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Castles, Gardens & Woods

Castles, Gardens & Woods

Published on 23 June 2025

A last goodbye, and I was back in Aberdeen on my own… I had a full schedule of bus rides and castle visits ahead of me though, and some catching up to do on writing my blog post for the past weekend! 

Somehow amidst all the planning I forgot Travelodge Aberdeen Central actually doesn’t have room to store baggage before check-in… Luckily there was a Nannybag location available nearby! It would only open at nine though, so I first went for my cortado at The Cult of Coffee. 

Bag dropped off, I then boarded my Stagecoach to get to Crathes Castle. This 16th-century castle doesn’t only have an interior worth viewing, but also an incredible walled garden, complete with beautiful doocot!

The second castle of the day was just a short ride back down the road: Drum Castle. The oldest part of the building, the Tower of Drum, was already given to the Irvine family by Robert the Bruce in 1323! 

Finally back in the centre, I picked up my bag again, checked into my hotel, and went out again to eat a little something. The Craftsman Company sadly doesn’t roast their own coffee anymore—the old machine broke down—but they do make a nice cheesy eggs and bacon bagel! I had just a little bit of time left before I needed to get ready for tonight’s run, so I popped into BrewDog Union Square for a beer. 

Changed into my running kilt, I was then picked up by another hasher to head a little bit outside of the city, to run with Aberdeen H3. There was a big turnout, with quite a few visitors, all of them hashers who were at the Shetland event as well. 

Once back home, after a shower and a change, I went for a nightcap at BrewDog Castlegate, the only one of BrewDog‘s three Aberdeen bars open as late as midnight on a Monday…

Travel Day

Travel Day

Published on 20 June 2025

This Friday was to be another travel day: a train, two buses, and a ferry… Well, I could have saved myself the two buses, but then I would have missed out on a quick stop at a brewery! 

On a check-out day, just having breakfast in the hotel is the most convenient, so that’s what I did. All packed and dressed for a hot day, I headed to Inverness station to catch the ScotRail train to Inverurie. Unfortunately the airconditioning wasn’t working, so even in first class, I was in for a sauna… Luckily the train conductor kept his sense of humour! 

With a slight delay, I arrived in Inverurie, where I had a couple of beers in the local BrewDog, conveniently located right next to the bus station. There I got on the Watermill Coach that would get me to Ellon. 

Those who know me—or beer—immediately realise Ellon is where the main BrewDog brewery is, and the DogTap attached to it. Since my stay in Inverurie was too short to have lunch—especially after my train had a slight delay—I had my All the Meats Sub and some dragon fries at DogTap. 

A Stagecoach bus then brought me back to Aberdeen, where I met up with couple of dozen of hashers at the Krakatoa bar. It was no coincidence that we met right next to the harbour, since we all had the get on the same NorthLink ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick: the Hrossey. 

After boarding, I made myself comfortable in my room, had a curry for dinner in the Magnus Lounge, and then joined the other hashers again for some beers. When I finally decided to go to bed, it was still light outside…

Paris Beer Festival: The FestivalA hand holding up a glass of stout, people in the background

Paris Beer Festival: The Festival

Published on 24 May 2025

While the Paris Beer Festival actually is a whole week of activities, it culminates in a more classic beer festival—brewery stands in a big hall, where you get your tasting glass filled—in the weekend at the end of that week.

But first… Coffee! I found a tiny roaster in the Marché Beauvau, not far from the festival venue. When I got to Early Bird, I was unexpectedly welcomed by a barista / coffee roaster with a thick Irish accent, and some really nice coffee and cake.

The Marché Beauvau covered market. And a normal market in front of it…
A cortado, an espresso, and a piece of cake on a bar. Early Bird branded insulated behind them, and the espresso machine covered with stickers

The Paris Beer Festival closing event was at Ground Control, a venue that is both an event space and a food market, set in a giant warehouse once used by the French National Railway Service (SNCF). That means it was also open for people not interested in the festival, leading to a very mixed public. Since no beer list was published in advance, I spent the first hour checking out all the brewery stands, adding beers to try later to my list… That list quite quickly grew out of control, since a lot of the—mostly French—breweries, I hadn’t seen at any other festivals or in beer bars before!

Keeping well fed is essential when drinking that many beers, so after finishing my list, I had a butter chicken naan wrap from Burning Naan.

Beer stands and lots of people
A glass of beer in front of stacked beer cans
Hand holding up a small, filled Craftmaster beer glass

It was actually a Paris/Brussels hasher who brought this festival to my attention, and he was there as well, of course. He introduced me to some other Paris hashers, whom I’ll see more of tomorrow.

Before diving into the imperial stouts, I definitely needed another meal, it was time for some more sustenance, so I got myself a nice truffle carbonara pasta from Solina.

