Boating to beer.

Last night it was a beautiful evening. We could see the Cathedral in the distance and the sky reflected in the canal.

Evening with the cathedral in the distance.

Our berth off Washingborough pontoon.

It sounded as though it had chucked it down through the night but by 0800 it was just down to mizzling. When we were ready to leave it had cleared up even more and so we set off for Lincoln. 

A lovely view of the cathedral as you approach Lincoln.

Ah, nice little cygnets.

We didn't see another vessel underway so we were soon at Stamp End Lock which we had to turn round. We needed water but loo and behold there was a boat moored right across the water point with nobody enough. It just happened to be the same boat that was going up and down Brayford Pool last weekend blasting Pink Floyd out at 0215 in the morning! Some people seem to live on a different planet. After filling up we moved a little further on and moored by the road. This wouldn't be a bad mooring at all other than you have to be very careful you damage your child rearing days for ever when climbing the fence!

Our mooring for the night. Not quite as quiet as Fiskerton or Washingborough.

The sun was out later when we went to do a bit of shopping and we were pleased that we found the Boyes shop as we were after a bit of haberdashery and they had all we needed! We even had another Sargents ice cream. After a bite to eat we went off to the Beer Festival. It had been teeming down since we got back to the boat and there was no chance of out waiting it. Fortunately we weren't too far from the Drill Hall where it was held. The drill Hall was built to give an indoor space for the local volunteer regiments to practice. It is a lovely building that is now used as an arts venue. On the exterior it looks like a little castle, it was opened in 1889.

 Lincolnshire Drill Hall.

It was the first day of the Festival and when we arrived there were still some of the brewers and publicans there from the trade opening earlier. It was good to talk to some of them and learn a bit more than just drinking their products.

The face on the wall is the symbol of the festival.

There were over 100 hundred beers and ciders on offer so to give myself a little focus I decided to look for local breweries. In the end I tried beer from 8Sail from Heckington, Axholme from Luddington,

Cathedral Heights from Bracebridge Heath, Poacher from North Hykeham, Tom Wood from Melton Ross and a more distant one, Coniston from Coniston. I found that I much preferred a pint that was pulled through a hand pump rather than from the barrel direct and that I still don't like blokes that just lean on the bar and expect people to reach over them to get served when it is busy. (Just a pet hate). At beer festivals they sail beer in thirds, halves and full pints. Why don't all pups serve in thirds? After all it is just pulled up to the line on the glass isn't it. After three pints it was time to go and Helen had tried a few ciders too but hadn't found anything as nice as her Scrumpy Wasp Cider from Hayton.