Weds I packed my things , said goodbye to Stu and Fritha and headed north by train for Yorkshire. Once in London I got onto my Leeds train and as I sat in the isle seat waiting to leave I felt a whack on the back of my head. A distinctive voice said sorry and…

Tuesday I did a final tourist day in London. I started out at London Bridge and walked down the Thames past HMS Belfast, a WW2 era light cruiser moored in the Thames as a tourist attraction and down to Tower Bridge and across . Then back up the Thames path to St Pauls. Then I…

Monday Stu and myself set off for a journey through Sussex . First stop was Burning Sky in an impossibly beautiful village called Firle. I had hoped to meet Mark Tranter in the flesh rather than just in twitter land but he was alas busy else ware. Lead brewer Tom was a great guide however…

Sunday was a rest day, and by this point in the trip I needed a proper rest. There had been an idea about heading to Tunbridge Wells to check out some pubs but in the end we stayed at Stu and Fritha’s and had a lazy afternoon of beer , wine and cheese in the…

The focus of my trip was to be in attendance at Craft Beer Rising , a beer festival held in the old Truman Brewery Site on Brick Lane in East London. Thursday morning I walked to the station , stopping to procure a crab sandwich. A lot of negative things get said about English food…

Weds I took the train to Birmingham where I was to host a beer and cheese tasting organised by my mates from Regional days Helen and Will. They live on a narrow boat currently moored in the canal in Birmingham and Helen is working for Beer Yeti who organised the event. England’s second city is…

Tuesday I took the train to Oxford. Walked from the station into town and located Jesus College which was to be my accommodation for the night. This was to be my geek night . I’m a huge Colin Dexter fan so it was to the pubs of Morse I went. There had been two potential…

After a quick breakfast I met Joe and Adrian outside my hotel and set off for the South Hams area where my Moore side ancestors lived. We drove initially on motorways but were soon on country lanes. We had a slow cruise through Totnes complete with “Bogan House” , the humour of which was lost…

Sunday I set off on my West Country trip. A train into London ,a quick stop at M&S for train picnic supplies and train beers. Then it was off to the land of my forbearers. The trip through lush beautiful Dorset and Devonshire countryside was great, as was the M&S cheese and onion sandwich and…

Saturday was a rest day. Stu , Fritha , Teddy and Sonny and myself headed out to Dover to walk the white cliffs and visit the Battle of Britain memorial. It was a bit chilly on the cliffs but in a very gentle English way. Nothing like a good Cook Straight Southerly. There were Exmoor…