My journey back home from Dortmund started at Dortmund Stadthaus metro station and all was going well at this point. Until I tried to buy a ticket and the card machine elements of the ticket machines were all down and not working. This I considered sub-optimal as I don’t carry cash partly as this is the 21st century and partly because I have a reckless optimism that ticket machines will work. However, in Lübeck I found 5 euros on the floor by the river and I suspected that, in a similar way to how computer adventure games work, that it would come in useful. And that was very much the case here, I used cash to buy my ticket and that saved me a thirty minute meander to the city’s central railway station.

There’s the ticket validation machine and so I was good to go.

I needed Aplerbeck and there was only a short wait for the U47 to turn up.

A wait of five minutes to be precise.

And here it comes, all as expected.

I’ve posted about this journey before, but the metro stops at Aplerbeck and then passengers get a bus to the airport.

And in what I think is the premium seat for a passenger to look out of the window. Well, in the absence of being the bus driver of course. There aren’t many limits to my ambitions, but becoming a bus driver is one of them.

There’s no lounge at the airport, but there is a McDonald’s just a five minute walk away and I had a free coffee on my app, so I didn’t want to miss the opportunity. They also have power points and, as usual, I wanted to be fully charged given that’s one of my travel priorities.

I had a relaxing ninety minutes at McDonald’s, bringing this blog up-to-date with about 65 ‘riveting’ posts about Lübeck. I use the word riveting advisedly, as some readers may not have known they needed detailed commentary on churches, airports, museums, railway stations and toilet pricing.

Safely at the airport, which is really too small for the number of passengers that it gets.

An interesting place to put a hopscotch game for kids in the middle of the queueing aisle. Nothing says efficient passenger flow quite like inviting small children to begin a structured jumping activity where everyone is already trying to stand.

This is the downstairs area at Dortmund Airport which is short of seating space, poorly signed and only designed for non-Schengen flights in some sort of bid to test passenger resilience. However, I found a seat and prepared myself for the two hour wait for the flight, which at this point was delayed by half an hour. Anyway, my planned comfortable arrangement changed and I needed to find a police officer, but more in part two (who says I can’t build tension on this blog?).

The toilets at Hanover railway station cost €1.50, which feels a bold amount of money for what is, biologically speaking, not really an optional activity. I appreciate that toilets need cleaning, maintenance and supervision, but there is still something faintly dramatic about standing in a major railway station and being asked to make such a substantial a financial commitment. But, this is Deutsche Bahn and passengers are really just an inconvenience to their general operations. There was also a substantial queue for the female toilets, so paying a premium price doesn’t even allow for a fast visit although I suppose it gives better value for money if there’s a twenty minute wait for the facilities.

The toilets are run by Sanifair, a company that operates paid public toilet facilities across Germany, including at a number of railway stations, shopping centres and motorway service areas. At Hanover Hauptbahnhof everyone gets a €0.50 voucher when going through the barriers, but there were literally hundreds of these dumped on the floor which had become mildly damp which all felt slightly sub-optimal. Sanifair didn’t really trouble themselves with cleaning their expensive toilets so it’s not entirely clear to me where all this money is going.

To be fair, the facilities were functional and not entirely filled with railway-station despair, so this slightly undermines the full force of my grievance. But they were also not so luxurious that I emerged feeling I had been treated to an experience. And the disabled facilities were entirely out of order which is sub-optimal, but so is much about Hanover railway station. As I’m quite petty, I decided against spending any money at the railway station and instead went to the Aldi in Dortmund where the financial transaction didn’t end in mild resentment.

And since I paid €1.50, I wanted to at least get a blog post out of it in an attempt to turn a basic inconvenience into content. Right, that’s enough moaning for the moment.

I used FlixTrain for the first time a few weeks ago primarily for the experience, but I found myself this time needing to use them as an affordable option to get from Hanover to Dortmund. Hanover railway station is dated and sub-optimal in numerous ways, not least the complete lack of seating for the number of passengers. However, the station is run by Deutsche Bahn, an organisation not always known for arranging its operations around the emotional well-being of passengers, so my expectations were already sensibly low.

Deutsche Bahn wanted around £40 for the train from Hanover to Dortmund, but fortunately the FlixTrain service was more affordable.

