure they were pleased with that. They didn’t want upmarket and decadent customers entering to see damp patrons sitting near to the door.

Starting with still water and a pint of Txapeldun from Whym, which I didn’t even attempt to pronounce. It was a perfectly acceptable Spanish pale ale which was well kept, although it’s fair to say that this really is a restaurant which focuses on wine. The beer wasn’t much more than the water and it cost £6.50, which was perhaps the only element that seemed even vaguely keenly priced.

My rather blurry photo of the restaurant’s interior. Not ideal, but it’ll have to do. Handily, they sat me next to a power outlet which was useful in charging my phone back up which I had managed to discharge by spending about an hour staring at it. The interior design is functional and not too over to the top, but there has been some effort made with some decorative features around the place such as the coat hangers in the shape of horses’ heads.

And the wine collection. I’d have rather it was an extensive craft beer collection, but there we go. I accept what they had was in keeping with the theme of the restaurant.

An anchovy and olive concoction that was brought over as some sort of amuse bouche. This was delicious, strong and clean flavours.

I raved on about tomato bread when I went to Barcelona (indeed, I think Bev got fed up with me raving on about it) and I think I ate about six loaves of it at one restaurant. The version here was less interesting, there was no depth of flavour, the bread was too thick for my liking and it didn’t take me back to Barcelona in any shape or form.

The pan-fried codfish in the style of Zapiain cider house, although of what relevance that last bit is I have no idea as there was no taste to the sauce. I probably should have gone for something more exotic off the menu (I had been tempted by the octopus, but it’s served in so many different ways I’m never sure how it’ll turn up), but the cod had an odd texture which only just seemed cooked. There was some texture from the garlic, but no flavours of note and it all felt rather basic and uninspiring. Not that I had paid for it, but if I had, I would have been disappointed given that this dish was priced at £22.

Just on the presentation, it’s neat, but it’s quite minimal on the middle of that plate. I accept that the Spanish style might be to serve a variety of items on different plates, but nonetheless, it does look a bit barren there. A few vegetable elements, and I don’t write that lightly, would have enhanced this a little.

The side of Sagardi style potato wedges, which meant that I had effectively ordered fish and chips, was rather more generous in the portion size. They were cooked fine, although heavily salted, and this was really the pinnacle of the meal for me, which probably isn’t much of an advertisement for the restaurant. It mentions on the menu that it’s “grandma’s home cooking”, but I’m wondering exactly whose grandmother they’re referring to.

There’s a butcher’s shop inside the restaurant, as part of the theme, but there were people standing in front of it and so I thought better of taking a photo, but it’s visible here through the glass windows. Overall, I left feeling uninspired and I could see why it was nearly empty inside, and they’re perhaps reliant on link-ups from companies such as The Fork. The service was polite, but the food was mediocre at best, although judging from the reviews, perhaps I didn’t order the right menu items to get the best experience.

TFL has a two-tier pricing system which has ridiculous differences between on-peak and off-peak fares. Off-peak is between 09:30 and 16:00 and from 19:00, which means that it’s cheaper to sit in a pub and get a drink whilst waiting for 19:00. So, that’s what I did, popping to Mikkeller at Hackney Road.

Twenty different beers, with the usual decent range of different beer styles and they had one from Adroit Theory which looked interesting.

I don’t like the third glasses that Mikkeller use, they’re too prone to spilling, but the triple IPA brewed by them, Luxury Fries, was decadent and delicious. As an aside, I’m pleased that I know what they mean by being dry hopped now (effectively adding them later on in the brewing process), it gives me confidence than in fifteen years or so I’ll have a decent understanding of brewing. The bar isn’t the largest and it got reasonably busy, but I had a seat by the window looking out over to the church opposite.

I didn’t go in the Royal Oak on Columbia Road, but I liked the external architecture of the pub, with some of the interior fittings surviving as well.

A quick visit to the Dundee Arms to wait the final thirty minutes before the cheaper fares. The pub has been trading since the later part of the eighteenth century, so that’s some heritage tied up in the property.

