With weekend slots becoming more and more difficult, rent a crowd (the bunch I go drinking real ale with) were tempted to do an evening run to the "Sir Loin of Beef" in Eastney [clicky] (which is without a doubt one of my top 3 pubs ever) - and the evening trips are very much enjoyed, as we can get there direct from work, and still usually be home by 10'ish...date was set for Thursday evening....
As per usual I cycled down... I had wanted to go via the Hayling Billy trail [clicky] (red route on the map), but the Hayling ferry [clicky] (which is fairly critical given I can't get to the pub unless it's running!) is still on its winter timetable and doesn't run after 6 in the evening... either way I took the long way round (blue line was my actual route), and as it happens I missed nothing, as the fog rolled in at abut 5 so I wouldn't have seen anything down the Billy trail anyway!
By the by - the islands you can see in the middle of the harbour (which are now bird sanctuaries) were used in WWII as decoy sites to lure German air raids away from nearby Portsmouth harbour (code name "Starfish" and this [clicky], is a particularly interesting read) ... by all accounts they were very successful; "on the night of 17/18 April 1941, over 140 enemy aircraft were lured away and un-loaded in excess of 200 air-dropped munitions, originally intended for the City of Portsmouth, into Langstone Harbour and Farlington Marshes" - you wouldn't have wanted to live in Langstone village!
Fog aside it was a quick trip - I was quite surprised how quickly I got there... as usual a triumphant choice of ales... much was partaken of, but in my case they were:
Arundel Brewery "Old Ale" - 4.6% and a dark ale ideally suited to drinking on cold damp, foggy, evenings... stuck with this most of the evening except for a single foray into the beer pump to the left of it (the pint of which suffered by comparison).. don't normally like Arundel beers, this one was a welcome exception. Nice toasted, earthy, after taste - a little bit like a hint of a high percentage dark chocolate... (what drivel I do come out with - push comes to shove it just tasted nice....
)
Titanic Brewery - "Plum Porter" - 4.9% - this is the only exception I have to my personal rule about fruit and beer ("why do it?!")... it is quite simply one of the most delicious things you'll ever drink - dark, rich, fruity and a hint of plum.... totally complementary... you could slice this stuff and serve it with custard....
Already looking forward to the next beer trip...
As per usual I cycled down... I had wanted to go via the Hayling Billy trail [clicky] (red route on the map), but the Hayling ferry [clicky] (which is fairly critical given I can't get to the pub unless it's running!) is still on its winter timetable and doesn't run after 6 in the evening... either way I took the long way round (blue line was my actual route), and as it happens I missed nothing, as the fog rolled in at abut 5 so I wouldn't have seen anything down the Billy trail anyway!
By the by - the islands you can see in the middle of the harbour (which are now bird sanctuaries) were used in WWII as decoy sites to lure German air raids away from nearby Portsmouth harbour (code name "Starfish" and this [clicky], is a particularly interesting read) ... by all accounts they were very successful; "on the night of 17/18 April 1941, over 140 enemy aircraft were lured away and un-loaded in excess of 200 air-dropped munitions, originally intended for the City of Portsmouth, into Langstone Harbour and Farlington Marshes" - you wouldn't have wanted to live in Langstone village!
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| 6.7 miles - max speed 15.8 mph; average 11.1 mph... for the record.... |
Fog aside it was a quick trip - I was quite surprised how quickly I got there... as usual a triumphant choice of ales... much was partaken of, but in my case they were:
)
Andrew - clearly you are a man of taste and erudition... :o)
ReplyDeleteI need to try that plum porter!
ReplyDeleteLegatus - I would imagine that a good pork pie (Melton Mowbray, naturally) and a pint of this could very well lead you to believe that you had died and gone to Heaven.... seek it out, you will not be disappointed..
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