Tim's Tiny Tour 2

THE HOGSBACK HIKE

January 11th

It's winter so you expect it to be a bit on the cold and damp side but the  Hogsback Hike depended on it not being too icy thanks to sharp bends and narrow lanes. It turned out to be showery but thankfully not that cold as the eight F's gathered at the Ockham Car Park to the bemusement of an unconnected  TF owner who happened to be there and couldn't quite work out what was going on. 

With the route plan handed out we set off into the countryside of North Surrey, an area not greatly explored on car club runs. Heading off towards Ockham  and Clandon we passed the wire fences of Send Prison -so beloved of Jeffrey Archer ! Luckily none of the Fers were detained as we headed up the hill on to the North Downs with it's great views of Heathrow Airport and London in our rear view mirrors. We safely negotiated the hair pin bend as we descended towards the A25 and our first stop at Newlands Corner. We managed to find sufficient spaces in the bustling car park alongside some different types of Horse Power and joined the queue for the famous Newlands Corner Burgers ! Suitably refreshed with Tea, Hot Dogs, Chips and Burgers we rushed back to the cars in Le Mans style for the start of Part Two of the run. Newlands Corner is well known as the place where Agatha Christie disappeared many years ago - we didn't find her or lose any of our F'ers !

We were back on the A25 and heading through the Estate village of Albury taking a short detour by the Franciscan Friary at Blackheath before crossing to Wonersh and Bramley. It was at this point that we lost three F's in the middle of the bunch when one of them missed a turning at Snowdenham Hall and the others all followed - a hazard of not reading your instructions - tut tut ! The rest of us were soon in Godalming and driving by Charterhouse school humming old Genesis songs as we went.

We were then in the valley below the Hogsback and driving through Seale and Sands putting a little spurt on as we had to be at the Hogsback Brewery by 2.3opm. Five of us made it bang on the dot of 2.30pm and the missing three turned up several minutes later having found their way back on course again.

The Hogsback Brewery is a small local business whose best known beer is T.E.A or Traditional English Ale (despite it not actually being an Ale as our guide explained - it just sounds better than T.E.B.!). Brewery tours are probably not ideal if you are solo in your F and have not brought along a non drinker to get you home again as there is ample opportunity to taste the wares of the brewery. Indeed we were met with four jugs of Hair of the Dog , A session beer of lower alcohol content. Most of the group tasted in moderation but those of us with a spare driver could indulge a little more freely !

The tour guide regaled us with many facts and figures about the brewery - I can only remember a few now though - they brew five days a week and have two coppers that contain 3,600 pints of beer each. This is decanted usually into 100 firkins, each holding 72pints. The process involves putting some crushed otters into a big vat of water and throwing in some hops for flavour and preservative. The finings came from the blood of a Sturgeon (whoever thinks to see if the blood sac of a sturgeon can be used to make beer ?). It was all getting a bit more confusing as we sampled some Blackwater Porter, TEA and another seasonal beer and our guide told us stories of his car sales days and various groups that had previously visited the brewery. Finally there was the chance to buy some of the bottled beers for extra tasting at home. Amongst the dusty bottles of beer on the rafters we felt at home as we spotted an old octagonal friend pictured below :-