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Sadly, my Pub of the Year award is a much easier item to write than previous years.  Due to COVID-19, many pubs have been closed for much of the year.  Some reopened when they could, and some didn’t.  At least one of them, The Corner, closed never to reopen.  My top placed pub based on ticks in 2020 would have only just squeezed in 10th place in 2019.

I could write about my experiences with two online Polish beer outlets but following the end of the Brexit transition period and the lack of clarity about importing beer, I still don’t know how easy it will be to use either of them again.

I’d better look at filling my blog with some recipes.

My fourth annual beer ticking pub awards.

I’m a beer ticker – I like to try as many different beers as possible and as such I’ve ranked my top ten pubs in order of the number of ticks that I’ve had there.  I’ve not included beer festivals.  My list is only a bit of fun – ticking isn’t the be all and end all of pub life, but it just so happens that I rather do like most of the pubs I’ve visited.

1.  The Queen Crafthouse & Kitchen, Doncaster  (1st in 2018, 3rd in 2017; opened during 2016)
Still not the biggest selection of beers in my top ten but usually a great selection when I visit – there’s not much else to say!  If they were in a more beery town or city then I’m sure they’d have a much bigger range as they’d sell more.  Even though my rankings are on ticks alone, an added bonus are the staff here – friendly and welcoming to all.

2. Turks Head, Leeds  (9th in 2018)
Climbing quite a few places, it seems strange that the second pub in my list isn’t in Doncaster.  A brilliant range of beers and like the Queen, welcoming and knowledgeable staff.  Yet another bonus is food – only a fairly small menu but good quality and home cooked.  The Sunday dinners are probably one of the best pub ones I’ve had.  Ok, you pay a bit more but it’s worth it – how many pubs serve their roast lamb pink?  Sunday afternoons are so chilled here – nice and quiet, great background music with amazing food and brilliant beer.

3.  Friends of Ham, Leeds  (2nd in 2018, 1st in 2017, 2nd in 2016)
Things seem to have settled down in FoH since the takeover and they’ve even got some new warmer temperature taps for the darker beers.  They’re not what they were, but business models change.  The beers keep rolling in though!

4 Mr Foley’s Cask Ale House, Leeds  (new in 2018)
Climbing a place is Foleys.  Again,  They too had a takeover back in 2018 when Black Sheep bought York Brewery but the owners didn’t mess with the Foley’s concept and there’s always a great range of cask and keg beer. Once again, another pub with that great vibe and excellent staff – love it that the staff in a pub outside of my hometown recognise I have the loyalty card before I even order!

5 Doncaster Brewery Tap, Doncaster  (5th in 2018, 6th in 2017, 11th in 2016)
Doncaster’s own micropub.  Or are they a bit too big for that?  As with the Queen, they’re not the quickest to rotate the choice of keg beers, but it’s not for want of trying – there’s a fantastic range that are always in excellent condition but sadly they get overlooked by many of the drinkers.  Either way, great beer and also great staff.  There’s a theme starting here – staff.  If you’ve got knowledgeable staff, or those dedicated to delivering great customer service, people will visit.  This in turn will increase beer sales.  Looking down my list of ticking pubs, there’s none in my top 20 where I would say the staff aren’t great.

6. The Corner, Huddersfield  (3rd in 2018, 9th in 2017)
Sliding a couple of places is the The Corner, there’s always a few of the excellent Mallinsons beers available along with amazing home cooked food too.

7.  Box Social, Newcastle  (new entry)
Creeping into a top ten place is Box Social in Newcastle.  Tucked away in a railway arch away from the main pub area yet again another great selection of cask and keg.

8.  Doghouse, Selby (new entry)
Another new entry into the list in a town that’s a bit of a beer ticking desert that has no less than 12 keg lines, 6 hand pumps, ciders and their own gin.  They only opened in September 2018 but were an instant hit – I’m looking forward to visiting the new Castleford branch too.

9. Arcade, Huddersfield  (6th in 2018, 7th in 2017)
Slipping slightly is Arcade in Huddersfield.  Since last year, they’ve expanded into the next door building and grown from 4 keg lines to 18 kegs and 2 occasional cask.

10. Crown & Kettle, Manchester  (11th in 2018)
Only pub in my list on the wrong side of the Pennines.  Located in a beautiful building but looking very tired – I understand that there’s not a lot they can do due to a maze of listed building regulations.

 

I’ve been visiting the Tour de France for a good few years now (long before it ever became popular in the UK!) and this is a quick list of the stages I’ve been to.  I try to update it each year.

