Three cheers for Christmas

The annual Christmas pike social is an eagerly awaited day in my anglers diary - to be honest it is not just about the catching of pike for me, but the joy of being out before Christmas when others are rushing about with last minute preparations. The joy of good company, fine pork pie, mince pies, tea, Christmas spirit and all being well a hip flask of medicinal spirit to keep the chill away.

This year did not disappoint - they never do. Always some drama to make then day memorable and this year there was the added spice of a new stretch of the Stour to fish. I have an obsession with the writings and fishermen of the Victorian age and I like to think old Francis Francis and JW Martin would enjoy these days, so I always think of them on such occasions and raise my bankside glass to them - never forgotten.  

The river looked perfect as it had just fined down after the recent heavy rains. We exchanged cards, presents and stories and it was one of those days when watching the nature around us would have been just enough. The pike had other plans though and it was not until later in the day as the light was starting to fade that our bauble like floats twitched as pike started to search out their festive feast...........we had devoured ours and it was their turn now to seek out the spratts.

Much merriment, landing of fish, the drama of unhooking, admiring, nurturing of such a fine species before being gently returned to their watery Christmas home. The glass of Christmas beer I raised to old Esox was very sweet that evening as I sat in quiet contemplation of a day most generous. Three cheers for old Esox and three cheers for Christmas!

Cerne Abbas - then and now

The Royal Oak, Cerne Abbas - John Piper

The Royal Oak, Cerne Abbas - John Piper

The Royal Oak, Cerne Abbas - 2017

Rogers & Strong

To say I was chuffed to bits with these two beauties is an understatement. Found whilst walking ankle deep in a Purbeck Stream after trout they will soon be cleaned and displayed in the shed.

I don't know a great deal about either - Rogers of Bristol (the larger of the two) is from the old brewery of Old Market in the city. Strong's of Romsey and Wareham is equally intriguing. I know of the old brewery in Romsey but did not realise they had a brewery in Wareham - more research required.

Rogers and Strong has a good feel about it - much like Flanders and Swann, Monk and Canatella and Flanagan and Allen don't you think? Yet again I will get my coat.

Big brew

Just about to do what I call a big brew. This will keep me, family and friends going over Christmas and into the New Year.......then I will be dry for a month or so. A big batch of home brew is very welcome to compliment the bottles of artisan ales in the larder. The days of grim beer kits are over by the way. There is a huge choice out there and most of it very good.

First stage is to clean the bottles and what a collection. One pint, two pint heavy dark and brown with Bakelite screw stoppers. Some came from the old Whitbread Brewery in Cheltenham when it closed and others from Stroud, Worcester and Bridport. Let the brewing commence.      

R&R

It's been a long old slog since Christmas. Not much time off for R&R so the weekends are even more welcome - crack open the beer. The Norfolk ales are just hanging on in there, last few now....and the home brew of course!

Jan and Feb.....

........lowest ebb. So the old saying goes. I am fully signed up to this and only just start to come out of the gloom into February when the first of the snowdrops appear. After the Twelfth Night celebrations I sort of go into hibernation - sod all this get fit new year resolution malarkey. Who really wants all that during the glooming time of the year? Most folks just want to curl up in front of the fire with a syrup pudding open the port and just get through it, me included.......until about now. 

There has been a paucity of posts and there is good reason - been too cold to go fishing, too cold and grim to do anything. But I do sense we may be breaking through to the other side. I do feel we are on the cusp of something. The light is changing, the birds are louder and the sun of the last few days is slightly warming when out of the wind. I even thought of dusting down the fly tackle in readiness for the spring! No doubt it will all come crashing down before then, but at the moment there is the end of this coarse fishing season to look forward to - anyone for a pike? 

Dim parcio

The recent trip to Sussex was filled with delights - not just the visit to the the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne and a visit to Furlongs (more of this another time), but an idle interlude exploring the exquisite village of Firle which is nestled in the heart of the Sussex Downs did not disappoint.

The days events were pretty much in the hands of my good friend Demus and I am pleased he knew I would appreciate this delightful village. Not just for the Ravilious and Charleston connections, but just the sheer simplicity and attractiveness of the place.

A very fine lunch in The Ram Inn with a couple of pints of Harveys finest Lewes ales was just the ticket before a gentle stroll around the village and extremities of Firle Place estate. I was more than interested to hear about the Gage family who own the estate as Sir Thomas Gage (1781-1820) was a horticulturalist who introduced the greengage plum to the British Isles. The labels on the trees he brought back from the monks at Chartreuse were lost and the fruit was subsequently named greengage after Thomas.

The 13th Century St Peter's Church which is surrounded by east Anglianesque flinted walls contains a large stained glass window by John Piper depicting Blake's Tree of Life.

After filling our pockets with conkers it was time to wend our way, but I have a feeling I will return..........there is much to explore in this lovely fold of the Sussex Downs.  
  

Don't forget the beer, dear

A bonus as a result of our little jaunt back up to the Cotswolds was that I was able to get a little supply of some beers from one of my favourite breweries. Not just a bit of old nostalgia, as this beer was drunk during halcyon days, but it is very fine indeed. So fine that all their beers would be in my Top 10. Praise indeed!

