Wolf 359, (The Best of both Worlds)

1337, Hector completes his trek and arrives at Traben-Trarbach to be greeted by Clive and Maggie ...as we leave the Bahnhof..."Hi Mr. Taylor"...Maggie can't believe it..."you've only been here two minutes”...it is Herr Bucke in his taxi...so we are driven to the Goldene Traube where Herr Richard Allmacher, who really does limp, greets us and sits us down for a glass of wine...

Biers at the Station Bar is now the tradition, Franziskaner vom Fass...Hector was looking forward to winding up mein host after Glasgow Rangers F.C. took a well earned point off VFB Stuttgart (his team) in the Champions League a few days earlier. Alas mein host is not a well man...

And so to the famous T-T to Wolf tractor…Clive was last to pay as always.

A cheeky rose wine to start led to another moment of recognition. “Hi! Thought you wouldn't make it here...” a chap Steve and I met at Gaffel in Köln years ago who had never been to T-T is now also a regular at Wolf.

After 4 bottles of Wolfer Klosternarren-Sekt (on top the aperitif wines)...Maggie declared it was time to bale before we reached the place where she fell over last year...and wore the chips…so back in the tractor and back to Frank’s for some Reissdorf Kölsch and a chat with Rosi… one day we will have a conversation in any language…

Stuttgart next weekend..what does a man to to amuse himself in between?

Bad Wolf

It used to be easy, get on a 'plane at Prestwick at 21.00 on the Friday night and arrive at Frank's (Altstadt Cafe, Traben-Trarbach) just on midnight...now to get to T-T one has to fly from Edinburgh! to Weeze-Niederrhein, on the Dutch border, and then train it down the Rhein.
Edinburgh Airport has apparently doubled in size. Gate 23? It was a remote stand meaning a bus took us out to the ‘plane. Being last on the bus made a mockery of all those who had coughed up for Priority Boarding, Hector was fist on the ‘plane and selected seat 1C so as to ensure a quick getaway at Weeze. Then the pilot announces d a half hour delay.
Hector was first off the ‘plane and out the airport, I was also the only person on that flight to make the last train to Düsseldorf.

The Beyer Hotel, Sheurenstrasse 57, is not recommended. €33 for a single room appeared to be a good price. Arriving on schedule at midnight I advised the desk clerk that I would be going out for an hour or so…Füchsen should still be open. He told me that I was not going anywhere, he was locking up! Breakfast? You’ll have had your coffee. I took a banana not because I wanted one but because one cup of coffee is not enough.
The journey down the Rhein must be one of the great routes, the abutments at Remagen the beginnings of the Rhein Gorge… €29 for an Inter City to Koblenz and on to T-T, is not a bad deal. However this meant no bier in Düsseldorf, Köln or Koblenz…fifteen hours in Deutschland and no bier… what was Hector thinking about? It must be a wine fest weekend…

Cry Wolf

(or the Joy of Sekts...)

The Wolf wine festival is unique - it is the only time the Hectors travel to Germany for something other than bier...

Having heard stories of past 'glories' (generally involving people getting drunk and falling down), I am sad to report that nothing of that nature happened this year. Hector counted us onto the

tractor too the festival, and he counted us onto it on the way back (Steve take note...). Between these moments, we did manage to drink some wine and have some food, so it was not a complete waste of time.

The best wine was, of course, the sekts - the only time we stayed for more than one bottle. They even supplied us with a pfand, despite Bernard not being there.

We will return next year - hopefully in greater numbers...

I would drive 500 miles and I would drive 500 more...

...just to meet friends and have a few drinks with them! I have discovered that it is just over 1000 miles from Aberdeen to Traben-Trarbach by road via Dover... Despite a distinct lack of sleep, I was still able to meet Clive and Maggie (who need no introduction, so won't get one) and the ever present Hector, and even manage to stay awake...

The purpose of this particular trip was the annual (for some!) trip to the Wolf wine festival, although this merits another entry - it is not, after all, a bad Wolf...), although we were able to renew acquaintaces with various local bars both before and after the festival.

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures from the station bar - hopefully Hector can edit this post and add them...

..come here, there's more...

Yvonne is in Calendar

Girl mode...

Duncan, at the Fat Cat, who gave Howard and I (Hector hadn't been born yet) two bottles of antediluvian Pale Rider three days after the floods of 2007, assures us that the Pale Rider is coming back to its best…not before time…

GMT

Guess who was last out?