An interesting point is how accessible the Tour is now.  In the early days of visiting, I remember poring over cycling magazines trying to work out if the stage finish was going to be in the centre of town or some disused airstrip 3km from the nearest bus stop.  Sometimes, a call to the tourist information office might produce the goods as would visiting there on the day of arrival.  Now, a few clicks on the Tour website or the town’s dedicated webpage and all the information’s there.

Statistics
First visit: 1996
Actual number of years visited: 21
Number of countries visited 6:  (Belgium, England, France, Monaco, Netherlands, Denmark)
Number of stages visited: 51
Most number of stages visited in one year: 6 (2014)

2024

Because of the 2024 Summer Olympics starting in Paris, the Tour de France was due to finish in Nice – the first time it’s finished outside of Paris.  This couldn’t be missed so the hotel was booked in Nice in January – talk about preparation!

Stage 20 – amazing spot on the Promenade des Anglais in the baking sun as the riders rolled past in the neutralised section.

Stage 21 – grandstand view 15 metres from the finish line to view the individual time trial.  One of the biggest cheers of the day from all the crowd was when Mark Cavendish came past who’d secured a record breaking 35th Tour de France stage win earlier in the race.

2023

A combination of taking leave from work

2022

Stage 1 – opening time trial in Copenhagen.  Interestingly, the race started on a Friday this year.  By the time I arrived in Copenhagen, the last kilometre was absolutely packed but managed to find a spot just after the finish line which was good for seeing the riders.  Unfortunately, it absolutely chucked it down aaallll day!

Stage 2 – stage finish in Nyborg.  Not that close to the finish but near enough.  Stood next to a couple do Norwegian cycling fans who were top guys – especially when they bought a beer!

Stage 3 – stage start in Vejle – another amazing day.  The Danes are just mad!

2021

No visit due to Covid-19

2020

No visit due to Covid-19

2019

Stage 1 – Bruxelles to Brussel

Stage 2 – Bruxelles to Brussel (Team Time Trial)

2018

Stage 8 – Dreux to Amiens.  In Amiens

Stage 9 – Arras to Roubaux.  In Roubaix

2017

Stage 20 – Marseille Time Trial.  Near to the Vieux-Port around half way round the course.

The finish line was inside the Velodrome, meaning you can’t get up and close to the action.  I’d also been down to the area leading up to the finish line earlier that morning on a 5k run [which was rather interesting / hot in itself] and it was already getting busy so I decided to stop in the port area, get a good spot and stay there.

This must be the longest I’ve travelled per stage – Doncaster to Marseille on the Friday, watched the race on the Saturday and back home on Sunday.

2016

Just started a new job and couldn’t take leave so no trip this year 🙁

2015

Stage 1 – Utrecht

Stage 2 – Start in Utrecht

Stage 3 – Mur de Huy

Stage 4 – Namur

Stage 15 – Valence

 

2014

Stage 1 – Leeds

Stage 2 – York then Sheffield

Stage 3 – London

Stage 4 – Lille

Stage 5 – Ieper but abandonded due to rain

Stage 21 – Paris

 

2013

Stage 4 – Nice Team TTT
Hotel West End
Sports Pulsions

Stage 6 – Finish in Montpellier

Stage 7 – Start in Montpellier

2012

Prologue – Liege

Stage 1 – Seraing

Stage 2 – Namur

 

 

2011

Not a very rail accessible tour so didn’t visit

 

2010

A foray to a Grand Depart in another country!

Prologue – Rotterdam.  Wet, miserable, rubbish photos.
Stage 1 – Rotterdam – Bruxelles.  Near the finish in Bruxelles
Stage 2 – Bruxelles – Spa.  By the start in Bruxelles

2009

Another good vintage

Prologue – Monaco.  Fairly near to the finish and managed to get some decent photos, including a certain Manx Missile!
Stage 1 – Monaco to Brignoles.  Watched the race pass on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.
Stage 2 – Marseille to La Grande Motte.  Saw the Depart by the port in Marseille
Stage 3 – Montpellier – Montpellier time trial.  Just up from the start point

2008

Unable to go.  🙁

2007

Possibly one of the best years…  3 countries, 4 stages in different 5 towns

Prologue – London.  200 m from finish on the Mall.  What a location!
Stage 1 – London to Canterbury.  Marshalled on the stage and then chased the race to watch the events unfold at Stone Street (poor Cav!).  Joined the Caravane on the boat across to France…
Stage 2 – Dunkerque – Gent.  Stood on the finish line in the rain but missed the end of race crashes.
Stage 3 – Waregem – Compiegne.  Saw the Depart from Waregem

2006

Prologue – Strasbourg. Near to finish line
Stage 1 – Strasbourg to Strasbourg. Watched the ‘pre race’ – the riders just trundle by through the town until they are in the open road then the race starts properly.  Then moved to the finish line to wait for the race.

