Beers, Boats and Boozers, No.85.

Once we returned to the boat we set off to cover the parts of the Great Ouse tributaries that we had missed before.

We had time to wander in to March for another look and buy fresh goods. The walk down West Street is very nice as it is virtually traffic free with some nice house to pass the time, and the navigation on the other side.

After passing up through Marmont Lock again, without the assistance of Maureen this time as she was out shopping we were soon at Upwell. There are several moored boats and the water is pretty shallow, so there is no going quickly along this section.

There was room on the Well Creek Trust moorings by Church Bridge so we stopped to have a look around the place as so far we have just passed through.

Looking back down Well Creek from Church Bridge it has the same dimensions as the drain near our house in Holderness, East Riding, which isn't navigable, but obviously could be made to be looking at this!

After a wander in the heat we decided to visit the Five Bells pub near the moorings. It looked to be a food oriented pub with little beer that I may be interested in. There has been a pub here since at least the 1770's and has had various names, such as the Rose and Crown, Commercial Hotel, when it was a post house, and the Norfolk Punch Health Hotel? It reverted back to the Five Bells when it became a free house in 1992. 

It may have become a free house but the beer choice wasn't up to much. I had to settle for another Green King beer. The history of the brewery can be found at Beers, Boats and Boozers, No.83

I didn't have the Abbot Ale though but went for an IPA 3.6%. This is an inoffensive session beer with a little of the IPA characteristics. It has three malts, Pale, Crystal and Black  and three hops, Pilgrim, Challenger and First Gold. It is easy drinking but nothing different. The only other beer they had on was  from Sharpe's and the dreaded Doom Bar. This is another beer found everywhere and again does its best to not alienate anybody. Lots of people love it but it is just too ordinary for me.

To read about the beer and brewery check back by clicking here, 

Beers, Boats and Boozers, No.41