Have a beer duck!

Time for a trip to the seaside; we're close to the North Wales coast but decided to try a bit further up into Lancashire - I looked at a very nice dog friendly AirBnb place in Lytham and once I'd booked it realised that Lytham and Lytham St Annes are two towns a couple of miles apart. We found Lytham village to be a very attractive spot so we're glad this was our base. The sea front stretches for miles and there's plenty of dog walking. Visitors to the Lancashire coast will know that when the tides out it's out a long way so the beach is huge (and full of (mostly) well behaved dogs. And what did we do in the evening following lungfuls of the fresh sea air? Most beer connoisseurs' experience of ale made with Citra hops is with the fine Citra Ale from the Oakham Brewery in Peterborough. Excellent stuff but we think the Lancaster Brewery has topped it with their take on a single hopped ale. Citra was developed less than ten years ago in the USA and has had a significant impact on brewing worldwide thanks to it's remarkable citrus flavour and aroma. We found this beer at the very nice Craft Beer Cafe in Lytham.

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Which of course is dog friendly! (Incidentally the well known dark brown beer known as Lancaster Bomber is not from Lancaster Brewery - it was originally brewed in Lancaster at the Mitchell's Brewery - Mitchells was closed down after being taken over by Yates and Jackson's of Lancaster who brewed the stuff up the road, Y& J were then acquired by Thwaites and the brewing of Bomber moved to Blackburn.Thwaites were bought out by Banks Brewery and their beers are brewed in Wolverhampton - Banks is now part of Marstons PLC - and so it goes on. Lancaster Bomber is still a nice beer but it ain't what it used to be.) Here's a picture of Vicky enjoying her Citra - Skip looks on longingly!

Hey, slow down!

Within walking distance of our apartment in Lytham was the wonderful Lytham Hall. Set in beautiful grounds the Grade 1 listed hall is undergoing restoration having been in a rather dilapidated state until the local council bought it just a few years ago. It's the perfect place for a parkrun with two and a bit laps of the very pleasant grounds. The bit was added because we had to be diverted away from a pond where herons were nesting! Our run was followed by a nice bacon roll at the Lytham Hall cafe - a comfortable place to spend a little time - certainly in our top ten parkrun cafes.

So you think I'm a duck do you?

Well spotted by us was lots of interesting birdlife on the Ribble estuary, this consisted of redshanks, knots, curlews and several colourful large shelducks which were dabbling around in the mud. My sleuth-like research indicates that they are not really ducks according to the zoologists as they occupy a slot halfway between ducks and geese.