Liquid Gold, Franziskaner and Mirfield…

Between Dewsbury and Huddersfield lies the metropolis of Mirfield... where one can spend an interesting fifteen minutes waiting for a connection. This is a good time for Kirsty to relate how Bernard blanked her on his way to the Country and Western fest on Millport...or Marg to describe her night in the company of the PE Dept...

Steve discovered that the Head of Steam operates a last-in-first-fed policy, at least his potatoes were suitably fluffy...

Future Trips with Tonto Taylor's Totally Tantalising Tours...

One day...

One day Hector's Holiday will end on a truly Horrible note when we turn up at the airport to find no 'plane...people will look at me and expect me to get them to get them home...sometimes in winter I have a back-up flight booked, e.g. for the November trip I have booked eleven flights at €00.01 each from Hahn back to Edinburgh the next day, just in case our flight from Memmingen does not happen. Yes that is €00.01 each, no taxes, no on-line check-in, anything.
The next mass trip is to Munchen in mid November for £20.00 return(!), however there are one or two trips before then.
It is the Wolf wine fest at the end of next week...having discovered this by chance some years ago it has not been missed since. This will be Jonathan's first visit, he will drive. I will fly via Weeze and Dusseldorf to stay in Traben-Trabach where Clive and Maggie should be waiting for us. The following weekend is the Cannstatter Wasen (Oktoberfest) in Stuttgart...Robin will join Jonathan and I on that one.

In mid October, Marg, my dear lady, and I will fly to Gatwick for a Saturday night with Clive and Maggie in Crawley en route to Munchen and Bamberg where hopefully Keesman bock and Schlenkerla Urbock will await us. Dr Stan is booked on this, Steve is havering.

Silvester in Munich is also being organised currently, with a return trip via Dusseldorf and Amsterdam....

In the mean time...it has been realised that the long term objective of an overnight in Munchen is now affordable, out from Edinburgh to Memmingen on the Saturday, back at Sunday tea time from Munchen...there are no takers, as yet...

GMT

...fields of dreams

That is Sheffield, Dronfield, Wakefield, Huddersfield (and Dewsbury - there's always one…)

Anyway, last weekend saw some of the summer holidayers (and T…) visit Yorkshire in the continuing quest for the perfect pint.

First to arrive were Howard and Tracey, who managed to visit the usual Sheffield haunts, and the Coach and Horses in Dronfield, before the next arrival (me!). Sadly, they managed to find out that the Fat Cat was out of Pale Rider (HH1 - just one of the many things that made this a truly horrible holiday!).

Despite this disappointment, we were at least able to sample PR at the Devonshire Cat before returning to the FC and meeting the weekend's surprise guest, Steve. We then ended the evening at Kelham Island Tavern, meeting the rest of the group (Hector, Craig and Yvonne), and chatting to a member of the Sheffield Pipe Band!

The purpose of the trip, however, was not to revisit the pubs of Sheffield, but to go on a bit of a rail crawl. Leaving nice and early, we arrived at Wakefield at 11.20 (only to find out that the Fernandes Brewery Tap opened at noon (HH2). Even worse, when it opened, somehow the beer pumps worked in reverse, sucking the beer out of the glass (HH3)!

Once this was sorted, we had a pint or 2 before heading to Dewsbury station, meeting Dr Stan and Tony Taylor at the West Riding (on the platform), where Scotland's first half performance against Macedonia was being shown (HH4!), driving us away to Huddersfield.

For those who have not been there, Huddersfield station has 2 decent pubs on the main platform. Some of us went to the Head of Steam, where the excellent beer was somewhat let down by the attitude of the food 'manageress' (HH5) - Howard is on the case though…

Our last pub was the Grove - 18 real ales, various foreign beers on draught and a bottled beer menu that has to be seen to be believed. With all this choice, I stuck to Jaipur IPA, although the others were more adventurous… The only problem was having to return to Sheffield - even Craig, our resident trainspotter, did not enjoy the journey along the Penistone line (HH6).

The lightweights went straight home, leaving Hector and me to finally sample PR at source (the Fat Cat) - sadly, it's still not the beer it was, although it is improving again. We were, of course, last out of the pub…

We will return soon…

PS - photos thanks to Hector

PS2 - T is quite right - they did come to the Fat Cat - but their visit was so brief it hardly counts!