The city’s first railway station was built between 1845 and 1847, but a grand new building was constructed in 1879. Unfortunately, this was mostly destroyed by air raids during the Second World War and a less impressive railway station was built in its place, although this was heavily modernised in 2000.

I could see the hotel room where I stayed the previous evening. At this point I used the toilet facilities at the railway station, but that arrangement is getting its own blog post. And you can see the extensive seating facilities for passengers in action.

The FlixTrain sweeps in.

There were carriages that were something like 1, 2, 3, 100, 5 and 6, with my carriage being 100 so it wasn’t entirely clear where along the train it would be. However, the signage on the train is good and I soon found my seat.

The seats are comfortable, the tray table is of a decent size and it was all relatively clean. There are no power points on the train, but it’s all a perfectly reasonably set-up for the money.

It wasn’t a particularly busy service and it all ran to a near enough schedule.

There’s plenty of space for bags and I still quite like their wavy ceiling arrangement.

And safely into Dortmund, for the third time this year.

Overall, I thought that this service represented decent value for money and was a good budget option. Deutsche Bahn was just too expensive, although the German railway network offers unlimited regional travel for around £60 that I’m jealous of, so that makes them better value for money for locals. Deutsche Bahn can certainly benefit from competition and FlixTrain certainly does that, so I’m very glad that they’re there.

For various sub-optimal reasons, we were unable to see Rob finish later on in the event, but we saw him mid route and this was at about 75 miles. The length of this challenge hides that although this feels towards the end, it’s still an entire challenge event to be completed at this stage. Rob, who is naturally brave, was worn and tired at this stage with the heat having gotten to him. His plan was to spend longer at the checkpoint until the temperature calmed down a bit.

I’m pleased to say that his strategy worked and he finished the event after around 44 hours. Here’s Sarah’s photo of him after his lovely little stroll. Rob has also been kind enough to answer some questions about the event.

Q. What are your main overall memories of the Hunnypot 100?

A. The heat combined with the rolling hills. The amazing checkpoint marshals who, without their care and intervention to cool me down, I would never have finished. I have special thanks to the marshals at checkpoints 9 (Wiltshire and Dorset) and 10 (Cornwall and Devon). The superb organisation from Peter and his team, along with all marshals should be applauded.

I was very nervous before the start with the weather forecast. I came up with a plan that would see me take it slowly in the day and spend extended time in the checkpoints. Then walking faster in the evening and overnight when cooler. This put me in a mind frame that I would finish on the 2nd morning. This mostly worked.

The start affected many mentally as well as physically. The intense humidity and the number of walkers struggling early on was quite frightening. Before checkpoint 3, I was passing people who had stopped to rest as they struggled in the heat.

I liked the the Ashdown Forest even in the dark and the long climb up, I came face to face with a Stag Deer at one point (or maybe it was a Woozle or a Heffalump!), However the long 9 mile gap from the Horsted Keynes (checkpoint 8) through that hot shadeless Eden Valley I’ll always remember. I was overheating but kept shivering. Which made me worried about heat exhaustion, despite me ensuring I drank enough, hence why I stopped for so long at checkpoint 9.

I liked the climbs up the big hills near the end especially at Chevening and the amazing views from the Downs at night over the towns and villages below.

Finally the amazing feeling of finishing and the welcome at the end.

Q. I saw you at Ide Hill after around 75 miles and although you were looking very brave, you mentioned how hugely challenging it was. How did you get the energy to keep going?

A. Time. My overall desire was to retire at Idle Hill, but I knew I could spend an hour or more if I wanted, eat, drink, cooler down and leave a new person. Also to keep telling myself that was in the peak heat of the day and the weather would cool down mentally gave me confidence.

Q. Now that the heat and tiredness have been at least partly forgotten, which part of the walk did you enjoy the most?

A. The North Downs at the end, with amazing views, even at night. I felt that the best views I missed, being the Ashdown Forest (I never did get to play Pooh Sticks!) and the North Downs past Chevening. There is a connection with the 100’s and Kent for me. My first 100 was the Cinque Ports, also it was the Kent checkpoint that stopped me from retiring on the Hadrian Hundred when I got in trouble. Brian Buttifant was one of the marshalls that helped me so it was good to visit his bench, I’d like to do that again in the daytime.

Q. How are you feeling a few days on?

A. OK now, feet have mostly healed calves still feel a bit tight. Otherwise just cannot stop eating.

Q. Will you be doing it again? Or is it too early to say?

A. My initial thoughts after the event were no more. A few days on I’m now looking forward to next year, it should be a superb route in the beautiful Devon and Dorset countryside.

Q. Do you have any suggestions for organisers of future LDWA 100s?

A. If it is hot make salt/more salty snacks more available. I found that a bit lacking on the Hunnypot 100. I have seen debate around bringing the 100 forward, I think it’s something for discussion with the impact of climate change, albeit being mindful it did cool down later in the week.

I actually think there should be more comprehensive advice for entrants. Although every entrant is different, the only person you are racing against in an LDWA challenge is yourself. The 48 hours is there to be used, it’s not an aim to get a fast time. Tactically I feel I got it mostly right and finished. Although the Hunnypot 100 was extreme in its weather, some of the normally faster walkers would have benefited from slowing down and spending more time in checkpoints.

This is it, my bag’s final journey as the last remaining working zip is now non-operational after years of loyal service.

It’s been to 44 countries, 34 US states, every EU country, on 25 LDWA challenge walks and about 500 hotels. It’s being retired as there’s more glue than bag and it’s been the bravest backpack that I know. It will now retire in Norwich….

I haven’t started the process of a new bag acquisition yet as it’s still too emotional. It’s coming with me for a two night trip away and is held together with hope and superglue that it’ll even make it that far. Many thanks to everyone on Facebook for their kind words of support at this very difficult time.

Here’s a post I made about the bag in 2022 before I set off on a trip to the US. Happy times and I wish the bag the happiest of retirements.

This is my little summary page from the CAMRA coach trip to which Ivan kindly invited me last Friday. I’ve written up the evening across several blog posts to avoid my wittering on in what seems like an endless post. However, for anyone who wants to meander through those riveting (well, something like that) posts they’re at:

Pre-Party at the Bell, Norwich

White Horse, Upton

Lion, Thurne

Cock, Cantley

Gordon, Thorpe

I’m something of an advocate for CAMRA, as I think the organisation does a huge amount for the pub trade. There are, of course, disagreements at national level from time to time, because this is Britain and it is illegal to have a membership organisation without at least some procedural tension. But locally, CAMRA does a great deal to support pubs, promote real ale and bring together people who care about beer, pubs and the rather important matter of keeping both of them alive.

Membership is a little over £30 a year but there are numerous benefits to that including free entry into beer festivals, vouchers to use at pubs (and I do indeed use them at JD Wetherspoon however unpopular that might be in refined circles) alongside a free magazine as well. There are also discounts on coach trips, which is a very practical benefit for anyone who likes visiting pubs that are awkward to reach without either a driver, a bus timetable from 1978 or a worrying level of rural determination. As a non-driver, I often entirely neglect these country pubs unless I’ve found a willing driver to take me (thanks Jen!).

For anyone interested in joining CAMRA, I’d recommend it as there is also national and local campaigning which supports the hospitality trade in general. And there’s also Norwich CAMRA beer festival in the last week of October which is an annual treat for me. Roy and I will be ready to surprise and delight visitors this year with our efficiency at selling glasses and tokens, but we don’t want to linger on our effectiveness as I don’t think beer festival organiser Craig can take much more of that level of operational excessive.

Ivan organises a lot of these coach trips and he evidently puts lots of thought into them so deserves plenty of credit. Not too much though as he’ll get big headed and that would be sub-optimal for everyone. For anyone who wants to become more involved with the social side of CAMRA they’re a great thing to go along to, a coach trip for members costs around £12 each. There are lunchtime ones which go to five pubs and the evening ones go to four pubs, so it’s a way of exploring some new venues and a handy opportunity to revisit some old favourites.

There’s more about Norwich CAMRA at https://norwich.camra.org.uk/ and they welcome new volunteers to help them. I’d add that for anyone who might be lonely or in need of new friends, these regular coach trips are a really positive way of finding other people interested in drinking beer. And, as a free service, Ivan gives his top tips on running pub cellars so what more could anyone want?

Ivan is a man of mystery, intrigue and chaos, but he managed to hide his final choice of pub very well as I didn’t hear anyone guess correctly. There were a few quite determined guesses and several people thought that we were heading for the Rushcutters, but the final pub of choice was the Gordon. This is exactly the sort of moment that makes Ivan’s coach trips work so well as everyone thinks they have cracked the system, only to discover that the system is Ivan and he is not available for public scrutiny.

