The Keswick Beer Festival 2013, this year with added Graham

It was that time of the year again, the 17th Keswick Beer festival, my 17th Keswick Beer Festival, Nigel’s, to our surprise, 11th, we thought he’d only done 10 and Graham’s 1st after years of putting up with me telling him how great it is.

Thursday 6th June.

An early start for me and Graham to miss the southern rush so we can enjoy the northern emptiness,



still the advantage of this time of the year is it soon get’s light so after only 80 odd miles and well under 2 hours we had our first fuelling stop at Cambridge,



before the chilly sprint up the A14 and A1, at least it wasn’t raining this year.



Good progress was made and, after a brief rider refuelling stop at Ferrybridge Services, where we got to enjoy a stationary M62 from a safe distance, we continued north on some much nicer roads.











Another brief stop at Boroughbridge.







it was back to the northerly run as the weather brightened slightly,







before finally turning west and, after a refuelling stop in Caterick, we got up into the Yorkshire Dales.

After hitting the high spot crossing the Pennines,





we headed down towards Cumbria.





Since it wasn’t, in the great scheme of things, a bad day and we were running early we took a bit of a detour down towards Tebay and Kendal then up the A6 across Shap and over around Ulswater,









then looping over into Keswick.





370 miles for the day.

You are on a roll!

Yeah I know, it's just like the buses, nothing for ages then they all come along together

If ever there was a reason for a ride this is it.

Arriving at our hotel in plenty of time Graham had his little accident, putting the bike onto the main stand he managed to throw his back out, still after a little anaesthetic,



and a little walk to allow him to get his bearings and loosen up a bit,









we waited for Nigel to decide to turn up after his 'amazingly lengthy' journey all the way from Biggar, south west of Edinburgh. Finally the burble of an approaching Akraprovic announced his arrival,



so all signed in and sorted we went off to hit the Keswick pubs, firstly for the all important snack time at The Bank Tavern,



before setting off to the Keswick Beer Festival’s sponsors evening and to find out exactly what beer we were sponsoring this year.



It was, as ever, good (I’m quite familiar with this beer, worked in Sheffield for a while last year and wandered into the brewery tap on a number of occasions, very nice pork pies) although another beer did catch my eye,



a really nice chocolate stout flavour followed by a burning sensation, very nice but very strange, then after checking out the bars,









enjoying the entertainment (Howay (Allix Atherton & Andy Hughes), rather good I thought),



and the annual meeting up with old friends.



A pleasant way to spend an hour or so and the beer is free



Speaking of old <s>drunks</s> friends,



back up to the Dog and Gun we, as expected, bumped into the Judas Priest boys (so named due to our first meeting them at Keswick many, many years ago due to some mutual Judas Priest t-shirts).





So after a few beers and our usual rubbish performance in the Thursday pub quiz we headed back to the hotel with the normal diversion, good times.

Friday 7th June

Dawn, err, dawned and the day looked pretty good,





so after a nice breakfast myself and Graham went off for a bit of a stroll so he could try and ease his back while Nigel went back to bed so he could try and ease his hangover!

Down to Crossthwaite church,







then along the old railway,



through the old Keswick station and up to the viaduct that crosses the River Greta,







then through the park,



down to Derwent Water,







and back to the hotel.

By now Nigel had ‘recovered’ so we set off down to Thirlmere,







then on down to Ambleside and over to Great Landale, Nigel as is his wont got a wee bit excited when we sailed past the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel and was shouting at me that he thought we were stopping, I pointed out we were in fact going to the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel which relaxed him, in fact he got rather eager!



After a brief stop,



well not so brief as Nigel’s capacity for food was once more to the fore (I wish I knew where the thin git puts it all )



we set off,



at Graham’s request, over Wrynose and Hardknot passes, a good workout for slow speed bike control (which I almost failed when I was a bit too enthusiastic with the throttle at one climbing 120° right hand bend)



















Despite the weather looking quite threatening coming over the passes it started to brighten as we began the descent,



and once we got to the coast it was suddenly looking very nice again.







after a refreshment stop we headed back up the coast then back inland to Keswick, a little 87 mile trek.

Oh my word, I'd not been paying attention and almost missed that was my 2000th post in a 'mere' 9 years, where has the time gone?

After some freshening up and some refreshment at the hotel,



where Nigel showed the iPad makes the worlds most ludicrous camera,



we headed off for the evenings festivities, the first public night at the beer festival.



the weather helping to keep the inside fairly comfortable as most people were sitting outside.



the rest of the evening was the usual round of catching up with friends,





oh and of course the costumes that seem to turn up more every year!







Then there is the entertainment,





but really it’s all about the beer and the end of day trip to the Old Keswickian!

Saturday 8th June

Another good looking start to the day,



and today it was a Manx kipper for breakfast :dg



while the chaps stayed with their more traditional fare.



Then while Nigel again ‘rested’ following last night, myself and Graham went for a stroll to try and ease his increasingly aching back. Down along the River Greta,









then down to Derwent Water,



along to Friars Crag,







and back to the hotel for a little refreshment.

great stuff ! can't beat the old fish suppers, full brecky and beer ! been round some of these places when i lived in Scotland...j.f.

Now Scotland has some great riding! And fish suppers!!

Nigel had by now returned to the land of the living but, as he had the long ride home tomorrow and his back still didn’t love him very much, Graham sadly decided to forgo any riding so it was just myself and Nigel who set off,





heading east towards Penrith then on towards Alston and the climb to Hartside Top,



where on the way up we saw one Ducati embedded in an earth bank, fortunately the rider looked okay and he had plenty of help around him, and where this followed me all the way up, Nigel having squirted off ahead.



As always Hartside Top is a very popular stopping off point for a cup of tea and a pasty,









then we set off continuing east until the outskirts of Alston where we headed north









then heading back south west around Carlisle and back across the moors,



then dropping back south to Keswick,



stopping off here,



for a final cup of tea before the long ride back to the hotel,



about a minutes ride away just the other side of the pub .

Every little counts and that took us to 92 miles for the day.

Back at the hotel,



we collected Graham,



and headed off to the George for a light snack,







then off to the festival to see what state it, and the visitors, were in since it had been open all day.











As usual the cider had taken a bit of a pasting,







and before we knew it, it was all over for another year so we headed back to the hotel, didn’t even pop into the Old Keswickian since we were still so full from the George!

Looks like a good do.

If there is beer involved, I'm in:

It's usually the first weekend in June, tickets go on sale the end of November and the Saturday ones sell out pretty quickly so get them early

Sunday 9th June

After the success of last years extra day, despite this year not having the convenient extra bank holidays, Nigel and I were staying up but Graham had to head off with some assistance in getting the luggage loaded,





and after a worrying moment when his bike wouldn’t start, turned out the clutch interlock wire had come adrift, he finally made his exit,



while we headed off for a gentle run past Derwent Water,



and down to Borrowdale,







before climbing up over Honister Pass,











and dropping down to Buttermere.





Then we went back up to Cockermouth and over to a nice piece of road we know,





were I got some video of Nigel riding his bike …… enthusiastically ,



before heading back to Keswick where enthusiasm was slightly curtailed,



but at least the Filling Station Café looked after us.



A nice simple 47 miles.

After a little post ride refreshment,



we headed off down to Keswick,



so I could get my Goulash fix at the Dog and Gun,



then we wandered through the town,







ending up at the Pheasant Inn for one last beer, or two,



before calling it an early night and heading back to the hotel.





Okay, almost an early night.