Thursday 19th Sept
We're getting lazy — not under way till 7.40 — still, we only had to get to Burton today, so there was no particular hurry. Alan had used his Internet-enabled mobile phone to discover that the beer festival doesn't open till seven this evening. If we got there early, that would give us time to have a look around the town, but it wasn't going to be crucial. The first thing we went past this morning was some rather impressive canal-side buildings. Nick was so enthusiastic about these that he urged us to walk along the towpath for 50 yards or so, after we got back from the pub last night, saying of one that it looked like a church all lit up inside. The rest of us weren't all that impressed, though we admitted it was worth a look.
We chugged along steadily through the morning, with just the occasional lock. Our progress was rather more steady than we had hoped, with a very slow boat in front of us for part of the way. I noticed that its name was rather appropriate, Resting Easy — rather too easy for our liking! We caught sight of a kingfisher at one point — in comparison, we've been seeing herons so often that they have begun to excite little or no comment when they appear. We heard the song of a lark off to the left somewhere, but I couldn't see it. They're quite difficult to spot at the best of times; there's no point in trying when you're steering a narrowboat!
This holiday, we've seen a lot of boats owned by a firm called 'Canaltime'. When we went past the boatyard at Sawley yesterday, we saw so many of the Canaltime boats moored there that this was clearly their base (or one of them). None of us remember seeing them on the canals before, so I suppose they started up since our last holiday in 2000. The boats all look fairly new, at any rate. Passing one of them we noticed that they have no front doors, but a side-entrance near the front. There'll be no difficulty if we want to find out more; all the boats have the company's web site address painted on the side.
At eleven o'clock we began to get some very light rain — but enough to get us to put waterproofs on. We stopped to top up our water. Penny had mentioned that she'd learned how to do a back massage, and I asked her to apply her arts on my back while we were waiting. It certainly did help to loosen things up, and made quite a difference for the rest of the day. After half an hour the water tank was full and we moved off. The rest of the afternoon was just steady cruising, and we moored in Burton just after three o'clock. We were within comfortable distance of the town hall, where the beer festival starts this evening. We had a late lunch on the boat. June had cooked a dish based on aubergines, tomatoes and chillies — excellent flavour — which we had together with a very good tomato and avocado salad that Penny had made. Adding to this some naan bread and hot mango pickle, this made a better meal than anything we've had at a pub so far. In the late afternoon, Nick, Penny and I walked into town, partly to check on the location of the town hall and partly just to have a look around. We stopped in a supermarket and stocked up a bit on food. As I type this we're just waiting for half an hour or so before going along to the town hall.
We've just got back from the beer festival and it was certainly worth staying for. There was just a small queue as we arrived, pretty much at the stroke of seven, but by the time we left the place was pretty full. The way the town hall is designed, it's rather like a church in some ways. There's a rose window at the back and there are something rather like side aisles to left and right. That's not as surprising as it might seem. Up till the 18th century, until the neo-classical style came into play, architects didn't have much to guide them except the ecclesiastical models. The only large buildings there had been up till that time (in many parts of the country) were churches, and so even the secular buildings tended to follow that style. Anyway, this suited the present occasion very well, as the stalls for each brewery were accommodated easily in the 'side aisles', leaving the customers to mingle in the main hall area.
We each got a half-pint glass (stamped with a logo commemorating the festival) and a programme describing the eighty-plus beers on sale. There was also a selection of ciders and continental beers. We each had about six half-pints, following our personal inclinations. Nick and Penny (I would say) inclined somewhat towards the more hoppy varieties, Alan was perhaps more middle of the road, I tended towards the milder sorts and June had a definite preference for the stouts. There were also some wheat beers and I tried a couple of these. One in particular caught my fancy: the 'Raspberry Wheat' from the Iceni brewery in Norfolk. There was a mixture of the medium sized traditional breweries (with a very few large ones) and a good number of 'micro' breweries, in come cases run by just one person and producing only a few barrels a week. The descriptions of the breweries made fascinating reading and was a great help in getting some idea of what to try in the vast range on offer.
There were also some things on sale other than beer (or cider). Nick bought Penny a hip flask, at her request, as a birthday present. Alan and I both bought CAMRA sweat shirts, and I bought a one-litre beer glass — something I'd had at the back of my mind to buy ever since I'd been to a German beer house in Rome, where one can buy lager by the litre. I must also mention the chips. Penny (I think it was) came back from the cafe area with a tray of excellent chips — much better than anything I've ever been able to get in Peckham — and we took it in turns to replenish the stock of chips when it was running low. There were a few left over at the end, and we took them back for Maddie (the dog).
Although it was an eventful evening, we were back on the boat in good time, about half past nine. It's just after ten as I write this.