There’s a slightly divergent mixture of historic building, modern on-trend elements and darkness, although I still quite liked the whole arrangement. Service was friendly and immediate, the surroundings clean and comfortable. It feels something of a locals’ pub, although I mean that in the positive sense and not as a hint that I thought a riot might break out at some point.

I have no idea about the artworks in the background, but the beer was better than I had anticipated, the Sicilian Harvest from the Five Points Brewing Company who are just down the road in Hackney. I’ve somehow not been to their taproom yet, but it looks appealing.

Now able to tap in at the reduced rate, I was safely at Cambridge Heath station, first opened back in May 1872 and now part of the London Overground.

At the back is a Greater Anglia train flying through, but I don’t think that the mainline trains stop here anymore.

And I was heading to the end of the Overground line, at Cheshunt, which is where this photo was taken whilst I was waiting to cross over. The railway station here dates to 1846, but more interestingly perhaps is that nearby is where the Cheshunt Railway opened in 1825, known as the first monorail to open anywhere in the world. There’s a little bit more about this at https://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/topics/transport/railways/cheshunt_railway_1825, but this makes Cheshunt one of the more important locations in the world in terms of the development of the railway in the early nineteenth century.

I was heading here, to the YHA London Lee Valley which I’ve stayed at before. I choose to come here as although it’s miles from London, it was by far the cheapest accommodation option that I could find. It takes just over thirty minutes from London Liverpool Street making it more accessible than its geographical location might suggest. Friendly staff as ever and they have a range of food and drink to buy at reception, although it’s more expensive than at some pubs which I’ve always thought is slightly odd. I think they’re more thinking of a captive market than the price point of the people staying there.

This YHA works on the lodges concept.

There’s a communal kitchen in each lodge, although I had already eaten an adequate (at best) meal and so didn’t need to use anything here.

And the private en-suite room for £40, which is very good value for London at the moment, as even the cheapest Travelodge room was twice that. Indeed, it would have been the same price for an extra person, if they want to climb up to the top of the bunk bed arrangement.

It’s not going to win any design awards, but it was clean and comfortable.

And, thanks to this, lovely and cool.

There was some external noise from over-excited youngsters (which I define as anyone under 30), but it had stopped by midnight and so I wasn’t too bothered, bearing in mind it is a YHA. Although, to be honest, the average age at a lot of YHAs is older than I am, which is marginally over 32. It all meant that after several weeks in Norwich, I was at least staying somewhere different.

August 21, 2022
Wednesday – Greater Anglia Trip to London, Brewdog, Goose Island and Rain (Part 1)

I’m not going to be travelling as much next year, so make the most of this riveting content whilst you still can. Because next year, it’ll be limited to the Vulgar Dictionary, graves from the Rosary Cemetery and photos of chips from the market. For now, this is Norwich railway station in all its glory. They still haven’t found a replacement for West Cornwall Pasty which is unfortunate, nor has the M&S ever re-opened from its “temporary closure” in March 2020.

I always get everywhere early, on this occasion so early that the train hasn’t arrived yet at platform 2. The eagle eyed would have noted that if I had decided to depart from another platform, I could have gone to visit Cromer Carnival. I’ve also never noticed that some London trains have eight carriages and others have twelve carriages, but I can’t imagine that sort of information will excite or delight many people.

Wooo, it’s not the Stansted Express train, it actually has tables. The service was relatively busy, but there were always seats available during the journey. Not that I’m one for complaining, but these new Stadler trains do make for a bumpy journey, but I’ve noted that before when the man in the on board cafe was struggling to even pour a coffee.

London Liverpool Street was busier than when I arrived at 4am two weeks ago. I think I prefer it quieter. Note the new Greggs is open, and there’s another one just opened opposite the entrance to the station, they must be quite an opening drive. I can only imagine that it will be Pret who lose out here.

