Just recovering from a punishing day out on Friday with our colleague Gordon. By an amazing coincidence it transpired he had family in the Derbyshire pit village where I spent my formative years, and as we exchanged blogs it became apparent that we also shared a passion for Steam Trains and Real Ale. So where better to spend a day than the Barrow Hill (Chesterfield) Roundhouse Rail Ale Beer Festival. It was a bit of a mad idea as it was a much greater challenge for me than I'm used to, but I figure what's the point of rotting at home? Armed with train tickets, beer list (courtesy of Gordon) and portable oxygen I prepared to boldly go...etc. Gordon was at Chesterfield when we arrived and we caught the courtesy bus to the festival. There was a good walk (for me) to the first beer tent but I was happy to collapse into the nearest chair and take the first of many beers in the day. We eventually made our way by slow progression to the Derbyshire bar which was sited in the Roundhouse itself. Gordon even managed a chip butty and a train ride but I contented myself with the shuttle to and fro to the portaloo and the bar. Well time to catch the bus home came sooner than we wanted but knowing it would be a slow walk I set off nice and early and we were near the front of the queue but alas the bus was very late in arriving and it turned into a bit of a dash at Chesterfield station to catch a pre-booked train. My oxygen was low by now so I had to turn it down to conserve it, but we just managed to collapse onto the train after saying a quick goodbye to Gordon, and I'd just about got my breath back by the time we got to Derby. I was somewhat dishevelled by now and had lost my e-ticket and beer catalogue, but fortunately there was no ticket inspector on the train as I wouldn't have fancied trying to explain my dilemma to him! We reached our destination at Tamworth and I used the last bit of my oxygen to change platforms and exit the station. My mate's wife picked us up and once home I was straight back on my concentrator and had a full day yesterday on it recovering. I can't go out anyway until my delivery of portables on Monday. So now I'm feeling better today ,my daughter's cooking a nice chilli, the wife has a smooth Languedoc just opened, and I've got some bottles of Broadside for later when we have a family games night. Hair of the dog. I blame Gordon.
PS We're doing it again next year (health permitting and all are welcome to join us). What a great sight it would be to see the site well represented. Hey Dall, get those new lungs and you can join us.
Love to all, nice to have a controversy free weekend.
Written by
warwickstag
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I take my hat off to you (well I would if I had one ) It sounds like a lot of hard work but the end result was a good day out, so glad you enjoyed the day and lovely to hear you met up with Gordan too and you both had a good time, make sure you do it again next year and hopefully more from the site will join you. I am sure this will appeal to a lot of members travel permitting Best wishes Juliex
Yes it was a punishing day in many ways and I paid for it yesterday but I figure these days are special and memorable and really worth making the effort for. I spend too much of my life saying I can't do that, so yes it was worth it. If it proves to be a pilot for next year we will plan it better, allowing more time to allow for rests and I won't go with a part full portable next time. I know there are loads of people on here to whom this would be a bridge too far, and no doubt that will apply to me sooner rather than later but for now I'm hoping to be there in 2014.
It was a very good day out, but I think we've both suffered afterwards for pushing it too far. I have recently finished some AB's and steroids, so was feeling reasonably fit for once. I pumped myself up on my meds before I set off and I think the beer and good company helped too I've not been anywhere for the last 2 days as my legs are stiff like tree stumps and they really ache, my chest is still tight and I've not slept very well - punishment for taking a day out !
The festival is not CAMRA organised, which is a plus point it seems. Not half as officious and a heck of a lot more beer on offer. Over 500 barrels I was told. Not that either of us got far in to double figures (half pints), never mind triple. After finding our way inside we set up a base next to the Derbyshire bar, where David stayed and let his friends bring the beers back. I went for little wanders to different bars. It's a good job there were queues there, to help me get my breath back before going back to the table. Talk about propping up the bar, it was propping me up as I waited to be served
The worst of the walking was from the bus to the gate and back, everything else was a reasonably short hop. a few yards to the main bar, similar to the train rides, and the loo! I found the food area, a pretty good selection to say it's normally a train shed, miles from anywhere! For the steam spotters, there was a Black 5 and Blue Peter in the main shed, I was looking more at the beer I'm afraid.
It was a good trip to do as transport was pretty easy. From home to the Interchange, on to a train to Sheffield, swap platform to Chesterfield, then a free bus outside the station direct to the event. With my pass it cost me nothing to Sheffield and then just £4.80 return to Chesterfield, so a cheap journey. The only problems were crowded trains and not being able to get seats so easily.
As suggested, next year we could make this at a site event, get as many people as possible from here to go along ? To get the flavour see facebook.com/media/set/?set...
Thanks for the suggestion and hope to see you (all) next year !
I don't know nowadays.All I know is that with all the medication(up to 17 a day) I am on I have been told that one alcholic drink could could kill me, And for someone that was in the licenced trade all their life!!!!!!!.Strangely I don't miss it..
This is such a lovely heartwarming story, hope you guys meet up again soon, maybe we should organise a wheezy breezy day out for us all, somewhere central and near a premier inn, x x
How central can you get? Chesterfield in Derbyshire was the venue, Slap bang in the middle of the country. On a mainline train service from London St Pancras, with connections or even direct services from Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield and many more. A Premier Inn just a kilometre away, plus many other places to stay locally.
But, it's hilly. It needs an event like the Rail Ale festival as an attraction and meeting point. Anyone staying over should be able to get to the railway station quite easily, and pick up the free bus service there. Just a pity we have to wait for next year now, unless anyone has any other suggestions?
For example: The Derby Summer Beer Festival is July 10th to 14th, it's the next stop down the line Entry tickets are £5, but you can't book daytime tickets online for some reason.
Ps I remember getting pissed on tonic water, my aunt used to drink gin and tonic, and I thought it was the tonic water that was alcoholic, see, the power of the mind, don't need beer to get pissed, just believe you've drunk it x x x
Oops just saw Gordon has already said about us all going out, I'm not on Facebook so keep me in the loop, my hubby is into rail and ale, ongar is near us and they often have real ale fests x x x
Should I start a blog about Derby and see who can go? Friday July 12th is my preferred date, although it's open more days than that.
Derby is also a good station to get to from all over the place, one stop down the line from Chesterfield. It would be a taxi from the station to the Assembly Rooms, too far to walk for me.
Maybe contact the Derby Breathe Easy group too - see if any of the local people are going to meet them too ? I've emailed the Derby CAMRA branch to ask about transport from the station.
Any takers? I'd like to put a blog out to 'announce' the trip in the next few days, give time to see what the initial reaction is here
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