On Friday 30th August I, along with my good lady set off for Portsmouth to join a ship that would take us around the UK and back to Portsmouth in 12 days; this thread will highlight the highlights!
We stopped off on the way at the Southwick Brewhouse, an old steam brewery with a bottle, can and cask ale shop within it. A very pleasant place with all five of their ‘Suthwyk Ales’ for sale in both cask and bottles. We bought all five and a few other bottles while there.
We then proceeded on board and was a little disappointed to find only one beer on tap in each bar. The ship is registered in Madeira with the companies head office in London, so seeing Bitburger Pilsner as the draft beer was a surprise! Luckily it was only £3:30 for 0.4 litre, plus there was a small selection of bottles and cans to choose from (no new rates for me though).
First port of call was Hull, yes I do spoil my wife don’t I?
Actually Hull was lovely, hadn’t been for years and we had a great afternoon visiting some interesting pubs while also taking in the old buildings and sights of the city.
Hull gave me five new place reviews and eleven new beer rates, could have been a lot more of each, but we also visited a ‘Freedom Festival’ and saw a fair bit of Hull while wandering the streets, even found the old Hull Brewery.
Second port of call was Kirkwall in The Orkneys. Visited two shops selling local bottles (picture of bottles below) and the Bothy Bar in the Albert Hotel, picked up two new rates in there; pleasant little town, cathedral and museum also visited.
On returning to the ship at Kirkwall we were informed the weather had altered, with strong winds and high seas forecast; we would be staying in Kirkwall overnight and not be visiting Stornaway on the Isle of Lewis the following day. A pity as I have never been to the Outer Hebrides. Tobermory on the Isle of Mull would therefore be Port No. 3.
The cruise line didn’t advertise it as a ‘Booze Cruise’, I did. Having a fridge in our cabin helped, as I had a couple of beers each night as we showered and changed for the evening meal. The ships policy was not to allow alcohol to be brought on board, but I had no problems when ever I had beer in my rucksack.
Tobermory (Balamory to thousands of childen) is a pretty little town with a colourful waterfront and not much else to see once you’ve walked it’s length. The best pub is called Mishnish and sells Belhaven beers, the Co-Op had a few local beers and I found another two bottles in a weird shop, ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ sort of place. Bought a new anorak too!
Next morning (Friday 6th Sep) we wake up in Belfast. Titanic Exhibition takes up the morning and we mange a few beers during the afternoon, three different locations used as we walked around the city.
Saturday was Dublin, it’s full of pubs! We walked around a lot and managed to drink in three fine bars while taking in ‘the sights’. I think I got nine new rates and a Guinness while in the city, plus some bottles in the rucksack.
Next morning we wake up at anchor off St Mary’s in the Isles of Silly, like Tobermory, it’s a tender to the land as there isn’t a deep enough quay for us.
Nice little town with a small selection of shops and pubs to wander around, we did an hours walk around the coast before looking for beer outlets and pubs. Bumped into an old work colleague and had a couple of pints with him in The Mermaid, already had some others in the Atlantic beforehand. Managed to find some Ales of Silly bottled stuff to take back on board too, so a successful day all round.
The Atlantic is a St Austell owned pub and I haven’t rated a cask ‘Proper Job’ or ‘Hicks’ apparently, I will when I get round to adding all the beers from the trip.
Last port of call was St Peter’s Port, Guernsey; another place I had never been to before. Managed four pubs and some bottles from the Co-Op as well as getting soaked as it rained all day. Again we used a tender to get in from the ship.
This is a Banks’s/Marstons pub, but they did have that Breda Pilsener/Lager on tap. I also had a pint of Lancaster Bomber while sheltering from the rain.
Portsmouth docks and home after a lovely 12 day cruise, 7 ports of call and 19 place reviews when I get round to finishing writing them. 18 new bottles came home with me and I think the total new rates I had while on the trip will be over 50.
All that and keeping the wife happy by having a bottle of wine with every evening meal, Gin & Tonics beforehand, more wine watching the show and then even more wine in the night club and staggering back to the cabin between 01:00 and 02:00 each morning.