Then a quick visit to Brewdog Shoreditch to take advantage of my new Brewdog Plus subscription, more on which in another post. Like the Norwich outlet, they struggled a bit with the QR code, but it all worked out in the end. The beer is the last of the Donut Series that I hadn’t tried, this is the peanut butter cup with salted caramel glaze. The flavours were pleasant enough, but it was a bit thin and it needed a bit more salted caramel taste for my own personal preference.

It would be wrong to be in the Shoreditch area and not pop into Goose Island. As usual, everything was in order, and although Daniel the manager was there, this bar seems to run efficiently all the time. I mention that as it can’t be easy to run a venue in this part of the city with an often fraught atmosphere outside, but with calm inside. Nicely done as ever. This is the Cold IPA (I had to Google what that beer style was, apparently it’s an IPA fermented at lower temperatures) and it was rather decadent, quite a touch of grapefruit flavour in there. I expect Nathan would have known that without looking it up, he knows a lot of irrelevant stuff.

I’ve complained that it’s too hot for weeks, and then at the very moment I need to go to the nearby restaurant, it pours down in Biblical terms.

Well, how lovely. I can’t really complain, I’m happy with rain as it makes things much cooler.

I’m standing under a railway bridge here trying to wait out the rain, whilst admiring the street art.

On the Zeppelin walk that Des led a few weeks ago, he mentioned that this area had Shakespeare connections, something that I hadn’t been aware of before. And, since late 2019, there’s been a statue of him (Shakespeare I mean, not Des, although I’m sure his time will come), marking the nearby Curtain Theatre.

And for anyone interested, here’s a bit more about the uncovering of the Curtain Theatre. The theatre had opened in 1577, remaining in use until at least 1624 and one of the discoveries was that it rectangular shaped and not round. The stage was 14 metres long and despite it clearly being well attended, it’s not entirely cleared why it closed. I’m impressed that so many bits of it survived, including remnants of ceramic boxes where admission fees were placed before being taken to the office to be opened, a forerunner of the phrase ‘box office’.

Anyway, with that I meandered across, whilst quite soggy, to Sagardi, but more of that in the next instalment.

August 20, 2022
Norwich – Namaste Village

I was pleased to be in Norwich for the Hike Norfolk monthly meal, where twelve of us went to the Rose before coming to the vegetarian Namaste Village restaurant. We had gone for a monthly meal here before and the standards were high, and it’s good to visit a location where there is plenty of choice for vegetarians (indeed, on this case, the entire menu).

It’s a large venue in a glorious setting, the former Methodist Church Hall which was constructed in 1887. Given that it was a Saturday night, I was surprised just how quiet it was, there wouldn’t have been a need to book in advance.

The poppadom dips were average and lacking in any particular taste, and the portion size provided for four people was insufficient. It seemed an odd thing to scrimp and save on, particularly when contrasting it with the hugely impressive Lowestoft Tandoori where I visited last week.

They had though made an effort to get some local beer in, the King Wazoo from Redwell Brewing (where Namaste also do the catering from time to time). That’s Gordon visible at the rear of the photo, I suspect being quite demanding. As for the menu, I must admit I’m not entirely keen on vegetarian restaurants having dishes such as “lamb rogan josh” or “prawn koliwada”, as there will be some diners who just drop in randomly without realising it’s a vegetarian restaurant, and for who those have English as a second language, there’s a possibility of being misled. Indeed, some of the restaurant’s reviews complain about the quality of the meat, so I assume they’ve not realised what they’ve ordered.

The vegetable labbabdar, which was nicely presented and the peshwari naan was slightly crispy, which is as I prefer it. One element I liked is that they don’t fiddle with the spice levels between dishes, if someone orders a meal that is meant to be served spicy, that’s what it will be. Having written that, there wasn’t much spice in the labbabdar, although it was marked with medium heat on the menu’s symbol guide. There was a depth of taste to it though, with the vegetables in the curry retaining some bite.