The Donnington Brewery is one of life's treasures - beer as beer should be and brewed in one of the most stunning locations beer could ever be brewed in. Just outside Stow-on-the-Wold by a lovely millpond where water is drawn from a spring. I remember, quite a few years ago now, popping in to ask if the brewery could supply the beer at our wedding reception and was given an impromptu guided tour and tasting by Claude Arkell who ran the brewery until his death in 2007. It was like stepping back in time - my sort of place with floors that creaked, fixtures and fittings that were not just pleasing to the eye, but were just right and not a computer in sight. Lovely to be reacquainted with it again - cheers!

Friday Ditty Pt 3

I know, I know where's the music? I Couldn't let this one pass you by with the legendary Bernard Miles. Now where did I put that bottle opener?

Where green roads meet

The Captain says I don't need any encouragement these days to open a bottle of beer. I do try to put a celebratory slant to it, but sometimes it is just a fitting way to close a day.

This weekend has been highly enjoyable and I am not ashamed to say a few splendid ales sampled , not just because it is an extra long one and there is the exciting prospect of additional days off with the nippers this week due to half-term, but it has been one of those weekends where all green roads meet.

The commute home on Friday was tortuous, so I decided to divert along my most favourite route which wends its way from the Upper Stour valley across the finest hills that West Dorset has to offer and back down into the valley of the Brit. The weather was foul, but on reaching Eggardon the odd crack in the clouds made for a splendid moment to stop, get out of the car and breath. I could just make out Golden Cap to the far west and Pilsdon to the north with Yellowhammers the only sound to accompany the wind.

The May blossom is so fine this year. Up on the high road it is like a carpet of snow. The cow parsley and early elderflower that compliment the blossom makes the whole scene almost dairy like - I think of scones and jam to go with the cream it is so vivid.

I did the same route again the day after - en route to one of the most enjoyable Golden Scale Club AGM's for a long time. Each year is enjoyable, but this year it just hit the spot. Fine friends and fine beer. I just had to have another when I got home and I am ashamed to say it was another that I bought just for the label!

A lively little number as you can see, refreshing and sweet with citrus notes. Humpty Dumpty Brewery (Reedham, Norfolk), Reedcutter Ale - it is in fact the last of my Norfolk brews that filled the car on our return from Summer hols last year. A fitting end to a golden day!     

You can judge a beer by its label

I admit, on this occasion, I did buy this beer because of the label. It's so simple and the colouring is superb - blue on yellow and uncluttered. Simply states: Contains malted barley! A lovely light snifter at 3.2% ABV from our local brewery. Nice yellow cap too. Would go very nicely with a bag of chips I thought - wrapped in newspaper of course. I make no apologies for the glass.

Talking of beer labels, I have been searching for the labels created by Edward Bawden for an age. He did them in the 1950's I think. The brewery was Walkers of Warrington who brewed a lovely sounding Brown Peter Ale. Anyhow, with the wonders of modern technology I have unearthed them here along with some other quite lovely EB items for your edification.

That's why they're special

Looking forward to the next classic diesel gala and beer festival in Dorset at the Swanage Railway later this week. It's a perfect day out for chaps who are still little boys at heart and you get to drink beer too!

As a child I was fascinated by the huge English Electric locomotives, in particular the Deltic. Living in the BR Western Region we never saw them, only on special trips along the east coast, Kings Cross or York. They were rumoured to be so huge that they were unable to go under our bridges! This was a time when we had locomotives, remember those? A rare sight to actually see a real train these days and if you do it will be one shipped to this country from the USA. How times change. 

This 1980's footage from ITN News is priceless........as a treat in the New Year I was taken to Kings Cross and watched all this unfold......I was there! Check out the driver, Leonard Smith, after 33 secs and the chap calling "Len, Len" and quickly realising he is being filmed. The young lad at 40 secs...............spot me if you can!   

Much calmer and set fair!

The old barometer hasn't swung this far to the right for what seems like months. I have a sneaking suspicion it may go even further into uncharted waters next week. That's just fine for me as it's the last week of the coarse fishing season and as per usual there is a flurry of activity here at Straker Towers. Plans are hatched, tackle is assembled and polished, sandwiches made and picnics thought of, maggots curried and lobworms nurtured. High pressure at last knockings at seasons end is something to celebrate. No cowering under an Efgeeco brolly and damp escaping bait to contend with!

Before all that though it's time for a celebratory pint of Brancasters finest and a firm favourite of mine - Oyster Catcher. There will be much more of this over the next few days I can tell you. Spring is on its way!  

When the wind is from the west.......

......the fish bite the best!

 

I hadn't noticed it before. On a recent yomp around Wareham I glanced up looking for the buzzard I could hear mewing and my eyes were drawn to the lovely weather vane at Lady St Mary church near The Priory and of course the Dorset Frome. Is it a salmon, sea trout, roach or a dace? Who knows. All frequent this part of the Frome, but what a mighty fine sight it is. Praise be to Izaak!  