Some weird, hand cranked, wall mounted telephone
Glass of beer on a railing, some greenery behind it, and a woman sticking out her tongue
An industrial building, crowds of people in front of it
A hand holding up a glass of stout, people in the background

When there was only fifty cents left on my cashless card, I decided it was time to call it a day, and headed back to the hotel. More beers tomorrow!

A cartoon of a fencer attached to a cable, attacking two surprised people in trainers
Paris Beer Festival: The BarsFive small stemmed glasses filled with beer on a bar, tap handles in the background.

Paris Beer Festival: The Bars

Published on 23 May 2025

I’m back in Paris! This time the reason for my visit is a beer festival—my first French one—and a run—also my first French one!

I didn’t try any of the newer—cheaper—train options available, but took the comfortably quick Eurostar again. After arrival, I whipped out my Navigo card—which surprisingly still had a lot of rides on it—to take the métropolitain to my hotel for the weekend, the ibis Paris la Villette, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. After check-in, some coffee and banana bread at Kaffeebar 19, I was ready for an afternoon and evening of beer bars and breweries!

The slanted nose of a red Eurostar high speed train, waiting at the platform in Brussels Midi. The red lights give away this actually is the back of the train.
A busy platform in the station, red Eurostar trains on either side.
Paris Nord station in the background, an art nouveau style metro entrance in the foreground.
Double bed in a hotel room

With some places only opening at four or five, it was a bit of a puzzle. However, in the end I had a schedule that enabled me to visit all the bars and breweries I picked out for this trip! First up was Paname Brewing Company, near my hotel.

View on the terrace and facade.
The bar at Paname Brewing Company.
A beer on the bar at Paname Brewing Company.
A brewer between his kettles and tanks at Paname Brewing Company.

After that I had to take the metro again to get to Le BaB OPERA. While they didn’t actually have a Paris Beer Festival event on Friday, they still had most beers from a Nuka Brewing tap takeover the day before.

Five small stemmed glasses filled with beer on a bar, tap handles in the background.
Facade of the bar.
a drawbridge, with a very high and steep pedestrian bridge right next to it.

There were no events at I.B.U Petites Écuries and BEER Paris either, but they had some nice beers on nevertheless.

Facade
Facade
A glass of beer on the bar, a cutting board with a dry sausage and bread next to it, the tap handles and the menu in the background
Blackboard with beers listed in the background
Fridges full of beer, customers queueing
Racks full of beer

At brewpub Les Cuves de Fauve they did have a Paris Beer Week event: a Sudden Death tap takeover and collab brew.

Last stop of the night was L’Atalante—back near my hotel again—where they had a Kauri Brewery and Wabi Brewing tap takeover.

I could easily have spent hours in each of those bars—which were all new to me—but it was nice to at least have visited them briefly!

A lovely glass of beer on the bar.
A bowl of Chicken strips with a tub of sauce.
A glass of beer on the bar

Cycling in de Bollenstreek

Published on 13 April 2025

While hashing usually involves running, sometimes hashers get on a bicycle as well. Every year in spring, the Dutch full moon hash FILTH H3 organises such a bicycle hash—or bash for short—in the Bollenstreek, the tulip region of the Netherlands. As the weather promised to be nice, I folded up my SUGG bike to shove it on the luggage rack of a train heading north!

At first it looked like I wasn’t even going to make it: just before the scheduled departure the train I booked was shown on the boards as delayed for 30 minutes, then postponed indefinitely, and then, all of a sudden, announced as arriving on another platform! For a while, things were looking fine, but then, because of the 40 minute delay we already had by then, we were chucked out of the train in Breda, instead of Rotterdam!

In the end, after a few more train changes than planned, I made it to the start of the bash in Hillegom in time, only half an hour later than planned. After waiting for some latecomers—because of similar train troubles—there were about two dozen hashers on bikes, ready for a ride through the Bollenstreek!

As mentioned, the weather promised to be nice, and it delivered! Cloudless skies and over 20ºC all the way, and tulips in bloom everywhere. And conveniently, the Bollenstreek is very flat, making cycling there very enjoyable. An unexpected bonus was the craft beer they had in the chip shop on trail!

After almost 40km, we ended up at the hares’ home, where the beers were cold, and the barbecue was fired up. Down-downs were given and drunk in a very long, two-part circle, which I even didn’t see the end of, since I had a train to catch, if I still wanted to make it home that night.

While everything went swimmingly at first—I even had time for a quick beer in Rotterdam Biergarten in between trains—in Breda it all went sideways again. The train—which was already hot when the airco was still kinda working—didn’t budge for half hour, and heated up even more. Eventually the train started moving again, and just a couple of minutes before one o’clock, it arrived in Brussels Central. One last, short ride on my bicycle, and I was finally home again!