Walk Report

Chappell Beer Festival Walk, Saturday 10th September 2011
22 miles - leader Rob Myers
I kept to the same format as last year with a 13-mile walk around Colchester in the morning. This started by going through Highwoods Country Park which my house backs on to. In fact there is an entrance to the park about 10 yards from my house so I could show the group where I lived. On leaving Highwoods we did a section of the Camuplodeum devised by former LDWA member Derek Keeble. After briefly popping into the grounds of Essex University we walked along the River Colne into Castle Park. We had lunch at the Castle Inn. In the afternoon there was a 9-mile walk to Chappel mainly along the Essex Way. Everyone was impressed by the magnificent Chappel Viaduct and we all posed for group photos. Some people left at Chappel Station where the East Anglian Railway Museum is situated and the Beer Festival took place. 6 of us went to the festival and tried some of the 450 beers available. There was a slight problem with food as the hog roast stall wasn't operating and the mighty sausage company stall had run out of sausages. Everybody else had a vegetable curry but as a strict carnivore I had a burger. Whilst we were eating our food there was a fairly heavy shower which sent most people scurrying into the Goods and Restoration Sheds of the museum. We stayed where we were and were rewarded with a superb rainbow when the sun came out. Four people departed at 7.30 and two of us stayed for a further hour. Two women stopped off at our table to eat their food and one of them turned out to be the chief brewer of Brentwood Brewery Company and we had a very interesting chat. The bad news, according to her, is that barley is a spring crop and the summer rain came too late to save it. She predicts that beer prices will soar next year. After briefly listening to the band in the Goods shed we decided to catch the free bus. The spirits in the bus were high and the passengers' rendition of the Proclaimers 500 Miles was truly impressive. Inspired by their triumph the passengers attempted a version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody which received mixed reviews.

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