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Tag: kilt

Shetland Simmer Dim Hash

This weekend was all about the main event of my trip, the Shetland Simmer Dim Hash! A hostel full of hashers running and walking on both Shetland proper and Bressay, and getting a taste of local culture, food, and beer! 

After a restful night and a nice breakfast in the Magnus’ Lounge on the Hrossey, all the hashers gathered in the lobby to debark together. In the arrivals hall we were greeted by some local hashers—although only one of them actually lived on the island—and fiddle music. 

There was a coach already waiting to take us to the hostel to quickly drop off our baggage, and then on to the start of trail, a good hour’s drive away.

I’m sure a run around Lerwick would have have been lovely, but Saturday’s trail was just stunning! The weather was very un-Scottish as well, since it was incredibly sunny, albeit quite windy, and the bogs invariably soggy…

After trail we had the opportunity to visit the Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary, which was hosting a grey seal, and the caretakers passionately told us all about it. Others were crazy enough to take a dip in the cold sea…

We then had a sandwich lunch and circle at the nearby St Magnus Bay Hotel—also serving local beers—after which the coach took us back to Lerwick so we could get settled in our rooms. It had been a while since I had shared a room with ten other guys! 

By sheer coincidence, just before we were about to leave for dinner, the Lerwick Midsummer Carnival parade passed right by our hostel. As so much on Shetland, it was very Viking themed! 

Dinner and the rest of the evening program would take place at the nearby Lerwick Town Hall. The main hall was beautiful, with a wooden vaulted ceiling, and stained glass windows, many of them featuring Norwegian monarchs. 

The dinner buffet was excellent—lamb pie made with local lamb—the beer aplenty—cask and keg from the local Lerwick Brewery—and the ceilidh—I even brought my dancing ghillies for it—a lot of fun for everyone! 

Since it was overcast and rainy by then—we even had a thunderstorm that night—the ‘dim’ was a bit darker than it usually is… It still was a very short night, though! 

Hangover Trail

As is customary at events like this, there was a hangover trail on Sunday morning—even though my hangover was less severe than on Saturday morning… Less customary was the trail length: even longer than the Saturday trail! Since I would need my trail shoes by Monday evening again, and I prefer them to be dry, I decided to do the walk. 

For this trail we actually had to cross the water, as it was on Bressay. Considering the weather—mostly wet and misty—this had been a smart choice to not run today, as they most definitely would have gotten even wetter… As nice as the beach at the ‘swim stop’ looked, I couldn’t be tempted to go in the water! I did get to see a seal in its natural habitat, though! 

After trail we had another marvellous lunch: I just couldn’t stay away from the buttered bannock with slices of lamb…And again: Lerwick Brewery beer on cask!

Then we had to run to catch the ferry to Lerwick again, where we had another drink together, before picking up our bags and the ride to the NorthLink ferry terminal.

Once on the Hjaltland, I enjoyed another dinner in the Magnus Lounge, before joining the other hashers in the front bar for the last couple of beers.

More Inverness

After a good night’s sleep, I was ready to properly discover Inverness. Well, after some breakfast and coffee of course! 

The plan was to have some kind of breakfast taco from one of the vendors around the food plaza in the Victorian Market. Unfortunately they apparently stopped doing breakfast a couple of weeks ago, so I had to find an alternative. Luckily Milk Bar, where I intended to go for coffee anyway, served some food as well, so I ended up enjoying a ham, cheddar, and caramelised red onion marmalade toastie. And then my coffee and millionaire’s shortbread after all. 

Time for some history, starting with Abertarff House, the oldest house in Inverness, and an important example of 16th-century domestic architecture.

Next was the Inverness Museum & Art Gallery, which was mainly about the history of Inverness and the Highlands. All signage was in both English and Gaelic, as I’ve seen in more places in Inverness, and now I know why: Gaelic is on the rise! In 1891, one third of the people of Inverness spoke Gaelic. After falling to 5% by 1991, the figure today is back over 8%, higher than any other Scottish city!