It was all convivial in terms of the atmosphere, with the staff at the restaurant being cheerful and pro-active, although the prices were pushing towards the more expensive end of the scale. The quality seemed reasonable, but unexceptional, but for those who are looking for vegetarian or vegan Indian food in Norwich, it’s one of the better options available at the moment. I’m puzzled why the restaurant wasn’t busier, but it’s an odd time for hospitality venues at the moment, a few landlords in Norwich have mentioned that the pub trade is all over the place, often quiet when it should be busy and vice versa. Anyway, it was all a lovely evening, with the staff never rushing us, with the reviews online generally very favourable, so they’re getting a lot right.

August 7, 2022
Lowestoft – Lowestoft Tandoori

Excuse the only occasional blog posting at the moment, I’m not doing anything of even slight note in the main, but travels will continue later this month.

As I’m around for a couple of weeks, Richard had a brilliant idea of suggesting going to the Lowestoft Tandoori. He had visited before and enjoyed it, and since it’s my favourite cuisine, it seemed worth a visit. Richard feared that it might not match expectations on his return, that’s always the danger of returning somewhere and it not quite matching up to previous experiences. However, it was well reviewed on-line and I was optimistic.

The welcome was immediate and felt authentic, with Richard’s idea of booking a table being most sensible since it was otherwise full. The relatively small space of the restaurant did surprise me slightly, but they’ve carved it up neatly so that no table intrudes into the privacy of another. We were offered poppadoms and I immediately said yes, forgetting whether to check with Richard, but he rarely needs much convincing on matters such as this.

This is the finest array of dips, condiments, sauces, or whatever you want to call them, that I’ve seen in an Indian restaurant. I’ve had something of an obsession with Indian food since going there many years ago, with my aim of visiting an Indian restaurant in every country only losing its pace since I keep going back to the same countries. I understand that the British version of Indian cuisine is inevitably different, but there was a passion here on detail and that was evident whether measured by the variety of condiments or by the quality of them.

And there was no shortage of cucumber and onion salad, and when we finished that one, they brought over another bowl. It could have done with some tomato in it, but that’s about as critical as I’m going to get with this post. I think we might have got a little swept along with the excitement of poppadoms, which is something that I think is a thing, and we (well, I, again without consultation with Richard) ordered more.

Indian restaurants should have mango lassi, this is a key element that I want to see. I feared they didn’t serve them here, but not only did they serve them, that presentation is on a level I’d expect from a fine dining restaurant. Even Th@li, a rather decadent central London Indian restaurant which is well reviewed other on Google for reasons unknown, wasn’t operating to these high standards. The taste matched the presentation, this was nicely done and the first time I’ve had a little umbrella on my mango lassi.

One of the interesting quirks of this restaurant is that they give quite a lot of stuff away free of charge, indeed, on such a regular basis that the owners must carefully price it into the rest of the meal. I say carefully, but the prices here are by no means expensive, indeed, I thought they were very reasonable. We each ordered a curry, a naan bread and a rice, but yet they came and gave us, without charge, a lamb & beef dish, a side of onion bhajis and a side of Bombay potatoes. Let’s just say that Richard took a doggy bag home with him, there was too much food for us to eat. But, I very much liked the concept of ensuring we had more than enough. It’s a concept incidentally that the Five Guys chain sort of have, they deliberately try and over-supply food to make it seem like extra value, although even they don’t give away quite so much.

It was rather difficult to photograph everything as they kept bringing more things, it was like a birthday with more presents appearing.

The peshwari naans arrived last, and I fear that we probably should have got one between us. But, back to the food, I had gone for the South Indian Garlic Naga Chilli Chicken, which wasn’t quite as spicy hot as I had expected, but it had a depth of flavour to it from the garlic, green chilli and peppers. The portion size was generous, although that is a slightly moot point given the number of sides that they brought over. The lemon rice was suitably lemony and the service remained attentive, polite and efficient. The onion bhajis were excellent, crispy on the exterior with a rich taste on the interior, and a generous side salad to go with it. I will confess to eating a chunk of that side salad, despite Richard promising to keep that a secret.

