Ticket to Ryde - Beer & Buses Part 2

I ended the last blog post travelling back from the west of the Isle of Wight on the Southern Vectis bus to Newport.
I've really gotta work on my cliff-hangers.

Arriving back at Newport bus station several of our group leapt straight aboard a waiting bus to Cowes. 
Alas, I bring you no report on Cowes, as instead I leapt straight into the George Inn for a wee.

Deciding we'd done enough bus journey's for the day, we headed to the local 'Spoons for food, then onward to visit another couple of Newport pubs.

The Crispin (10 Carrisbrooke Road, Newport, PO30 1BL)

The Crispin was actually a lot better than I initially expected, having stood outside looking at its mock tudor frontage and prominent Sky and BT Sports banners.
It's one of those pubs where you weigh up whether to pick the door to the 'lounge' or 'bar', only to find they lead into exactly the same place.  This is a typical town boozer, now open-plan with a large U-shaped bar and a lively crowd of punters.
Why this pub?  Because the booklet we'd been given earlier showing what beers were available where, mentioned The Crispin having a Castle Rock 'Brian Clough' pale ale, that's why.

The Crispin

Old Big 'Ead

Leaving The Crispin we walked back past the Ale House and on to a pub close to our B&B.
 

Railway Medina (1 Sea Street, Newport, PO30 5BU)

A railway pub without a railway.
This was once the closest pub to the now-demolished Newport train station.  Unlike the single-room Crispin, this had two distinctly different halves.  We settled in the quiet calm of the rear bar, surrounded by old pictures and railway memorabilia.
I ticked-off another local beer brewed especially for the Beer & Buses weekend here - 'Hop Aboard' by Island Brewery.

The quiet half of the Railway Medina.

Day 2: Ticket to Ryde

So, to recap: Beer & Buses is in it's 6th year and features some 85 buses of various vintages plying routes around the Isle of Wight.  There are roughly 140 pubs, clubs and other venues participating, offering beer and bus enthusiasts plenty of choice.
Most of our group from Oxford left a little earlier on Day 2, headed to the beer festival in the Winter Gardens in Ventnor.  Breaking rank, we'd decided to make our own way in a loop through Shanklin, Sandown and Ryde.

Sorry to harp on about the weather, but...still raining...

We arrived in Shanklin shortly after 11am and walked down to the esplanade where the waves were crashing roughly at the top of the beach and just a few brave souls hunkered against the wind as they walked along the seafront.

If I'd have been looking for shark teeth, I'd never have been able to find them...

A short way back inland, we found our way to the pretty, thatched buildings that make up Old Shanklin village.  This afforded us the opportunity for a quick first half of the day in...

King Harry's Bar (6 Church Road, Shanklin, PO37 6NU - web)

Built in 1854, this hotel bar has been IOW CAMRA pub of the year in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

King Harry's, Shanklin - looks so much better in the picture in the programme

The bar was dark wood and dimly lit, with old pump clips covering the ceiling, whilst seating to the side of this is in cosy rooms overlooking a great garden.  Beyond this is a function room designed to look like a stately Tudor Hall, which is where we sat to sup an Island Brewery 'Hop Aboard' golden ale.

From Shanklin station we caught the next vintage bus heading east through Sandown.  Here was a venue only opened this weekend, where we caught up with Gareth and Tanya from our Oxford group (who'd beaten us here and already tried most of the beers whilst we were navigating buses from Shankin to Sandown).

Boojum Brewery Tap (High Street, Sandown - fb)
A brewery tap without a brewery!
This is a new enterprise, which will eventually become a new brewery for the Isle of Wight.  For now, they're still awaiting brewing kit, but were eager to participate in the Beer & Buses weekend.  Set within an old shop unit which had hastily been made presentable, Boojum had opened for the first time on Saturday, with a good selection of craft ales and cask beers.

Work in progress.

Great selection of beers available on this visit, especially if you liked your crafty murk.
I started with a Mad Dog 'K9 Triplephena' and then the lovely Vibrant Forest 'Black Forest Porter' on cask.
Being a foolhardy sucker for the strongest beer on the list, I couldn't resist the Hardywood 'Peach Triple', labelled as 8.2% ABV, but not tasting its strength and very easy to drink.

Friendly welcome at Boojum.

It'll be very interesting to come back again and see how Boojum looks once they begin brewing and creating their own beers.
We headed just around the corner to somewhere that had been recommended to us as a 'proper pub'.

The Castle (12-14 Fitzroy Street, Sandown, PO36 8HY)
And it was a proper pub.  It said so on the sign next to the entrance.

The Castle advertise themselves as the "Original and best Halloween pub".  "Enter if you dare..." the banner above the door says.
The pub picked up a lot of waxworks when the Isle of Wight wax museum at Brading closed down, which they now use to tremendous effect to seasonally decorate the pub.
I got a bit carried away taking pictures...

I'm not really sure how much competition there is for best Halloween pub, but I'm gonna make an assumption that The Castle is pretty tough to beat.

Oh!  And they had beer as well!
In addition to what was on the bar, they were running a beer festival in the function room.  They had a number of Halloween beers ('IPA of the Dead, 'Screech Owl', 'Bucket of Blood') but I picked the un-spooky 'Espresso Stout' brewed by Downton Brewery, and very tasty.

Pub Cat - not going back inside until after the crazy Halloween shit gets taken down.

Leaving Sandown behind, we jumped aboard another bus for a 30-minute trip to Ryde. 

The Railway (68 St Johns Road, Ryde, PO33 2TY)

Blue sky. BLUE SKY!

Previously called the Hole in the Wall, this back-street pub may be plain from the outside, but it's another good, traditional boozer inside.   We were greeted by a choice of around 20 casks on a stillage filling the corner of the pub.
Taking advantage of the rare sighting of sunshine, we took beers out into the pleasant walled garden to the side.

A short walk through the residential streets of Ryde took us to our next point of call...

The Solent Inn (7 Monkton Street, Ryde, PO33 1JW)
This was a two room corner-local in an interesting building with another fine choice of beers from casks on stillage in the window alcove of the bar.  On reflection, we'd done exceptionally well for beer selection throughout today.

And that was it.  Last Beer & Buses venue of the weekend.
We were just in time to catch the open-top bus, in the picture below, back to Newport.  It may have dried up, but it sure was chilly up on the upper deck, huddled into my hood, as we headed westwards with the sun setting on the horizon.

One last bus picture!

Despite not being blessed with the best of weather, Beer & Buses had been great.  There are numerous routes to new towns and villages that we didn't get anywhere near this weekend, so I'm certainly keen on a return visit.
After sitting on top of an open-top bus in October we woke up next day with sore throats and runny noses.

Our group travelled back home (as we'd arrived) on the route-master bus on Monday.  As the Oxford CAMRA group dispersed in their different directions we bade farewells until next week, when the Oxford Beer Festival gets underway at the Town Hall.  See you there!

Isle of Wight - Beer & Buses Part 1

On Friday 11th October a group of us from Oxford CAMRA travelled southbound for the Isle of Wight Beer & Buses weekend.  
This is the 6th year of the event, where classic buses operate routes around the island handily stopping at (or close by) pubs, many of which put on extra beers and entertainment for the weekend.
As an added bonus we were generously transported from Swindon station on an old Clydeside route-master that would be taking part in the event. 

Your carriage awaits...

Due to a cancelled ferry, it was all a bit up-in-the-air as to what time we'd make the crossing.
And with some time on our hands, our first Isle of Wight trip ales were in.....Southampton.  For many of us, the Dancing Man had been a popular stop back on the March beer festival helpers trip.  Being located across the road from the port, we could handily sit by the front window and watch for the return of the bus - our cue to drink-up and procure some Red Funnel tickets.

On the way...

The bus followed behind us on the freight ferry, so Magda, Ian and myself wandered around the corner from the East Cowes terminal having spotted the opportunity to tick off the first IOW pub from our Beer & Buses booklet.
  

Ship & Castle (21 Castle Street, East Cowes, PO32 6RB)
And what a great little down-to-earth corner pub this was to start in.
The most interesting beer was part of Island Brewery's "bespoke series" - 'Dark Castle', a pleasant 4.5% porter, a half-pint of which went down very well.

First pub found.  The Ship and Castle in the side streets of East Cowes.

After hopping back aboard the bus for the short last leg of our journey, we arrived in Newport where everyone settled into their respective accommodation for the weekend.  The plan was to meet up at the Newport Ale House. 
The Isle of Wight's smallest pub.
Possibly not the best place for 14 folks to arrange to meet, but never mind.

Newport Ale House (24a Holyrood Street, Newport, PO30 5AZ)
I made sure to get in here early to get a perch in the corner, make a fuss of a small dog and have a chat with one of the locals.
This was a cosy place that has previously been a hairdresser, coffin storage for an undertaker and the stable area of an old inn, according to whatpub.
Whatpub also have a much better picture than I managed.

Ale House.  My photography making it look very dull.

Second beer on the island and it was a second "bespoke" beer from Island Brewing - this time a hefty 6.2% dark ale named 'Divining Rod'.  I followed this with 'Helmat Schmacker' from Beermats Brewery from the casks on stillage behind the bar.

We probably picked the heaviest downpour of rain of the evening to make the walk around the corner to a large pub by the side of the Medina river.