For lunch I headed to Roots Café, a place I had been before when it had another name and owner, and I had a huge hangover… When I noticed the special was a black pudding and crispy potato hash, I simply had to have it! Not enough people realise that a ‘hash’ first and foremost is something you eat…

Even though I’ve now been a kilt wearer for over eleven years, I’ve never seen one mode! The Scottish Kiltmaker Visitor Centre—basically a little exhibition and a big window in the workshop of the Highland House of Fraser—fixed that for me. 

Just fifteen minutes before closing time—did I mention that the food plaza in the Victorian Market closes early?—I got myself a pork sausage roll at Bad Girl Bakery. I had to, just for the name alone! The sausage roll was good, though. 

The plan was to visit Inverness Castle as well, but apparently it still hasn’t reopened yet… Just a look from the outside will have to do this time, although it was impossible to get a view without scaffolding or fences!

On my way past the castle, I then had a quick stop at Number 27, for a couple of halves. 

The next stop was The Castle Tavern. Apparently I was a bit early for dinner—although my stomach on Belgian time disagreed—so I had to kill some time drinking beer… It was worth the wait though: both the haggis croquettes and the chipotle chicken sandwich were very nice!

The furthest I would venture today was Uile-Bheist, a distillery and brewery. As they only started in 2022, they don’t have their own whisky yet, and they don’t make any other distillates. So while they did have their bar well-stocked with other whiskies, I stuck to their beers. 

On my to-do list for ages, was Hootananny. Originally because they have a weekly ceilidh, but Thursday is not the night for that. They do however have live music every night, and tonight it was Tuath (Gaelic for ‘North’) that delighted us with their tunes. Neil on the fiddle, and Blair on the keyboard and the sass… Luckily I always carry protection in my sporran, because they were loud! 

After the first set I moved on to the Black Isle Bar, since I noticed they had some new beers on. I mean, if you launch a Belgian Golden Strong Ale on my last night, I can’t skip that! After eleven they already started cleaning and closing tills, so that was the signal for me to head back to the hotel. 

Homage to a Clansman 2024

Once again, the Scottish clans with members in Belgium, gathered in Ypres to pay homage to their kinsmen fallen in The Great War. This year, there were representatives of the clans Hay, MacLaren, Ramsay, MacKinnon, Lamont, Sutherland, MacLeod, MacMillan, and Scott.

Read here why I am a member of the Clan MacLaren Society

For the clan MacLaren, I was the only one member able to make it to the ceremony this year. I knew this quite a while In advance, so I was able to order a poppy wreath made at Lady Haig’s Poppy Factory, with the MacLaren clan crest and motto already mounted in it. Apart from the convenience, it is also nice to know that it keeps disabled ex-servicemen and women employed, and that the proceeds help out veterans and their families in Scotland.

So early on Saturday morning, I found myself at the train station in full, traditional Boy Scouts of Belgium uniform—including hat¹ and thumbstick—and my MacLaren kilt, to start my journey to Ypres. Earlier than I would have liked, but due to engineering works on the rail network my trip would include a replacement bus and take much longer than usually… Since it was a matter of of arriving 15 minutes late or 45 minutes early, I at least had some time for coffee and cake at local roastery SloWWings before the ceremony would start.

After meeting up with the other clansmen and clanswomen and the Grote Markt of Ypres, we marched to the Menin Gate, headed by the Clan Hay Pipe Band. After arrival, we waited for the stroke of twelve and the sound of the bugles playing The Last Post. The ceremony then started with a reading of the fourth stanza of “For the Fallen”, a poem written by Laurence Binyon:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

A representative of each clan than read out five names of their kinsmen fallen in Belgium and France in World War One. As the only Maclaren present, that honour fell to me. After that, each clan then in turn laid down a wreath. Again, for the MacLarens, for the first time, that honour fell to me.

After the ceremony we headed back to the Grote Markt of Ypres, for an aperitif in Clans Pub Les Halles, and a lunch in the In Flanders Field Museum café.

