Badger Brews up a Great Day Out
Sunday 29th June dawn broke and Phil was amazed, as he normally only sees the dawn as he goes to bed! This time he was getting up and heading to Chieveley Service Station where he was the 1st one to arrive. ( Must be the lack of hair on the face that has affected him. ) Others turned up for the 8.30am departure: Ed & Sue, Mike, Baz, Roger, John, Arl, Bob, Julie, Keith & Sandra. All tanked up we headed off towards Andover then Salisbury, picking up Twitcher from The Scrumpies on the way. Just as we arrived in Salisbury Mike's bike decides to blow a fuse. A biker down we rode on and heading towards Blandford, pulled into a lay-by. After most had watered the field we were joined by Black Jack Bob + 2. Feeling lighter we travelled on and 3 more joined in. We arrived at Badgers Brewery to find South London already there (I think the total was 35). We all checked in, ordered our ploughman's lunch, but no time for coffee as the tour was about to start.
The tour of the brewery was great. Its a shame that if planning permission is given the site will be closed, moved nearer the river and will be fully automated. Unless the old buildings are kept as a Museum it will all be lost. So, if you want to go it is well worth a visit and it was only
£9.00 for the tour and lunch!After a couple of hours we started our return journey. Mike was not where we had left him, hopefully he got home OK. We stopped for much needed refreshment this side of Salisbury and Roger & Arlene had a huge helping of Raspberry Cheesecake each, say no more! We decided to take the A34 route back as they had been resurfacing the road in parts. It was a good ride back. Thanks Bob, great day, good company as always, and now looking forward to the Essex rally.
Ride safe
Keith & Sandra
Badger’s Brewery
Putting
the rideout route on the website is actually a good idea. Twitcher read it
and realised that he didn’t have to go to Cheively to meet it as it was
passing by somewhere much closer to home. So he just went there and waited
for them to join him. Some of us went to Salisbury to join it whilst Dave,
Tonker and Pat joined in a few miles further down the route than us. Dorset
went straight to the brewery
“Sarf London” took their own route to get there and arrived a few minutes after us, but how come the very last person to arrive only had to ride 400 yards to get there?
The tour takes you around the original Victorian plant that has a well stocked off licence and bar. Unfortunately there’s a plan to build a new brewery and these buildings will all be converted into flats and houses in the near future. The tour cost us £6 each and you got a bottle of their ale. We could have had a ploughman’s lunch for an extra £4 but as orders were being taken there was a voice of dissent from the Scrumpies “ We want something more substantial, where’s the carvery?”
After an hour or so in the bar we all went our separate ways, ours being just around the corner to a pub that had just about enough food left to feed us. Even though the portions were plenty big enough, Tonker succumbed to pudding, which he had to eat very guardedly as he had a circle of Scrumpies around him all wanting a spoonful!! What is it with you lot and your stomachs?
After a couple of hours sitting in the garden we all went home.
Many thanks to Badger for organising this and we’ll be seeing all of them next week at the Essex rally. Live the life you’ve got left
Blackjack.bob
A beer bottle chandelier
Gawd blimey Guv, How much?”
