the "Ale Trail" begins

                                              My Happy Eye on the Ale Trail, UK 2010... part 1
I will not say it rained every day when we were in the UK, I will say, “did it ever rain!”  This years trip I dedicated my body to my art, after losing about 25 pounds over the past year or nearly 2 “stone,” I am afraid the hops and malt got me the best of me, and I gained most of it back.  This year in celebration of English Ale, I set out to not only visit family and friends, I was on the “Ale Trail,” and it took me to many a fine pub, where I made new friends, to supermarkets where I purchased many a fine ale, all over England and also southern Scotland.  Did I mention the rain?

An Englishman's home is his Castle

We normally fly out of Minneapolis / Saint Paul to Bristol. Fly to Bristol, yes you have to make a change over at Schiphol in the Netherlands, so what... think Heineken with a crusty bread sandwich of Dutch Ham and Edamer Cheese and butter, have two Heineken's like I did. Heineken for my money is the best breakfast beer in Europe.  And do anything you can to avoid Heath Row.  Why? Yes ,I said avoid the place, if you can... at all costs for it’s grown into an expensive logistical nightmare and no place to be when luggage is lost or employees are on strike as they just shut it down and screw you to sort things out for yourself.  

    

in Section "D", there's this little pub

Not for me, not the way I want to travel, so we don’t do London by air any more. Now before you join me on this adventure, for the sake of drunks and drunkenness, not to worry, for the English pub is a part of British village life.  I have never been in company in an English pub with a drunk... so not to worry! You can be living in a city, and like the villages across the country there will be a local pub, it may become your “Local,” and if so then you know as I do families go there once or twice  week for an evening meal... most men and women ( mostly men) on their way home from work will stop off to have a pint, catch up and the latest local news, and head home as the evening diners begin to arrive.  I don’t need to defend the pubs as they have been there certainly as an English tradition since the 12th Century, and before that in Roman times where wine was more the drink than a fine English Ale.  If you are a non-drinker of beer and ales, then following on this journey will be of no interest to you, and if you are then please join me for the English Ale Trail is a long one, involved, peculiar and if you like to read then verbiage awaits!

I say Heineken... can you say, “ Heineken?”  And why do I say “Heineken” to start this journey?  Because Delta Airlines, which is out of Salt Lake City Utah, I believe, and I may be wrong... and I may be wrong about a lot of things on this trip... so I will give you my impression... Delta Airlines I believe has purchased a controlling interest in the former Northwest Airlines - Dutch KLM airlines partner ship, so now it’s Delta-Northwest-KLM.  Thoughts that come to mind now with the present service leaving the United States from Minneapolis / Saint Paul to Schiphol are... but are not limited to: lousy food, $7 dollar a bottle (mini-shorts) spirit, (they do offer free beer and wine as a saving grace) mini packets of peanuts and pretzels and they ain’t coming past your seat to often with free water during the flight.  No hot towels upon landing in Europe and since I command a 6 foot 2 inch frame, call me silly, argue with me in court, but my impression is they have again shortened the backside to knees hitting the seat in front of you ratio, to cram in more passengers on the flight and Dear Lord please may the person in front of you not press the “lean the seat back button” at all during the 8 hour flight to Schiphol for you will scream in agony.  What is really creepy about this is that KLM is Dutch, the Dutch are the tallest people in Western Europe, why has the nation with the longest legs partnered with Delta whom in my professional impression has shortened the knees hitting the seat in front of you ratio?  Life’s a mystery... and that’s a given... and Della Airlines is in it for the long run on this international route to Amsterdam, so traveler be informed!  And you wonder why I mentioned I needed a Heineken when we landed at Schiphol in the Netherlands?

First real British Ale of the Journey:  At my brother-in-laws house, first night jet lagged and mighty thankful for the recommendation... Bishops Finger “a Kentish Strong Ale.”  Shephards Neame claim to have been brewing Ale since 1698, who am I to argue ?  I will have to say they certainly know what they are doing for “Bishops Finger” is a dark reddish symphony of malty taste you can easily pick up at a local supermarket in the UK, you do not need to travel to Kent, although if you do, please stop by at the Cathedral at Canterbury and say hello to the Archbishop for me as I am eternally grateful to him for my dear Mother, years and years ago when she was alive, wrote to him personally to ask for his permission and blessing for my bride and I to be married by Special License. I am forever indebted to the good Archbishop, and to his “Finger” for it brings back memories of the best day of my life... the day we married.

Shephards Neame Brewery

Bishops Finger

The Arch Bishop of Canterbury

Kent UK