Friday 13th Club walk

Its been a good few months since the last Friday 13th, and now there isn't another until August 2010.

A few people who wanted to come couldn't make it for work related reasons, though very unsure that was true for Paul "I'm too busy" Tremlin as we saw him out with his dog as we headed off for the day... Excuse Paul?

Apologies were received from Paul T, Simon S, Doug S, Jasper A and Mike B - no show from the rest of the crew... despite this 6 showed for brekky at my house. Bacon was provided by the superb Bacon Wizard - Jasper Ackroyd at http://www.baconwizard.co.uk.



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Here is what Jasper has to say about the 6 samples he left us:

They are all cured without the use of nitrates at all, and are
finished in oak, such as would occur in wine-making (and once upon a
time, bacon curing)

1) Elsian's Cure. A herbal bacon, along lines of pancetta in flavour,
but English. Elsian was my Grandmother

2) Mr Dunn's. More breakfast-friendly. A Tudor recipe which I was
taught and have since adjusted according to a more recent translation
of the names of ingredients

3) Bishopstone Black. Mollasses and spices involved here. Especially
good for larding poultry, but try it with melted cheddar or lancashire
with oat-cakes!

4) The Tom Sladdin. As Bishy Black, but oak-smoked. Seriously strong flavour.

5) Jasper's Original. This is unfinished.. I am continuing to work on
the recipe. it is apple-smoked, but I personally feel there is an
after taste there which it could do without. It's a result of trying to
cure without nitrates :( let me know what you think of it please
guys.

6) Bloody Mary. Well, it was indeed cured in Bloody Mary. The result
is interesting, a slightly oriental feel to it I think.. I might leave
the oak out if it next time.

===

A full English breakfast was had before we set off. Liz helped when it got a bit too much for me alone. I think the food was OK, the bacon was great. My favourite of the tasting session being the Bishopstone Black.



Over breakfast we decided we'd head broadly in the direction of the Ridgeway and then pop down to a pub off the path at lunch time. Above are [left to right] Robin, Keith, Neil, Andy and me.

We decided as we headed up the hill to the Ridgeway to call in on Jasper and thank him for the bacon, but he wasn't home. He lives with as little impact as he can on the planet. He's one of the fantastic eccentric folk that live in and around Bishopstone. This is where he lives... In a Ger (Yurt to the common folk).



Looking through the window we note he has a TV and a bath! Note TV aerial on the post.

From the Yurt we headed cross country from Starvalls Farm up a little used track and came across this wonderful old Shepherds cabin. I've lived here a long time now and never seen this path or cabin before yet have been within a mile of it many hundreds of times.






I spent a chunk of the rest of the walk contemplating restoring it and having it on the drive as a getaway for those times when the teenagers get rowdy... seems like a good plan to me. Wonder how much its worth?

We carried on up to the top of the hill, walked across the top to the Uppler Ashdown Woods, down past Ashdown House (showing the muggles what a Geocache is along the way) and over Alfreds Castle back into Ashdown Woods and across the B4000 towards the Ridgeway. We headed diagonally towards White Horse Hill eventually reaching the Ridgeway around 1.00pm. We dropped down the road to Compton Beauchamp where we decided to go to Ashbury instead of Woolstone as we knew the Rose and Crown pub there was open all day whereas the White Horse closes at 2pm. Also as Keith pointed out the bus runs from Ashbury to Bishopstone every couple of hours so we could have a few beers and catch the bus home.

The last 1.5 miles along that road was the hardest of the walk... wet, hard and quite a few cars, vans and a huge night soil truck that drove us well off the road to avoid the spray. The smell was foul. Imagine driving that all day...



Seeing the pub was a great feeling. The Guiness which followed on entry, hardly touched the sides.

We had a great value lunch. After breakfast at least 2 of us couldn't finish the good sized servings we had. Suddenly it was time to leave and we quickly put coats and boots back on and rushed to the bus stop only to discover we'd missed it. Neil had the last laugh as he felt it was cheating to catch the bus and decided to walk while we waited. He got back before us! Eventually Andy called Karin and she came and fetched us.