The first dessert which was brought along free of charge. Despite the restaurant being small, there were no noise issues, with the atmosphere feeling vibrant but not loud. Richard created quite a mess on the tablecloth, but like the professionals that they were, the staff didn’t say anything.

And the second free dessert….. There were also complimentary chocolates with the bill, just in case we hadn’t had enough. It’s such a clever concept, as those desserts likely don’t cost much, but it’s such a kind gesture that it is a final positive element to the entire visit. I wasn’t surprised that two staff members said goodbye as we were leaving, they were pro-active and efficient throughout the meal.

The reviews for this restaurant are some of the best that I’ve seen, it’s top on TripAdvisor for the local area and it’s sitting on 4.8 on Google Reviews. Given that they do deliveries and takeaways, which often get lower scores, it’s difficult to imagine any restaurant getting a higher rating. And they’ve sustained these positive reviews for years, so it’s no wonder that advance reservations are recommended. They have picked up a few reviews that they placed down items and demanded payment for them at the end of the meal, but I suspect those customers were mistaken, they just hadn’t realised how generous the restaurant was being.

I am keen though to ensure that standards are maintained, so I intend to go again, and I’ve already started hassling my friend Nathan to go there in a few weeks. Then I’ll start on other friends, as I feel I might be popping back here on a regular basis. I can think of few other restaurants where the quality of service is so professional, so all really rather lovely.

August 7, 2022
Norwich – Poor Pedestrian/Cycling Planning from Council on Prince of Wales Road

Just as one of my random complaints….. I’ve noticed two near collisions between pedestrians and cars here in recent weeks. The proposals for this piece of work were sent out for consultation in 2018, and Norwich Cycling Campaign noted in their official reply that:

“The footways are busy and there should be an unambiguous differentiation between the footway and the cycle track.”

This seems like a comment that shouldn’t even need to be made, but the council merrily ignored it, as least in part. Clicking on the photo above makes it larger, and it shows that they’ve added a cycle lane on the junction between Rose Lane and Prince of Wales Road. This is very sensible, but I rarely see any cyclists use it, and what appears to be about 90% of pedestrians crossing in this area here use it. That’s not ideal, the pedestrian crossing is off to the left of the photo. Because pedestrians think this is a crossing for them, they’re reliant on a cyclist showing caution and not ploughing straight into them.

There’s a three-way problem here, namely that it’s an unsafe place for pedestrians to cross because it’s a road where cars often speed, it’s increasing the likelihood of a collision between a cyclist and a pedestrian, whilst also putting off cyclists for using a track which was built for them. The cost of this project, which also involved the council putting a cycle track which ran into a tree (which the council initially said was fine), cost £2.6 million. I imagine they’ll have to rip it all up again within a few years…..

Anyway, complaint over and I hope that there are no serious accidents here (or indeed any accidents at all), as the council must be more than aware of the limitations of their little project.

August 7, 2022
Thursday – Metro into Newcastle, Craft Beer and Peace at the Travelodge

Continuing on from the earlier riveting blog post, I was safely at Newcastle airport and ready to get to the city centre using the Metro system. I’ve used it before on a few occasions, but I’d entirely forgotten nearly everything about it. But, that’s the advantage in having a blog, the memories can all come flooding back.

Fortunately, there were plenty of signs saying which ticket to buy as well as numerous machines which were easy to operate. It’s formally known as the Tyne and Wear Metro, although often commonly referred to as the Newcastle Metro. The network isn’t as popular as it once was and it feels a little tired, it’s not really a surprise that passenger numbers are lower than they were in the 1980s when the Metro opened.

I like using different public transport systems and this one seemed to run regularly, although the signage wasn’t always particularly clear on platforms. The prices are also expensive, but yet the penalty fare for not having a ticket is set at just £20. They’ve already increased fares by 10% at the beginning of 2022, so they’re going to struggle to raise them again, or at least, they’ll price even more people off the network. However, they get some lovely shiny new trains next year, so that might boost ridership. It’s notable though that the £3.90 to get to the city centre is more than to get from Heathrow to central London, which is £3.50.

