Have been travelling, blog re Peterborough and Rye Visits

Yes, I do apologise for not writing more recently, but I have been otherwise engaged, not least with a wee bit of wandering, virtually set free of the pandemic, although I'm still being very careful, wearing a face mask as appropriate, washing hands regularly, small bottle of sanitiser in my pocket, regular LFTs! Anyway, I did visit Peterborough again, and Peterborough Cathedral, built on the site of a monastery originally built in AD 655, rebuilding of the monastery church, what became the cathedral, commenced in 1118 following a fire in 1116 and previous sackings (more history at the website).

What I did find very interesting was that Henry VIII's first wife, Katherine Of Aragon, was buried here in 1536, and the remains of Mary, Queen of Scots, were buried here in 1587, though Mary's remains were exhumed on the orders of her son James I and transferred to a tomb at Westminster Abbey 25 years later. Katherine Of Aragon's body, though, remains entombed at Peterborough Cathedral, despite soldiers of Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentary Army vandalising the cathedral, and Katherine's tomb, in 1643; the memorial slab now there was installed in 1895. Katherine was an amazing woman of her time, and more information can be found at the Cathedral's website, and 12 'little-known' facts about her at the History Press website, both well worth a read.

Of course, whilst there, a number of hostelries were visited, and my alter ego, Steve the Beermeister, who wrote about my previous visit last year (blog), records details of the pubs visited on Saturday, including the new one above, and the beers enjoyed (blog).

And, as I wrote about my most recent visit to Rye in that recent blog, including visiting the Rye Waterworks micropub, I thought a few lines about the history of the Parish Church of St Mary in Rye would be very appropriate. Another Norman delight, with building of the church starting in the early 12th century, and the church continues to dominate the hill on which the 'old town' of Rye stands. 

Rye was regularly attacked by the French, as we know much of Kent and Sussex was in medieval times, notably Hastings too, but in 1377 Rye was looted and set on fire by French invaders, with extensive damage made to the church, its roof falling in, and the church bells carried off as a prize across the Channel. However, the next year men of Rye and Winchelsea sought revenge, sailing across the Channel themselves, in turn looting and setting fire to 2 towns in Normandy, recovering and returning much of the stolen loot to Rye, including the recovered church bells (Church website).

Enough of my musings, but get out there folks, remembering to stay safe of course!

Weekend in Peterborough, my first visit...

By Steve the Beermeister...

At the weekend I enjoyed, mostly, a trip to Peterborough and highly influenced by dreams of Oakham Ales (website, and more later), which is the base of one of my 2 favourite breweries (Kent being the other), real ale bars, and maybe a point or three at football, fingers crossed... I had been looking forward to this day for ages! My first port of call was the Bumble Inn (website), close by the railway station at 46 Westgate, PE1 1RE, and which opens at 12.00.

At the Bumble Inn I met three friendly Peterborough lads, 2 brothers and a son/nephew, who each had their own pub in their gardens, I kid you not, I was shown photographs... dead impressive and useful during the lockdowns no doubt! Anyway, this micropub sells 5 ever-changing real ales, 2 of which were from that excellent Yorkshire brewery, from Huddersfield, Mallinsons (website), and they, apparently, as I didn't partake, sell home-made pork pies, 'jumbo' sausage rolls and/or scotch eggs; 'pop-up' food events held on the third Thursday of the month.

I had a pint each of the 2 Mallinsons ales, both pale and hoppy, both 4.0%, their Denimes Denimes, and, my favourite of the two, the single hopped Kohatu (New Zealand hops), quite bitter with a dry crisp finish, not bad at all. As we decided, I press-ganged them really, I went along with the lads to my next port of call, the Oakham bar on a barge, Charters (website).

Charters Bar was packed, as was the bankside area next to it, which provides a huge outside area which must have been very useful during the first phase of returning to 'normal' last year. As usual at a bar near a football ground on match day, it emptied out between 2.30 and 3.00 pm, but not before we shared a few pints each, me of the excellent Oakham Citra (4.2%), a wonderful session pale bitter, like me, pale, dry and bitter, great company. Great ale at just £3 a pint ('special' regular deals), and 5 friends of mine (including my ex-wife) turned up here just before 2.30 (Noel and Ian in the photograph above, just as we were leaving to go to the ground).

After the match, sadly an upsetting last 10 minutes for me, but not for my new mates from Peterborough I imagine, 5 of us met up at The (Oakham) Brewery Tap (website), which is just a few minutes walk from the railway station in Westgate...

Here I drank, again at a bargain price, 2 or 3 pints of Oakham Inferno (4.0%), brewed with Sterling, Amarillo, Centennial, Cascade and Chinook hops, those will know me well will appreciate I approve of brewers using these hops from the USA 😉 - And again, great ale, again, pale, dry, refreshing and bitter, great company, and another decently priced ale too, thank you very much Oakham! The journey home was a wee bit rowdy , not me guv...

And, just because I didn't take a photograph of a beer I was drinking, here's one I took earlier, last week at the Dolphin Inn (website), unsurprisingly, cheers!