2005

Stage 3 – La Châtaigneraie to Tours. Near the finish line
Stage 4 – Tours – Blois.  Team Time Trial.  About 1km from the start so wasn’t too busy.  Conveniently found a bar where I was able to sit and wait for the teams to finish – along with quite a few other folk!

2004

Stage 3 – Waterloo to Wasquehal. Near to the finish line
Stage 4 – Cambrai to Arras.  Team Time Trial.  About 1km from the start on a good bend.  Remember this stage as it chucked it down all day!

2003

Stage 11 – Narbonne to Toulouse. Near to the finish line, but nearly wasn’t.  After standing for a couple of hours, the police decided to move a group of us as we were “in the wrong place”.  After a great deal of persistence, we were able to stop.
Stage 12 – Gaillac to Cap’ Découverte. Individual time trial. Just by the starting ramp.
Stage 13 – Toulouse to Plateau de Bonascre.  Watched the race start at the Cité de l’Espace

2002

Stage 5 – Soissons to Rouen.  Near to the finish line

2001
Did not attend.

2000

Stage 13 – Avignon to Draguignan.  Near to the finish line

1999

Stage 14 – Castres to Saint-Gaudens.  Near to the finish line.  Remember being not too well this year – had been away in Poland the week prior and picked up a bug leaving me with severe trots!  The day previous I was pretty bad but managed to hold out when it was time to watch the race.

1998

Stage 14 – Valreas to Grenoble.  Near to the finish line

1997

Stage 19 – Montbeliard to Dijon.  Near to the finish line

1996

Stage 19 – Hendaye to Bordeaux.  Near to the finish line

On 9 May, Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt was descending along the Passo del Bocco, a steep mountain pass during stage 3 of the 2011 Giro d’Italia.

He looked over his shoulder to see where the riders pursuing him were and he lost control of his bike, crashing face down.  It’s not been said how fast he was going, but around 60kph may be a good estimate.  Medical staff tried to resuscitate him, although he had died instantly.

The tributes paid to him the following day were quite touching.  The race carried on, but at a reasonably sedate pace – for those riders anyway!  Each team took a stint on the front of the bunch before passing to the next.  Even though there wasn’t any ‘exciting’ cycling to see, the roads were still jam packed with spectators not cheering, but just clapping and many of them holding up the number ‘108’ – the number Wouter carried during the race.

At the finish line, Leopard Trek, the team he rode for, went ahead of the other riders and crossed the line with their arms round each other’s shoulders.  They even called forward Tylar Farrar from the Garmin team to join them.  He lives in Belgium near to where Wouter lived and they were best friends.

That’s one of the things I like about cycling – the camaraderie.  Even in the face of adversity, the guys rally round and help each other.

 

Wouter Weyalndt.   1984 – 2011.  RIP.

Jerry was heading towards Germany today, leaving me for an extra day in Praha, but first, a quick visit to

U sadu

Škroupovo náměstí 5, Prague 3
222 727 072
Mon-Fri 08-04, Sat-Sun 09-04

The first thing you’ll notice about this place is the opening hours! 8am during the week and 9am on weekends, staying open till 4 the following morning! Again, a decent selection of 8 beers, including unfiltered Gambrinus 10. Oh – and free wifi! It’s not the easiest place to find in the middle of a housing estate.

Jihoměstský pivovar

Podjavorinské 1601/8, 149 00 Praha 4
222 352 242
Mon-Thu 11-23, Fri 11-24, Sat 12-24, Sun 12-23

Make sure you have a good map! Located a few minutes walk from Háje metro station in Jižní Město, Pragues biggest panelák housing estate appears to be just a grey concrete building from the outside, but inside is a German beer hall-esque restaurant and bar. They brew 5 of their own beers and the food’s rather good too!

Pivovarský Klub

Křižíkova 272/17, Praha 8
222 315 777
Daily 1130-2330

‘Only’ 6 taps, but bottled beers from 30 or so Czech breweries and even more from further afield. Quite a light, airy place that doesn’t allow smoking (!?!). Again, didn’t eat this time but have done in the past and it’s been fine.

Last year, me and Jemma got married.  For various reasons, our third attempt at a honeymoon (which I never seemed to blog about at the time…) was a holiday in Sete in the South of France.  This year, we were meant to do something ‘special’ as a replacement, but because of neither of us pulling our finger out and biting the bullet, that seemed to go by the way too.  In a way, that was possibly a good thing as one of the ideas was to visit China, and one of the areas we were looking at was quite badly affected by the monsoon rains.  India was also a possibility but again, they didn’t get away with their rainy season lightly either!