This doesn’t look entirely dissimilar from another Gordon that I know. The pub opened in 1934 and there’s something of a link back to Upton, where we had our first pub visit of the evening at the White Horse, as the then owners Bullards gave up the licence of the Prince of Wales in Upton to open this pub. The pub was operated by Bullards until 1967, then it went from Watney Mann to Brent Walker before falling into the perhaps more sub-optimal Pubmaster and then Punch Taverns ownership.

There was a friendly welcome from the team members and there was a choice of two ales, London Pride and Wainwright’s Gold, although there was also Ghost Ship in bottles.

The real ale options weren’t to my own personal taste, so I got a Caffrey’s instead. The Maltesers were just what I needed though, I was pleased to see those. I know it’s a CAMRA coach trip and this isn’t a real ale, but I am a complex man with many contradictions, most of them involving beer and snack choices.

Indeed, this is a very agreeable snack selection and I was suitably surprised and delighted.

It’s a really quite decent community pub this and they had a range of different events advertised and it was all clean and tidy. They’re not really trying to reinvent the the wheel here, it’s not a free trade pub to my knowledge and so there are limitations which the team members just have to work around.

The back bar arrangement.

And that was the end of our pub visits, the coach then dropped people back off in Norwich, with Ivan and I getting off at the Puppet Theatre for the after-party at the Artichoke. It was all a lovely evening, but more on the whole arrangement in the next post.

The third in our CAMRA coach tour was to Cantley Cock, which is a pub that I’ve visited a few times before and not least to have the all you can eat ribs and chicken wings. This became a licensed premises in the late eighteenth century and then became part of the Steward & Patteson estate. For a few years it became a Watney Mann pub, but they closed it in 1975, before it reopened as a free house in the following year. It’s done really well to stay open, there’s not a huge amount of housing nearby and they’ve been creative with their food offering to entice customers from further afield.

The group heading into the pub to surprise the staff just at the end of food service. There is a particular energy to twenty or so beer enthusiasts entering a pub at once as it’s part a coach party wanting an evening out, part of an informal inspection team and part a wandering support group for people who have strong views about cellar management.

As I mentioned before, these coach trips are unannounced to the pubs and there’s a solid reason for that. Firstly, things change and so it wouldn’t be fair for a pub to make extra special efforts and something doesn’t happen. And, also, we don’t really want them to make extra special efforts as the point is to see what’s available on a normal evening. There’s also the danger that a pub might think more real ale will be sold than actually might be, so hence the element of surprise. I mention that as one of the team members mentioned that there were some really nice real ales in the cellar, but I think that having four is entirely reasonable for a country pub.

I went for the Falcon Ale from Lacon’s Brewery and it was well-kept, malty and fruity. I don’t usually have nuts in a pub but I was looking for either chocolate or decadent crisps which they didn’t have, but I was content with the dry roasted nuts. The service was friendly and it was all a welcoming environment, with Ivan here evidently enjoying himself. This is always reassuring, as Ivan enjoying himself generally suggests that the itinerary is going to plan and nobody has yet challenged the authority of the coach schedule.

The bar after the CAMRA rush had subsided. A couple of customers discovered that there was another pub on our itinerary and everyone’s suggestions were completely wrong, Ivan isn’t predictable like that. Ivan was busy at this stage anyway arguing with a customer who thought we should have given advance notice before turning up, so that livened matters up. It is always useful on a pub trip to have a philosophical debate about the ethics of unannounced beer drinking.

After a very worthwhile coach stop, it was time to depart whilst looking at the Norfolk big skies….. I should add that the Cantley Cock is listed in the Good Beer Guide, quite rightly so in my humble opinion.

Then back onto the coach for the next mystery pub. What could possibly go wrong?

Next on the CAMRA coach trip was the Lion at Thurne, another marvellous choice by Ivan as it’s a Good Beer Guide pub that I haven’t been to before. Although there has been a licensed premises called the Lion in Thurne since the 1830s (although until the earlier twentieth century it was known as the Red Lion), this site was built in the 1930s by Lacons and their name is still above the door, although it is now a free trade pub.

Here’s the newspaper advert noting the sale of the former Lion Inn as it was known, with the new Lion Hotel now ready. From this, it’s clear that accommodation was available in both the old and new buildings, although accommodation is no longer offered.

