Personal Site & Travel Blog
The annual Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade was about to set sail, so I put on my Pride of LGBT tartan kilt, and headed to Amsterdam, to run the Amsterdam Hash House Harriers’ “Gay for a Day” trail again, and of course watch the parade!
No photos of the Canal Parade itself this time, just a couple of photo impressions of my trip and the run. And of my kilt, of course!
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If you want to read about this trip from start to finish, instead of in reverse order, click here!
All good things come to an end, and so did this trip… I rolled up my kilt again—the Eurostar metal detectors don’t like its buckles and pin—and for the first time in two weeks, I was back in breeks again.
After an early breakfast in the hotel I successfully finished the packing puzzle: even with an extra T-shirt, pyjama bottoms, silly kilt towel, eight new items of haberdashery—of which six for others—and a bottle of whisky, I was able to zip up my bag quite smoothly!
After chilling in the Avanti West Coast Lounge of Glasgow Central for a bit, the staff announced our train was waiting for us at platform two.
Five minutes after boarding I already had my first cup of tea, and I would be well catered to for the whole 4.5 hour trip to London Euston.
After arrival I quickly went to the lounge in Euston, mainly to use the toilet—too many people queuing to go on the train—and enjoy the air-conditioning for a bit. Apparently outwith Scotland, there’s some kind of heatwave!
On to BrewDog Camden then, mainly just because it’s BrewDog Camden, and of course to try some more beers.
Before heading to St Pancras International, I managed to squeeze in a new place for dinner: Beer + Burger. Don’t know why I postponed it for this long, since the beer selection is impressive! And the burger was tasty…
Then there was only the slightly delayed Eurostar, taking me back to Brussels and thus marking the end of this trip…
Another visit to Edinburgh without seeing the Royal Mile at all? Yep, because there’s so much more interesting things to see and do elsewhere, even outside of the city! Especially if you’re an Outlander fan…
Since my first destination would take a train to get there, I had my breakfast right outside the station, at the Mòr Bakery. I was spoilt for choice, but decided to go for a haggis sausage roll, and a pork, feta and chutney sausage roll.
My train was a Transpennine Express, a company I had never travelled with before. The service was definitely excellent though, and I was well taken care of, even for the short fifteen minutes it took to get to East Linton.
After a short walk I arrived at Preston Mill, where I had booked a guided tour. As it turned out, I was the only one who booked that timeslot, so the very friendly and knowledgeable Alistair gave me a private tour. I’ve learned that oats need to be dried before they can be milled, and that the drying happens o floor very similar to one used in the malting process!
Back in the city, my first stop was at Red Kite Cafe for my daily dose of coffee and cake.
Next was Old Eastway Tap. I had actually forgotten why I had added it to my itinerary, but it quickly became apparent when I had a look at the beers on draught: the bar is owned by Cross Borders Brewing Co., a brewery in Dalkeith.
Let me just take a minute here to appreciate the fact that so many places in Scotland have power and USB outlets here to charge your devices, even in buses and right at the bar!
For lunch—and a beer—I went to Leith Depot, where quite unexpectedly I found a croque madame on the menu. And I must say: their interpretation of this French dish was quite good!
Another coffee at Ground Floor—which actually had a radio studio in it—and I was off to the centre again!
Well, I actually went past the centre, and continued into the west end, to visit BrewDog Lothian Road, since I’ve come to realise that collecting stamps in Beer Visa 3.0 actually has some real perks!
But I was also there to revisit The Hanging Bat. Last time I was there, I mentioned that it didn’t quite feel the same anymore. Now, the bar recently has been taken over by the Northern Monk brewery from Leeds, and it has had an immediate impact on their beer offering. In a good way.
To collect another stamp, I then made a quick visit to BrewDog DogHouse, and then went on to the Salt Horse.
So, the original plan for dinner was to go to Wings, my favourite chicken wings place in Edinburgh, or anywhere basically. I had my checklist ready to make sure I’d only try rubs and sauces I hadn’t tried before. But when I got there, the venue was empty, for hire, no longer serving any chicken… How a genius concept like that couldn’t survive, will forever remain a mystery to me, but in its stead, I went to Bubba Q, a barbecue place nearby.
To finish the night, I went to where it al began—my craft beer journey at least—BrewDog Edinburgh, the OG at the Cowgate.
Wednesday was another travel day—although this time just the one train from Aberdeen to Edinburgh—but also another hashing day, with The New Town hash this evening.
The day started a bit earlier than expected: I had to go back to the NorthLink Ferries terminal to pick up some haberdashery (hashing gear) that didn’t make it to the event in time. Once back in my hotel with the loot, I enjoyed breakfast there, and then finished packing.
Well before my train was due to depart, I went to Aberdeen station to relax a bit in the First Class Lounge.
It would take the ScotRail train about 2h20 to take me from Aberdeen to Edinburgh Waverley, but I was well provided for, since on board too there was an unlimited supply of water and shortbread. And I did get some great sea views for a large part of the voyage!
After arrival, I went straight to my hotel—Hub by Premier Inn in Rose Street—and after a cup of tea in the lobby, I could already check myself in.
For my coffee I didn’t have to go too far, since it was just around the corner. I actually had even visited Wellington Coffee before!
Completely new to me, however, was BrewDog Edinburgh Waverley, a BrewDog franchise bar in the main train station. I took me a while to find it, but while The Shaw OG hot dog was really nice, the beer choice on the other hand was rather disappointing. It really is a bar where you’d only go to kill some time while waiting for your train, and definitely not a beer geek destination…
Time to change again, and hop on a bus to get to the start of this week’s The New Town H3 run. It was a nice turnout, and an even better trail! Somehow the TNT runs I join are always quite hilly, though…
Back in the centre—and freshened up and back in my MacLaren kilt—I had a couple of beers at the Edinburgh Fierce Bar.
After a quick late night dinner at Jollibee, my last stop of the evening was at Vessel, a restaurant and bar run by the Pilot brewery. Since it was almost closing time, I was their last and only customer, which gave the bar staff plenty of time to provide me with loads of recommendations of places to go in Edinburgh!
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…
