Monday 24 July 2017

Monday Monday

This was yesterday's plan..
..except that 8 of us arrived at the Bridge Access Car Park with dark clouds looming and a forecast for heavy rain. I think we were all pretty much in agreement when Elena and Helen suggested doing a shorter road road route! I would say it was the right decision as the rain was pretty heavy by the time we got to Balmerino. We did discuss continuing up the hill but decided the misery of cycling up a steep hill in the rain definitely outweighed any sense of accomplishment we might have felt at the top. It's not like you'd even really be able to enjoy the descent either in the wet. One of the ladies suggested a slight detour through Balmerino so it wasn't entirely a 'there and back' ride - I was sold by the description of the route as a 'Postman Pat route'. As we cycled up and down the narrow lane, past lovely old cottages and pretty gardens I knew exactly what she meant!
As the route no longer included Tayport we ended up stopping for brunch at kitschnbake.co.uk in Newport which is fast becoming a favourite! Thinking it sounded relatively healthy, I ordered the cheesy beans on toast, and if pretty much a whole tin of beans counts as healthy then it passed that test....
I actually couldn't finish the mountain of beans, cheese and toast in the end, which is really saying something!
Typically, the rain had actually gone off by the time we left to head back to the bridge car park! Still, it meant I could take some pictures of the Magellan cruise ship that was docked for a couple of days before it's trip to Iceland.




As you can see, it's some size. One day we'll probably book ourselves a cruise, either to Iceland or the Norwegian Fjords. You can usually get a 2 for 1 offer if you book far enough in advance, and although lots of things about cruising don't appeal (onboard entertainment, dodgy buffets...) it's probably the best way to see the Fjords.
As it was a shorter ride than planned I didn't need much persuading to go for a walk to Jessie's Kitchen in the afternoon, and it had actually turned into a pleasant day by then.  My strawberry meringue was very pretty but a bit of a challenge to eat!
Beer wise this week, we headed down to Duke's Corner on Friday for their fruit beer weekend.  I had a Lingonberry tart saison by Alpha State, which was absolutely as advertised - a dry, tart saison you could almost mistake for a cider. Perhaps unsurprising, being from Kent. Most of the other beers they were on sounded suspiciously like IPAs, so I opted for a Cranachan Killer - which according to Untappd I last checked in almost exactly a year ago in Brewdog, so I was definitely due another glass! It's a very fruity raspberry beer, and a beautiful colour, though hard to tell in a dark pub...


We had one for the road in Brewdog where they were doing a showcase of beers from an Australian brewer Prancing Pony. I went for the intriguing sounding expedition strength stout 'Magic Carpet Midnight Ride'. It wasn't bad, but I'd say it didn't quite live up to the name. Maybe I've been spoiled by Tempest's Mexicake and some of the Brewdog 'AB' series but it just didn't have enough disticntive flavours for a beer of that strength (9%) for me - maybe it just didn't travel well.
Saturday night was a beer and a film kind of night, so we watched the brilliant Sing Street and I finally had the Drygate breakfast stout that's been in the fridge for a few weeks now
Tasty, if a bit sweet. I'm a sucker for quirky can art, and Drygate do this pretty well.
As Dave's off Coast to Coasting next weekend I may well have a weekend off the beers, though hopefully not off the bike!

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