The keg arrangement on the back bar, all looking shiny and interesting.

The real ale selection and I have to note the professionalism of the team member who was behind the bar. She appeared to realise that she had twenty customers suddenly standing at the bar, but this presented no problem for her as she rattled through the service whilst remaining professional, friendly and efficient. Some people might panic under pressure, others simply become calmly excellent while a small army of CAMRA members tries to make decisions about beer.

I did struggle to see what the beer options were initially, but then I realised that I had managed to miss the below.

I did struggle to see what the beer options were initially, but then I realised that I had somehow managed to miss the main board. I am not entirely sure how I missed it, as it was hardly subtle, but this does rather suggest that my observational skills are at their sharpest only when there is a plate of chips nearby. In any case, it was a decent selection of keg and cask options across a range of styles.

I opted for the Royal Pillow Fight, brewed for the venue by the Mr Winters brewery. It’s a light and slightly fruity beer which goes well with salty crisps.

Given the keg options were also intriguing, I had the Pixel beer from Only With Love, a small brewery in West Sussex, which was juicy, fruity and refreshing.

The food menu, not that there was time for us to order anything and I was content with my packet of crisps. There’s a separate dining room area in the pub which looked busy.

The pub has so many CAMRA awards that they have enough to put some of them casually on the windowsill, which is quite the flex really. Some pubs display awards very carefully in decadent frames, whereas the Lion appears to have reached the point where they can scatter them about like loose change. It is a strong look.

One handy source of extra trade for the pub is from the nearby staithe which is a popular little mooring arrangement for boats on the Norfolk Broads.

Michael and I went for a quick walk to get some photos of the sunset. Ivan wasn’t entirely surprised and delighted by our photography skills and reminded us that we were one minute late getting back. He’s a man of precision is Ivan. Some people organise coach trips, but Ivan appears to run them with the quiet authority of a railway timetable, albeit one that has developed opinions.

Anyway, this is very much what these coach trips are designed for, allowing an exploration of county pubs that would otherwise be hard to get to but which offer something interesting and different. It certainly seemed to me to be a deserving entrant into the Good Beer Guide, and another reminder that Norfolk remains full of excellent pubs tucked away in places that are awkward enough to make a coach trip feel not just useful, but frankly necessary.

The pre-party completed (I might have made that sound more exotic than it was), it was time to board the coach to be transported to our first mystery pub location.

Safely boarded and ready to go. I had discovered that the first stop wasn’t the Ber Strete Gates and it would be about 25 minutes on the coach, that was the limit of my knowledge of where we were going.

And we arrived at our first stop and I was pleased with this one as it’s been around a decade since I’ve been here. This has been a community run pub since 2012 and although they’ve had some minor financial issues in recent years, they’ve bounced back and all that. There are frequent events held here, beer festivals, musical performances, morris dancers and the like, along with food being served throughout the week.

The venue has been a licensed premises since the late eighteenth century and it was owned by the Coltishall Brewery in the early nineteenth century before they sold it in 1841 and later on it was taken over by Bullards. It then passed into the hands of Watney Mann and then Brent Walker before the community took it on.

A coach load of customers did surprise the venue, but the team members were all friendly and welcoming. I had deliberately taken cash in case that was preferred in these rural areas, but everyone seemed to be paying by card.

The choice of real ales and I liked this selection, a range of beer styles and there are some options there that I haven’t had before.

Some of the events.

We went to sit in the rather nice beer garden and as there were children on the bouncy castle, we thought we’d better not try it out. It was moderately busy in the beer garden and busier inside mostly with diners, but the atmosphere all felt informal and well managed.

I went for the Yellow Tail from Wantsum Brewery from Kent alongside some Mini Cheddars. The beer was clean, hoppy and well-kept, a decent light start to the evening.

This was going around the table and I thought that it was a strange thing to do at CAMRA events but assumed that it was some kind of ritual that they do.

It kept Ivan amused though who was very good indeed at colouring in and it transpired that this isn’t a standard CAMRA activity, it was a one-off.

One of the advantages of visiting here is that that’s another ticked off in my vague attempt to visit every Good Beer Guide pub in the country. A very good first selection by Ivan and after thirty minutes here, we boarded the coach to discover where he was taking us next.