On the Road Again!

Thought we'd try this. Bought in Waitrose Hythe. Not bad but the first sip has the taste buds exploding!!!

We decided to have breakfast in the hotel and then leave. It wasn't cheap but you could eat enough to make sure that lunch wasn't needed. Over breakfast a couple of other guys said that there had been an accident after the racing and they couldn't get on the D338 from the Le Mans ring road.  It must have been behind us as we had no problems getting back to the hotel. Can only hope the riders are all okay. We left at a few minutes to 10am.TomTom decided to come back a different way to the one we went out. The N12 and N154 instead of the variants of the 138/338/438 that was formerly simply the N138. The route includes some sections of dual carriageway and single. The limit goes up and down depending on whether there's a "median" or not. The blanket 80kph limit outside towns stretched to 90 on some sections where they have a passing lane. Usually these were less than a kilometre! Must be fun on busy days stuck behind a truck! We made good progress to Rouen and on...

Probably not the cheapest way to buy beer, but it does give the opportunity to try beers that are not generally available in shops and supermarkets. I cancelled the February delivery as I was way behind with the December and January packs.  They have all gone and so now we are expecting March to arrive any day now. Looks like another international batch! Beer52 ​

Even though we didn't have to be at the Shuttle terminal for our train to France until 1015 or so we still had to have an early start. I had to take Reggie off to his weekend away at Wyncot Kennels. Once again he was excited as I turned into the drive and he positively ran off with the kennel lady, again without a backward glance to his Dad standing in the reception area. Back at the house Claire was doing the last minute packing. The new Saddlemen FTB3600 bag was getting filled with our "duds" that we would need for the ceremony.  The waterproof bags that I bought last year would have other stuff for two days and two evenings in Amiens.  They fit snugly in the panniers as long as they aren't overfilled. With rain looking highly likely I fitted the Saddlemen with its supplied waterproof cover. It's bright yellow to help other road users see us in the spray and gloom! Saddlemen FTB We were away via a petrol stop to top off t...

Desperados I was looking in the Carrefour for a different beer to bring home. Found this. Desperados. A beer with the flavour of tequila. I saw a few people drinking it in a bar in Rouen. But once the bottle is opened rather than tasting a little sharp, it tastes like shandy. Strong shandy though at 5.9% ABV, but not really tequila tasting!!  

After drinking a few beers whilst away for the two days in Belgium, the Liefmans and Jupiler, plus a Maes Pils or two. I bought a couple to bring home that might prove a little on the strong side. We hardly bat an eyelid when we buy wine and the alcohol level is about 11.5% to 13% ABV. So why the surprise with beer? The Kaiser is a mere 7.8% ABV and I am going to theme drink this when I watch the Germans play in the Euro Qtr Final. Ironically, it is actually brewed in the Netherlands, the team sent home after losing to Germany in the championships! The other is a bit more of a blaster. The Gordon Finest Platinum weighs in at a surprising 12% ABV. Although it comes with a tartan label and a Scottish sounding name it is brewed in Belgium. If I  theme drink this one is could mean a long wait until Scotland manage to reach a championship. As the drink by date is 6th October 2013, they may have qualified for the 2014 World Cup, but I doubt it! I'll have to see how ...

It might seem strange to some of us that the Belgians brew beer with fruit added during the process. Basically it's what we call lager or pilsner, but with added red fruits, often cherries or in some cases raspberries. One I know of has strawberry juice. The one here is red fruit! Cherry as well as raspberries. It's quite fruity as expected but quite potent.

And Mr Cameron, more than 40p per unit already..... So hands off you Eton toff.

Kirin Ichiban 5% ABV. , originally uploaded by InvictaMoto . Drunk cold very refreshing.

Sharp's Doom Bar , originally uploaded by Vioz RuBoK . At The Providence in Sandgate

With BMW doing its best to annoy me, I had to get a few other Germans round...   The Berliner Kindl is the one I had tonight. Another standard German brew that is crisp to the tongue when drunk straight from the fridge. http://www.berliner-kindl.de/intro.php

... these two buddy's were needed. The Tucher Übersee was very nice. Made to the standard German legal recipe, but all the same a crisp brew with no after taste. http://www.tucher.de/home_int.html  

Pivovar Herold. Very nice and only £1.12 a bottle from Asda. http://www.pivovar-herold.cz/

Beer of the Week. Hollandia from Asda; 3% ABV for the princely sum of 90p for four cans. BARGAIN. Much better taste than the 4% Triple Filtered Stella Artois of last week!