Since I had a long journey back to Brussels ahead of me, I said my goodbyes then and went back to the station, sadly missing out on the afternoon ceremony at the Scottish Memorial in Zonnebeke.

¹ The keen observer will have noticed the dents on my hat are wrong for a BSB hat. This is because I only replaced my old hat eaten away by moths the day before with a hat from the catholic scouts shop, and didn’t have time to reshape it.

Music, Running & Beer

The Three Leaves of my Saint Patrick’s Day Shamrock

I’ve been organising a Saint Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl for years now, in one form or another. At some point this endeavour became more craft beer focused, and the last couple of years, a run became part of the tradition as well. This year, live music was added to the mix, as a third part of the trinity.

Saint-Patrick’s Warm Up at Magasin4

The musical part actually started a week in advance already, with a concert of the French female Celtic rock band Toxic Frogs, and the Belgian Celtic punk rock band Black Tartans, and a happy reunion with a friend I hadn’t seen for a long time. Although Magasin4 announced it as a Saint-Patrick’s Warm Up event, I decided to wear my black kilt, which better fitted the not-quite-Irish groups and music.

Beer of the evening: Zinnebir!

The Celtic Seven at Brasserie de la Mule

On the eve of Saint Patrick’s Day Brasserie de la Mule invited The Celtic Seven to perform. Surprisingly, most of their songs were in French—how Irish even is Les lacs du Connemara?—but there were a lot more green clothes in the audience and amongst the staff! This time I actually did wear my saffron kilt!

As Brasserie de la Mule is specialised in German beers, that was what I drank that evening.

BMPH³ Trail 1924 – Saint Patrick’s Day Trail!

Only slightly hungover, a little after noon on Sunday—actual Saint Patrick’s Day— I headed over to Demey metro station a to run the BMPH³ Saint Patrick’s Day Trail. Plenty of green on this trail, since those who didn’t wear any green risked getting a very unpleasant ‘down down’. Exceptionally, we had to provide our own beer for circle, so I brought some beers actually from Ireland, one by Kinnegar (from Letterkenny, County Donegal) and the other one by Brehon (from Inniskeen, County Monaghan)!

Saint Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl – Craft Beer Edition

After a shower and a change, it was time for the highlight of the celebrations: the pub crawl! Once again, no bars seemed to be actually importing any Irish beers this year, so we tried to just stick to beers in Irish styles—actually just Irish dry stout—and the bars serving those beers.

First up was BBP Bailli! Ever since they opened, they’ve been serving the MC Nitro Stout, in memory of the Michael Collins bar that used to be in that location. We had it last year on the pub crawl, and fully expected it to be available this Saint Patrick’s Day as well. However, as it turns out, the beer was discontinued last year… They did have Oatly Stout though, so that hd to do. Will this then have been the last time BBP Bailli was included in the Saint Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl?

The next bar was Moeder Lambic Original, where I was hoping to find some Stouterik, or even some stouts by The Kernel! No such luck, so to stay on the black stuff, I went for Dupont’s Monk’s Stout, and when that keg was finally empty, the brand spanking new San Francisco Porter by De Ranke.

The last planned stop was L’Ermitage Saint-Gilles, where they had Ceallach, an Irish stout they made in collaboration with the Irish brewery Land & Labour, from Galway. Unfortunately they closed over an hour early, thereby sadly cutting our pub crawl short…

Next year Saint Patrick’s Day will be on a Monday, which will pose a challenge again!

BRD: Beer & Running in Deutschland

My Belgian Holiday was interrupted the past long weekend, for a trip to Germany. The main destination was a hostel in Oberwesel, for the German Nash Hash—you know, drinking and running with half-minds from everywhere—but of course I seized the opportunity to make some stops along the way to visit some of the better beer serving establishments…

Thursday

On Thursday morning, I headed to Brussels’ international train station to hop on the direct ICE to Frankfurt am Main, my first stop and final destination for that day as well. At least, that was the plan… However, when I arrived in the train station, my train turned out to be cancelled, or at least its Belgian leg! There was another direct train two hours later, but when I checked with the DB staff at their information booth, they recommended me to make my way to Aachen on Belgian trains, and board the later ICE there, because it might very well suffer the same fate as my originally booked train (it didn’t…). So that’s what I did: a slow train to Verviers, and from there an even slower one to Aachen… Kudos to the NMBS for adding an extra carriage to that train to provide space for all those extra passengers!