In the end, we cut our choices down to Mexico or Tunisia.  The hotel we’d seen in Mexico looked absolutely stunning – the ‘swim up’ rooms in particular!  The only down side is that there was nothing in the area outside of the hotel.  Cancun was around 25km away, so a bit far away for a quick trip should we want to pop out.

This left Tunisia and the resort of Hammamet as this was in the centre of one of the big tourist areas and close enough to Tunis for a visit there.  After a few tries at booking and then finding out that they were actually fully booked, we ended up with the ‘Le Sultan’ which didn’t look at all bad – rated 9 out of 120 hotels in Hammamet on Trip Advisor.

Apart from a stupidly early start (no Thompson, I’m not going to arrive 3 hours before an 06:30 flight when 1 will do!), the journey was pretty uneventful until we landed in Monastir.  I say uneventful – once we’d left UK airspace, there was very little cloud all the way to Africa and the views were breathtaking, especially over the French Alps.

Once we’d landed, the fun began.  Upon arrival in Tunisia, one must go through Customs and Immigration, and being out of the EU, controls are a little stricter, including filling in a landing card which is scrutinised by the authorities.  Multiply this by five plane loads of holidaymakers who’d all arrived on the first wave of flights from Manchester, Paris and wherever else and you end up in a queue for an hour.

After fighting through this queue, we were soon on our way to the hotel in a what seemed to be an underpowered mini coach.  The driver was really having to thrash the engine to keep up with traffic on the motorway, and from where I was sat, I could see the temperature gauge creeping up.  Finally, he pulled onto local roads for the last part of the journey and thankfully the dial dropped.

Check in at Le Sultan was swift – so swift in fact that we’d not even been up to the rooms before being ushered off for lunch in case we missed it!

Soon after, we were sat by the pool on the grassed area, enjoying the pool and the drinks served to us by the waiters, and this combination seemed to suit us for the rest of the week.

Several highlights / ‘points of interest’ during the week were

1 – Hammamet Medina.  On our first night we decided to pop into the centre of Hammamet and visit the Medina.  No sooner had we left our taxi did we bump into someone who was from our hotel.  He offered to show us around the Medina (which he did – very briefly) and we ended up at his “brother’s” shop.  After 20 minutes of him attempting to sell us overpriced, forged tat, he could see that he was getting nowhere and got very cross with us.  We left rather quickly.  Evidently, this is the latest scam in the area.  The strange thing was that we never did see him working at our hotel…  Later on, we did enjoy a German style beer brewed at the Brauhaus Gerbere.

2 – Tunis.  We went by train to Tunis and it was mad.  There was probably no other word for it.  We wondered around the Medina, or rather just went with the flow of the people and visited a few touristy sights.

3 – Scuba diving.  I went scuba diving and it was great.  I probably looked a bit of a treat on the practice session, wearing a wet suit and flapping my flippers by the hotel pool, but there you go!

4 – The Sultan Hotel.  Couldn’t complain.  The room was good, the pool excellent – especially with waiters bringing drinks and above all the food was first rate.  It seems to cater towards Tunisian and French tastes so no chicken nuggets or other rubbish!

5 – Mint tea.  It’s everywhere – tasty, and drunk in huge quantities.

I could be tempted to go back again…

I’ve visited a number of cycle races over the years, but never the Paris – Roubaix.  It’s one of the spring one day classics, over a duration this year of 259km – 53 of which were on cobbles!  Ow!

So, a short ride from Lille saw us in the small town of Orchies, and after a walk we were at ‘Secteur 12’ – a 1.7km stretch, graded difficulty 3 out of 5.  To get a good spot, we were there a couple of hours early and then waited.  Just over the cobbled road, the local town council had set up a refreshment area with some rather good local beer on sale!

Soon, the caravane came past, throwing their usual collection of tat publicity gifts to the masses.  Unfortunately, things then started to get busy.  Our ‘good spot’ gradually got worse until we were crammed in with quite a few other folk.  The riders came past in their usual blur, but as is the nature of this type of race, they were well spaced out with the rear most ones the best part of half an hour behind.

By this time, Jem had already popped across the road into the beer tent to secure a good seat to watch the rest of the race on the giant screen in there.  Judging by the volume of cheers in there, I assume most of the spectators were Belgian when they showed Tom Boonen break away and then go on to win the race!

It was a great day out – might have to pop it into next year’s diary…