 

 

A couple of splendid Corfe Castle Brewery ales were purchased for my enjoyment at home. I particularly liked the malty burnt caramel tones of the Gloriette. Perfect for an early autumnal evening with a good book.

A Sussex Adventure and Sweet Chavender

Our eagerly awaited jaunt to the edge of the Sussex Downs could not have come sooner..........de-humidifiers left on warp speed for two weeks would do our lovely home the world of good and on locking the door we could at least try to forget the torment of recent weeks.

I know little of Sussex - I have friends who live and fish there and I've been beguiled by a friends story of how he completed the South Downs Way and other than a Sherlock Holmes story of a Sussex Vampyre it has passed me by. It's always been on my list of places to investigate though.

The two weeks flew by, almost as quickly as our de-humidifiers, and fishing was never far from my mind - for me as an angler not to have cast a line for anything since the glorious 16th of June was torture. Plans were hatched to at least wet a line on my return home, so I contented myself with taking in the sun, drinking the local ale and drinking the words of John Gierach. My pals Fennel and Demus had both gifted me Gierach books in recent times and I'm ashamed to say they had not been reached in my reading pile so in honour of them both I fast tracked them to top o' pile.

There must have been some sort of harmonic convergence going on as by the end of the first week I still hadn't found a corker of a beer or a corker of a pub - these are the must haves for me on an adventure...........I had found a nice little bottled ale, very pleasant lightly chilled at the beach (Arundel Brewery Sussex Gold), but it was just alright, something was missing. I remember having a chat with Bernard Venables about how we would both spend hours driving around on family trips trying to find the right pub and the right beer.......many would be rejected to the amazement of passengers and this is what I am like too, it has to be just right, one element out of place and it's no good. I know some of my other friends do this too, so it can't just be me.

Courtesy Demus Canning

Then it happened, we had returned from the beach and my phone rang, it was Ferneyhough to see how things were - "you must try the Black Horse at Byworth" he said. "It's just your cup of tea, I wrote about it in Casting at The Sun and I think we even had a Golden Scale bash or two there in the 80's before you joined, give it a go, it may be just what you are after" - it was. Flowerpots, Andwells and Langhams brew ale that could have been made by the fairies as I had never heard of them, I soon became well acquainted.

I had made great plans to visit all sorts of places, drag the children to far flung corners of the downs, take in Ravilious vistas and generally arse about but all we did and all we needed to do was recharge and this we did mainly on the beach which was alright by me. Perhaps another time.

So, I am pleased to say that since returning home life is slowly returning to some sort of normality..............I have actually been fishing and after such an enforced sabbatical it would always be my bolt hole that is the Avon that won the toss for the venue.

Scalding temperatures meant evening would be my best bet, but after so long on the sidelines I actually arrived as mist was whorling off the meadows and river. A secret nook by a small sallow bush which is known to contain a monster or two was where I layed my jacket as a seat and dropped a huge lobworm into the slow river just my side of the crease. I could see chub, barbel and bream and I really did not care who was hungry for my bait and rather fittingly it was a glorious chub that was first to oblige. I adore Avon chub. Then two Avon bream followed of around 6-7lbs each - now I have never been a fan of bream since a week in Ireland as a schoolboy in the back of a mini-bus with the rest of the school angling society. Coupled with the stench of a weeks bream slime from bream bashing on the Shannon to keep us company and the vomit from six unwashed twelve year old schoolboys high on bream you may understand where this prejudice came from.

I put the two splendid bream down to my lucky vintage Portmeirion bream tea mug, it always brings me some sort of luck on the Avon. I had a few more chub before going down with barbel fever and duly caught nothing more. I should have listened to my rational self - ignore those double figure barbel that keep ghosting in over your bait, you don't need one today - enjoy the moment and if one comes along then thank him most profusely. Barbel fever kicked in and it served me right that they were too canny for me.   

As night fell I was more than happy with my lot -  time is a great healer and I do now actually like bream - well, Avon bream. They do seem a bit different........less slimy!      

The Beer Engine

The annual Swanage Railway Diesel Gala and Dorset Beer Festival is a permanent entry in my diary every year ........... I won't bore you with all the locomotive terminology and speak, I'll save that for another day, but needless to say this years bash was highly enjoyable.

The organisers were completely shot to pieces by the non arrival of the main stars of the show due to a loco failure up country. Being a West Country diesel hydraulic anorak I was most disappointed that Warship Class 42 Greyhound would not be attending.

The picture below (at Minehead on the West Somerset Railway) will give you an idea of what I am talking about.

The Swanage Railway did a fantastic job in re-organising the whole timetable and are to be applauded for putting on another splendid gala .......... the beer was magnificent too! It's not often I put all my eggs in one basket, but this year I only sampled beer from one brewery. One, I am ashamed to say, I did not even know existed.

After sampling a pint of Sixpenny Brewery 6D Best Bitter that was it - I was hooked. All magnificent brews (I especially enjoyed the 6D Gold) and when I pass by the village, which I often do, I'll be calling in for some draught cask ale to enjoy at home. The Sixpenny Brewery certainly made up for the lack of a Warship. Cheers!