It’s quite a complex network, but the airport service goes directly to the city centre and there’s no need to change.

It was all clean and comfortable, although I didn’t see any staff on platforms or walking through the trains.

After having arrived safely into Central Station, the next task was to check-in at the hotel, which was a very reasonably priced Travelodge on the Quayside. I had forgotten just how many steps I had to go down to get to the hotel, which was a reminder of how many I’d have to go back up later on.

The standard Travelodge set-up, this was once seemed to have been modernised relatively recently and it had air conditioning which sort of worked. It was nice and bright, with everything working as it should.

The windows didn’t open, but I was pleased at the views over the River Tyne.

As the hotel was next to the Quayside pub, operated by JD Wetherspoon, I popped in there on my way by. It’s not the first time that I’ve been here, I remember going here with Liam a few years ago. The pub seemed organised and clean, but the real ale selection was the weakest I’ve seen in any Wetherspoon pub, just some generic options from the generic Greene King. It’s a quite a well reviewed Wetherspoon though (well, relatively), although I’m puzzled by the recent review:

“Can’t believe I’ve just been turned away from the Quayside for wearing shorts on a hot bank holiday weekend”

I can’t imagine how bad they must have been for a Wetherspoons to turn someone away, I’m quite intrigued.

There didn’t seem much point in staying at the Wetherspoon pub if there was nothing interesting in terms of beer, but I was more excited about the next venue, the Head of Steam Quayside which was just a short walk away along the Tyne.

Views over the Tyne to the Sage Gateshead, and a BAM hoarding for those with good eyesight (or just strong observational skills).

The beer list at the Head of Steam Quayside, which is one of two venues that they have in Newcastle and I hadn’t previously been to either of them. The pub’s Untappd list was out of date when I visited, but it has been updated since. There’s a decent selection of cask and keg, with a range of different beer styles.

A quirky interior, I liked it. All very laid-back and comfortable, this is a pub that I’d visit regularly if I lived a bit nearer to it. It’s not actually as well reviewed on Google as the Wetherspoons that I walked into and then out of again, which seems odd. It mostly seems to be reviews about the food and service times, customers seem much happier about the beer.

I thought that this was creative (the light, not the arrangement of safety devices at the back).

The barman complimented me on my strategy of ordering three one thirds, so I decided that I liked him and that he had excellent judgement. He was conversational and engaging, indeed there was an inviting atmosphere to the whole arrangement. I had the Jellyfish Nebula pale ale and the Spree & Easy IPA from Tooth & Claw Brewing, although the little star of this show was the Maris the Dank Engine 2 from S43, an 8.1% Double IPA.

There’s an outside seating area as well for those who like sitting in the street, although it’s not really my thing.

As there are quite a few more pubs for me to still write about from my evening’s meander around Newcastle, I’ll break that into a separate post. I would claim that it’s to increase anticipation, but it’s realistically just so I can make progress in a slow and steady manner in actually posting things.

August 5, 2022
Saturday : 2022 LDWA Summer Poppyline Walk

Eric Rolfe ensured that there will be plenty of photos of the Summer Poppyline event for Strider and elsewhere in due course, so this post is more about the organisation of the Summer Poppyline challenge event. It’s organised by Norfolk and Suffolk LDWA and it takes place most years, taking in a smaller part of the Winter Poppyline 50 mile event which is put on every two years. This year there was the choice of a 19 mile route or a 50 kilometre route, with this latter distance being chosen as part of the LDWA’s 50th birthday celebrations.

It was an early start, with Richard driving Stuart and I to the start of the event at Sheringham High School. You can spot them both to the right of this photo, with Stuart wanting to set off as soon as possible for fear that he might come in last or something. However, it’s all about completing the event and enjoying the view, so it wouldn’t have mattered. But it didn’t happen either, Karen and the other NEC members swept him along. Stuart, Julie, Bill and Sara were all very brave in taking part, not to mention that Karen was doing the longer event and is always brave.

