A Punishing Schedule

Our punishing schedule, and that's just the beer,  takes us back to Brussels by local train where we then await the Eurostar back to London. It’s a good job L agreed to accompany me on this trip as I’m not sure I would have got anyone else through this sort of schedule.

While we wait for our connection in Brussels we have a Leffe Royale outside a bar there, which is a new beer to me and it's sort of a Pale Ale.

When we reach London via a small delay when someone is taken ill on the Eurostar we check into the Holiday Inn near Kings Cross.

L is feeling a bit beer-ed out by now and I am a bit too but only after failing to find anything exciting in the three bars we try. I end up with a glass of complimentary wine back at hotel.

(Sunday 5^th June)

The Little Bear

After a slightly disappointing hotel breakfast we pack up our belongings and our hangovers to grab a local train over to Bruges. We arrive too early to check in at our second hotel, another Ibis, so we loiter in a café at Bruges station for a while.

As L moves on to her third cup of tea, I can’t face another coffee because I am still tripping out from the first two. So perhaps it’s time for the first beer of the day. They have a dark Corsendonk on tap so I go for that. Only once it’s been served and I’m taking my first few sips do I look at the menu and realise that it’s 10% ABV.

After finding our hotel we head out for a wander around and then to hang out outside a bar to wait for our friends. The second beer of the day is the local Brugse Zot. I have the brune and L has the blonde, both are a little on the dull side.

Our friends are staying outside Bruges, a safe distance away where they can park their posh car, and they get a taxi in. When they arrive we head off for something to eat and end up in probably the most expensive restaurant in Bruges. The food though is very good, both L and I have the same thing (how twee), garlic mushrooms with Flemish Stew to follow. Both are good but the Stew is excellent as is the Westmalle Dubbel we wash it down with.

After that it’s to the famous Brugs Beertje. Bruges's Little Bear was the first speciality ale house in Bruges when it opened in 1983 and to many it is still the best. We empty their cellar of quite a few bottles between the four of us.

(Friday 3^rd June)

European Tour

Today we head off on a brief European Tour. Which naturally starts, as all good trips do, at the kennels in Ruddington. Then it’s to East Midlands Parkway where we get the train down to St Pancras. After a brief respite for a pint in the Parcel Yard at King's Cross we then get the Eurostar to Brussels. Which is possibly our last trip through before Boris bricks up the tunnel.

We are accompanied by Rachel Abbott and Stranger Child, on audio naturally. This is book four in the series of which I have read all three previous ones, L has read just the one. It’s not often I can brag about things like that.

We arrive at the Brussels Midi station and check into the local Ibis. Then it’s a matter of finding a decent bar. My research had detailed the Moeder Lambic Fontainas bar as being the best option and my research wasn’t wrong. The bar was listed as having one of the widest ranges of beers on tap in the country and there was an extensive menu on the table waiting for us, as well as a specials board. 

 We order far too many beers and also a plate of meats and cheese to try to soak things up.

It's an excellent night and we may have both avoided a next day hangover had the hotel not been offering Leffe Brune on draft, which is something you just don’t see in the UK anymore...

(Thursday 2^nd June)