I've opened 4 casks so you can just help yourselves and drink all you want

Went on brewery tour of Lodden Brewery last night, courtesy of work. This is the third brewery I have toured but the first time in England (others being one in Germany and Heineken in France).

Must say this was by a country mile the best. It really could not have had a better start, as the owner himself was the guide and he started of with the immortal words "I've opened 4 casks so you can help yourselves and drink all you want...".

So we did, trying 5 different varieties of beer and eating some excellent fish and chips. We also got a very good walkthrough of the brewing process with a lot of useful info (like the key part a pencil plays, the importance of temperature control to 0.1C ). It was good to see real hops being used as well. At Heineken they just use hop extract, at Lodden you could see the hops on the bottom of the brewing chambers. Wierdest bit of info was that brewers jealously guard their yeast, handing down from father to son over the generations. Apparently if the yeast was to change then the beer would be completely different so Lodden even go to the extent of keeping some of their yeast stored in liquid nitrogen to be used in case of disaster.

All in all a cracking night, though the next morning was a wee bit difficult....

Lodden info

TDF Journal Tuesday 30th May Domfront>Rennes Tyred Out

Distance 122
Time 5:02
Climb 950
Weather Sun



I did not know it at the time but today marked the first, painful, appearence of two things that that would dog me off and on for the rest of my trip: punctures and "rue barees". The former is a bit ironic as the one thing I was a bit paranoid about at the beginning of my tour preparation was punctures, to the extent that when I started riding again I fitted "Slime" innertubes (which are meant to be self healing). Even despite these my first trips out on my mountain bike resulted in me pushing the bike home after numerous punctures so I ended up taking multiple inner tubes instead.

Anyway, now the weather was getting better and the roads smoother I decided to try blowing my tyres up a bit, so inflated them to 120psi. Theory of this is that the higher the pressure the quicker you go. Maybe but very shortly after doing this I found my tyres were flat. I used both my spares to sort out the problem and set off. Shortly after, bowling downhill through a town I noticed a shop specialising in tractors and cycles. I stopped and bought some replacement tubes.

This turned out to be a very lucky break as after a while I came across a sign saying "rue baree - deviation". Being a law abiding Brit I followed the deviation but regretted it because
a: it was hilly
b: it took me onto a newly tarmaced road with sharp gravel specifically designed to puncture bike tyres. So I ended up repairing the third puncture of the day (under the watchful gaze of an old farmer and his dog).

These unexpected delays put rather a dent in my schedule for the day. I had planned to stay overnight in Rennes, the largest city on my route. But my hoped for early arrival was getting later and later. Things deteriorated when I approached the city itself. I found that that my road in suddenly became a motorway and very dangerous for bikes. Worse there seemed to be no easy detours. I ended up following some farm tracks, very frustratingly being able to see the city in the distance but with no road leading to it.

My compass came in really useful at this point as I used it to take any road that headed west. Eventually I came to a more built up area and was able to follow some cycle paths that got me to Rennes city centre.

By now it was somewhat later than I had planned to arrive and I had no hotel. So I headed to the tourist office where I learned that Rennes was full. Fortunately there was a room at a hotel a short distance from the centre, though it was expensive. Beggers can't be choosers (provided they have a credit card) so I took the room and cycled off to find it. This involved going over lots of cobbled streets so I was thoroughly shaken up by the time I arrived.


Lecoq-Gadby



The hotel (Lecoq Gadby) proved to be small and chic (and dear). The rooms did not have numbers but names. I was in the smallest of them (Napoleon IIII, not sure if the emperor himself was as small as his more famous predecessor). I showered changed and headed off to explore Rennes, armed with a suggest pedestrian route to follow.

Rennes Tourist Info





Had a very pleasant time. Rennes is a very easy city to explore on foot,with a young vibrant feel due to its very large university. It reminded me a bit of Strasbourg (though not quite as nice..) My excursion was made even more pleasant as the evening was warm and sunny. I planned to eat later but the hunger pangs of my somewhat longer than expected day were starting to bite so I had emergency fillup at a fast food pasta bar (not something I had seen anywhere else). I also had time for a beer (large) and a quick call home at one of the many tables outside (as below).



I was away for a couple of hours and the walking had rekindled my appetite. I had a meal the hotel in a very swanky restaurant with some top notch grub/beverages. The Vire-Clesse wine was excellent but the star of the meal was some Epoisse cheese, very smelly, very nice. (Apparently it was called the "King of all cheeses" by Jean Brillat-Savarin the lawyer, politician and according to Wilkipedia possibly the most famous French gastronome of all, whose most famous quote was "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are". Praise indeed!)

Viree-Clesse



Epoisee info

More Epoisee info

Munich:Aftermath

Well, slightly, belatedly, I can report we all returned safely from the beer capital of the world.

Some photos of our weekend

The night before, meal at a typical beerkeller:


On the day Russell and I prepare with a breakfast of quadruple expressos


Waiting to get into the tent. Phil convinced me to try out some of his sumo squats, useful preparation in case of later need to go to the lav. I end up looking like a constipated mime artist:


The definitive Munich picture, Stewart with some of his steins:


After the tent. We head for the Chinese garden and enjoy the sun. Note the pace it taking its toll, some glasses look suspiciously un-beer-like-coke-like:


Bathing in the park. What happens when beer and sun combine (taken before the police arrived...)




Evening round another table of beer and bavarian food. (Later discovered to be the same place as Hitler staged his putsch)


Our French member in typical pose: