North Yorkshire

There was a certain familiarity about the faces that congregated outside The Vaults on the early morning of the 11th of March 2000. The luxury coach, that was again superbly driven by Tony, was bound for the distant land of North Yorkshire.

The first stop of the day was at the Station Hotel, home of the Easingwold Brewery. As it happened the brewery was actually ceasing production on that very day, a sad occaision, but the tickers among us were very glad to be there to 'collect' those beers that were on offer. There were only the two, and they were both absolutely superb, with special mention going to the Pullman Porter!

        Station Hotel at Easingwold

From here, the 'bus' moved on to the beautiful city of York, where a trip around the York brewery was organised for those that wanted to see Master Brewers at work, and a sampling of their wares was undertaken by a good number of us. A tour of some of some of the finer ale houses was then the order of the day, starting with The Maltings, where luncheon was taken.

A few Vaults regulars stocking up on provisions         

After the tour of York, the party moved on to Chapel Haddlesey, location of The Jug Inn. A 250 year old pub, with a variety of beers, all locally brewed, and some rare beer mats and pump clips for the collectors. The sleepy village was rudely awakened by the visitors from 'down south' when the rugby results were announced and the party realised that The Tigers had gone top of the League.

Last stop of the day was to be Sheffield, and on the way one or two people caught up on some sleep. The corpse on the right is Yours Truly, and I'd love to find out who nicked my camera and snapped me dozing, they'd better watch out , there'll be nore trips, and everybody sleeps sometime!

In Sheffield the majority of the occupants of Tonys' Coach retired to the Cask and Cutler, although a handful of miscreants escaped to the Fat Cat, and promptly got confused over the e.t.a. at the coach. A huge apology is offered from the three that got away to Phil and the rest of the party for keeping them waiting!!   Thanks for waiting for us!

Well done Phil, great day out. When's the next one?