Bargeman's Rest (Little London Quay, PO30 5BS)
In contrast to the Ale House, this was huge, with well-designed multiple rooms and nautically-themed decorations.  It was still tough to grab a table though, with this being a busy old venue on a Friday evening.  Additional beers on stillage for the Beer & Buses weekend meant a decent ale choice with several from local brewers.
I'll also give a big thumbs up for the food at the Bargeman's - we received some enormous, tasty  portions and left loosening the belt buckle a notch or two. 

Arriving at the Newport's oldest pub, The Castle.

The Castle Inn (91 High Street, PO30 1BQ - fb)
Walking back through the town, we headed to The Castle, Newport's oldest pub, dating back to at least 1550.  King Charles I became a prisoner at Carisbrooke Castle in 1647, although he was allowed considerable freedom to travel around the island and, legend has it, drink at this pub.  There was reputedly a tunnel from the cellar to the castle which he used.  Being outside the castle walls, it was a den of rogues and vagabonds, although this evening, in 2019, it housed a quite respectable crowd. There were just a couple of nationally available beers on offer, so I opted for a Weston's cider from the box. 
After which I headed back to the hotel for a good nights rest before a busy day tomorrow.

Saturday - On the Buses

We were up reasonably bright and reasonably early - cooked breakfast to fuel the day - and standing in line to get on the 10:10 departure to the West of the island.

We passed through Yarmouth, then Freshwater Bay, before disembarking into the persistent rain at the Highdown Inn.

The Highdown Inn.  Wet.

The Highdown Inn (Highdown Lane, nr.Totland Bay, PO39 0HY)
Situated on a road junction, this pub was seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  Apparently, through the low-lying cloud, there are scenic national trust downs close by.  Sadly the miserable weather was enough to put anyone off exploring and half a bus load of folk made a tight squeeze into the bar.
Here they had around a dozen barrels on stillage with some interesting choices.  I picked the Cerne Abbas 'Gurt Coconuts' weighing in at 6.7% ABV.  "6.7%, before midday", admonished MrsPropUptheBar, before trying it, declaring it 'great', then keeping it and drinking the rest herself.
We stayed for a couple more in here, the crowd changing each time a bus pulled up outside.  Once it came time for us to move on we assembled outside to catch the next bus to Freshwater.

Freshwater's Red Lion

The Red Lion (Church Place, Freshwater, PO40 9BP - web)
It was a short walk up a hill from the bus stop to reach this picturesque village pub.  The Red Lion is a former 3-bar coaching inn dating back to the 11th century.
Being in the first 50 customers to come here with a Beer & Buses programme, we were entitled to an "I've had a Proper Job at the Red Lion, Freshwater" baseball cap.
Proudly modelled (although not worn for very long, if I remember rightly) by Bondy below...

I didn't have a Proper Job - I had a Pilgrim 'Progress' flagship ale, along with a Gallybagger sandwich.
Whatever that may be.
Next stop: Yarmouth...

The King's Head (Quay Street, Yarmouth, PO41 0PB - web)
This was a great pub, doing a roaring trade on a Saturday afternoon.
And they had draught Bass.  Result!

The Kings Head.  In the rain.

I made a speedy exploration of the port town of Yarmouth, "widely regarded as one of the jewels of the south coast", according to, erm, the Yarmouth harbour website, who may be a bit biased.
Well, it certainly looked a lovely little place, even in the miserable weather.

Did I mention it rained a lot whilst we were on the Isle of Wight?

Yarmouth Pier. 

Electing not to get any wetter, I joined everyone else inside the warm, welcoming and bustling Bugle Coaching Inn.

The Bugle Coaching Inn (The Square, Yarmouth, PO41 0NS - web)

The Bugle, Yarmouth

Owned by the same pub.co as the Kings Head, this was a large inn with an enviable location on the town square, just a stones throw from the pier.
There seemed to be lots of different parts to this: nooks and crannies and characterful corners, even a smart private dining room.
As with the Kings Head, the Bugle was doing a roaring trade and was noisy and busy, but still made for an enjoyable visit. Another beer brewed especially for the weekend here - Yates' Brewery 'On the Buses'.

We had time for one last stop, getting off en-route from Yarmouth to Newport at the village of Shalfleet.

The New Inn (Mill Road, Shalfleet, PO30 4NS - web)
This was a charming old pub, dating back to 1744, with thick stone walls, flagstone floors and large fireplaces.  It's a bit of winner and today the beer choice was complemented with an extra 8 casks in the back room.  I opted for Shepherd Neame's 'Northern Lights', brewed in collaboration with S:t Eriks Bryggeri of Sweden, followed by a Goddards 'Fuggle-dee-dum'.

Beer and Buses punters come and go as the bus pulls up at the New Inn, Shalfleet.

The downfall with making this stop in the evening (the last classic buses running around 5.30pm) was that all were already almost full to capacity.  So our last bus ride of Saturday was on the regular Southern Vectis route back to Newport.
I'll pick up from this point and cover day 2 on the Beer & Buses in Part 2 shortly.