Brett the Buffet Bouncer

Springtime in Scarborough!

Bob and I arrived in Scarborough to dank weather, sea fret so thick you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you. We navigated our way to the hotel and after dropping our bags off we asked if there was any food "yes, there's loads of food left from a buffet, go and help yourself" so we did! Well we tried, just as we loaded up with pork pie and sausage rolls we were accosted by Brett who wanted to know who we were. It turns out that Brett wasn't trying to develop his networking skills, he was the guardian of the buffet, which was a private function for the CAMRA National Executive. Not wanting to cause a diplomatic incident at our first CAMRA AGM, we departed with good grace ....well in a fashion, we ate a couple of sausage rolls as our token petulant protest before we were ejected. I've been turfed out of some places in my time, but it's my first buffet eviction!

We had a good trip to Molton on Friday night, which included a visit to Brass Castle Brewery. The brewery tour was interesting and my perception of KeyKeg ales was changed. There is no reason to think that this is not real ale and if it enables quality real ale to reach a wider population to a consistent standard CAMRA should be embracing it.

The conference has been interesting, much better than I expected. It has been good to see the 'inner workings' of CAMRA, with some good debates argued by some interesting characters. Above all its good to see the passion for real ale shining through ....  oh and and the beer list was pretty good too!

We walked some miles in Scarborough, battling through wind and rain, although I'm not convinced that we have burnt off the calories added through sampling beer in the various pubs.We have found some good pubs selling nice beers, but our favourite has been the North Riding Brew Pub, the current Scarborough CAMRA pub of the year. The pub has a good range of beers on, some of which are brewed in the pub and all are served in thirds, halves or pints. Quite conveniently our accommodation was also in this pub so we always managed a final one or two (it would have been rude not to) before making a steadyish assent of the three flights of stairs to the room.

Whitby

I think the highlight has been our trip to Whitby, which coincided with the Goth weekend. If you have preconceived ideas about this, as we did, forget them. What a great experience. People dressing up and just having a really good time. These aren't necessarily young uns, people had really gone to town on costumes of a Victorian theme with Miss Haversham making an appearance and plenty of Victorian Ladies and Gentlemen promenading around the harbour. A great evening and we would definitely go back again - I think Bob and I would make a rather fetching Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley.

We rounded our weekend off with a trip to York, for the first time in 3 days we enjoyed some beautiful sunshine as we walked round the minster and historic centre of York. But all good things must come to an end, the weekend started off in the York Tap and finished at the Duke of York both at the railway station. I certainly think we did our bit to keep the real ale brewing industry going during our 4 days, CAMRA would be proud of us - we may be rewarded with a piece of pork pie and a sausage roll at our next conference.