A Grand Day OutSaturday 8th May saw my Granny's 105th birthday. (Unfortunately, like Doris, she isn't around to enjoy birthdays any more.) That morning saw 14 Whitehaven CAMRA members and friends piling onto a coach for what we hoped would be a 'grand day out'!
Keith, our idiosyncratic driver, took the scenic route, and a couple of codgers in Torpenhow gave us strange looks as we passed them, on our way to Ireby. We soon realised why, when the road got narrower, the hedges got higher, grass grew down the middle of the road and the wing mirrors scraped the hedgerows. Keith had to slow down just a little, and thankfully, nothing at all came from the opposite direction, or there could have been a very long distance for it to back up!!
With millimetres to spare as we emerged between two houses, we arrived bang on noon outside the Lion at Ireby; After a wait, Tommy hammered on the door and eventually the lights went on...... Yates' Fever Pitch, Marston's Pedigree and Jennings Bitter awaited us. We really liked this great little pub but couldn't stay long as we had to move on to the Snooty Fox at Uldale, where we chose from Uld'Ale, brewed by Hesket Newmarket, Pedigree, Theakston's Bitter and summat else. We all tried the first since we probably wouldn't get it anywhere else. A point scored over the Beer Monster, unable to be with us! A really nice beer and this, too, was a smashing pub.
Around 1:30 pm we arrived at the Old Crown, Hesket Newmarket, our ultimate destination, where we seemed to have the whole range of their beers at our disposal, and we certainly did help to dispose of them! We were pleased that Phil Tuer, CAMRA's brewery liaison officer for Hesket Newmarket brewery and Sheila, from Carlisle, joined us. We were greatly entertained by second brewer Arthur: brewer, folk singer, musician, anarchist, cynic, tale-teller, letter-writer, etc, etc, as he showed us the brewery and forced upon us an interesting blend of leftover beer. How is it that such a tiny brewery can brew such a great range of beers? After more time in the pub, long after it was supposed to have shut, simply enjoying the beer, the company and the ambience, we thought we had better let Keith get home for his dinner date, allowing time for a short pit stop at The Bush in Cockermouth on the way home.
It had been a great day out: we visited three superb pubs in Solway branch's area, which we all intend to visit again; had a look around a unique small brewery attached to a great pub, and drank a good selection of first class beers. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we are planning other such visits in the future. And Doris? We drank her 90th birthday celebration Ale, recently voted number one at the Cumbria Food and Drink Fair Beer Festival at Rheged!
Chris de Cordova
NOTE: all these pubs can be visited using the no 73 Caldbeck Rambler bus from Carlisle and Keswick: contact Traveline on 0870 608 2 608 for details.