As expected, I had to chase someone out of my seat, which I had reserved as soon as I knew I would be on this train. And just as well, since the train was fully booked by the time I arrived in Aachen!

So far, I had only seen the airport train station of Frankfurt, where I’ve had to change trains a couple of times on previous trips, so it was nice to actually see the city this time. Since I would actually spend the night in Frankfurt, I first went to my hotel to check in and drop off my bag.
Because of the two hour delay I had to cancel some planned stops, and started with the important things: crossing off one of the missing German BrewDog bars on my list, BrewDog Frankfurt. Even though the whole Beer Visa thing is on hold until the new version comes out, I had them stamp my booklet, just for the fun of it.

Then I had to get changed for a very peculiar hashing charity event: a Red Dress Run! It’s pretty self-explanatory: all participants dress up in red dresses and skirts and run trail like that, and part of the run fees and money collected on the way go to a good cause, in this case Brustkrebs Deutschland. I thought the term “dress” is a bit restrictive and doesn’t really cover everything that’s being worn by the participants on these runs, so I renamed it to “Red Unbifurcated Garment Run” for myself, while running it in a red kilt, of course!

After the run and obligatory Circle that followed, it was quite late, and by the time I had showered, changed, and made my way to the first craft beer destination that night, it was already 23:30…

Not surprisingly, when I entered Taphouse Frankfurt it was already time for last call.
After taking the tram to the last stop, it was already past midnight, and sure enough, I had already missed last call at Naïv… Luckily they took pity with me, and served me a beer after all. I should definitely revisit both bars earlier though!

Friday

After a nice breakfast at the hotel—fried Leberkäse is really tasty!—I still had some time before I would have to check out. So I went to Bunca Barista for my coffee.

Checked out and bag retrieved, it was then time to get on a train to Wiesbaden, to visit the only German BrewDog bar I hadn’t been to yet, BrewDog Wiesbaden! It was still rather quiet—I arrived only minutes after opening—but they were oh so friendly. I didn’t even had to ask them to stamp my Beer Visa, they were there with the stamp as soon as they noticed the booklet!

From Wiesbaden I had to take the rather touristy and very full MittelrheinBahn train to Oberwesel.

At the Oberwesel train station I was lucky: there was still some space in the shuttle up to the hostel, even though I didn’t book it. Once arrived on top of the hill, I checked in, and German Nash Hash could really start!

Saturday

Most of the Saturday on these Nash Hashes are dedicated to a trail, usually a bit longer than your usual weekly hash. Well, there are usually different lengths available, and such was the case at German Nash Hash too. I had registered for the ‘long’ trail, which would be between 13 and 20 km. On the definite program it was listed as 19 km, but in the end it turned out to 21,5 km, with 709 meters of elevation…

The theme of the evening party was “Bacchanalia”, so I had brought my thirty year old toga—dyed for the occasion—and the linen tunica and caligae I still had from my army reenactment days. I even brought an earthenware poculum to drink my wine from! Yes, wine, since it suited the theme better, and Rheinland-Pfalz is a wine area after all!

Unfortunately—well, it might be for the better—I don’t have any photos of this part of the evening.

Sunday

After a party like that, the Sunday run is of course the Hangover Trail. It was only 4km, with a bubbles stop somewhere in the middle.

After closing Circle it was then time to catch the train to Köln.

In Bierhaus en d’r Salzgass I had some Päffgen Kölsch vom Fass, and Himmel un Ääd (black pudding, fried onions, mashed potato, and apple sauce). I intended to go to some craft beer bars after that, but they all seem to be closed on Sundays… So I just had some more Kölsch instead!

I didn’t have to suffer any cancelled trains for the remainder of the journey, and could just take the direct—albeit delayed—ICE to Brussels.