The numbers were a little lower than usual, mostly due to external factors than any loss of interest in challenge events, but we had over 130 people signed up. I’ve trained Richard up to do everything that I used to do, showing just how good at delegation I am. I think in a few years that Richard might be able to cope entirely on his own. Registration went smoothly, particularly for those in my queue who enjoyed my professionalism and efficiency. Or something like that.

There’s Jayne, ready to set everyone off on the first wave and I note Katie, the organiser of the Norfolk & Suffolk group’s 100 event in 2025, at the front just bursting with enthusiasm to start. I like being at the start of the events, to see all the excitement and just a little trepidation about the adventure that was in front of the entrants. To some, the distances are easy, but to others they’re more of a challenge and I know we had plenty of people taking part in their first LDWA event.

There’s Eric on the left, ready for his day of walking and taking photos. There are plenty of hills near to the start of the walk, not least the challenges of Beeston Bump, but it’s good to have a variety of terrains as not everyone can cope with endless miles of flat in the way that I can. I’d add that it’s great to see so many local members volunteering at the event, it’s a highlight for many people who want to help support the walkers and runners around the event.

Jayne setting the runners off on their walk, or in this case run, with the weather being quite warm, but not overly hot and there was a breeze from the coast. It was a delight to see our marshal Simon H turn up, although he was doing a very strange walk due to a leg injury, namely because he has pushed himself so much to try and be an athlete like myself. He should know his limits, but I didn’t say anything of course, and I was very sympathetic and full of empathy.

Sometimes we don’t have access to all of the cooking facilities in the locations that we hire, but in this case that wasn’t a problem, Jayne and her crew were busy making a variety of wraps for the walkers and there was a handy self-service area. As an additional treat, there was Eton Mess and ice cream, along with a range of cold and hot drinks.

It was all peaceful at HQ during the day, although since I was the emergency contact, I received a phone call from a walker concerned to see a fire near checkpoint 2. This transpired to be quite a serious fire on farmland, but fortunately the fire brigade were on hand and they were able to put it out. It provided some memorable moments for walkers, who might have feared momentarily that they couldn’t access our checkpoint full of food and drink. We ensured that the fire brigade knew about the situation and Malcolm bravely went out to go and have a look at the situation in case it impacted on our walkers.

Some of the entrants from Hike Norfolk celebrating their success, it’s good to see a steady flow of walkers from that group doing so well on these challenge events.

It was positive to hear all the feedback about the checkpoints and the welcome that they had offered, not to mention the range of food and drink that walkers and runners enjoyed. I hope that all of the marshals enjoyed their day, with everyone at HQ having a marvellous time, especially when Jayne arrived with some extra lunchtime treats for the hardworking registration desk operative and also for Richard. We heard later that a few of our walkers encountered some wasps early on during the walk, not something that is ideal, but good humour and bravery got them through.

As for the NEC entrants, Karen swept in looking like she hadn’t even entered the event, whilst Stuart looked quite worn out if I’m being honest, which I was. I had a lot of sympathy for him, I know how he felt, but he had been very brave indeed. Julie, Bill and Sara looked suitably tired from their experience, but I’m pleased that they enjoyed the route. Tim was also going to take part, but unfortunately, due to circumstances mostly out of his control, he wasn’t able to make it to the event. But, we’re pleased to have been able to offer some hospitality to the NEC officers who did take part.

The next challenge event is the Flower of Suffolk on the first Sunday of October, sadly this will be one of the first local events that I’ll miss in years, namely because I hope to be in the United States. I do hope that Richard copes without me on that event, but there will support on hand if he gets overwhelmed without my calm influence to gently guide him back on track. I shall of course report back here in October with whatever gossip I’ve managed to pick up from overseas.

I’m not sure I’ll be walking any more challenge events this year, but I hope to take part in a few next year, especially as Richard has indicated that he’s up for trying an 18 mile event. He’ll definitely need my support, encouragement and positivity with that, so anyone with ideas on which is the best LDWA event for him to start on, don’t hesitate to let me know 🙂

August 2, 2022