benread wrote:Are those staying at the Saffron Hotel planning a taxi to the Bell? If so, is it organised, or shall I do so? (Tom: I believe you have a friendly cabbie with a large vehicle! Could you let me have details please.)
I'm taking my car from the hotel to The Bell and planned to leave it there and get a taxi (or a lift from a kind person) to pick it up on Friday. I already have 4 passengers (Rute, Joao, AHB and JDAW) and about 100 glasses booked on board.
However, if the team minibus is being ordered to take others to The Bell I could leave my car at the hotel and we could all share the cost?
"The first duty of Port is to be red" Ernest H. Cockburn
uncle tom wrote:A cheese board will be prepared for us, I have asked for strong flavours to be avoided. Other desserts will be available for those who want them.
Presumably by "other desserts" Tom means "second steak"...
Thanks for placing the veggie order for me
What sort of time should we congregated at the Bell?
uncle tom wrote:I have a plentiful supply of decanters, so everything can be properly presented. Double decanted bottles can be transferred to decanter at my house, or on site.
We have 14 confirmed attendees so I think decanters will only be useful for looking good rather than attempting to pass and pour. The result of which would be some very disappointed people who would get little or nothing
Tom, will it be possible to have a side table that we can use to pour 14 equal measures of each wine?
"The first duty of Port is to be red" Ernest H. Cockburn
coming back on your suggestion can you please pick up my key at the Saffron Hotel for me? Will try tomorrow to call them to let them know. Have again a crazy time at work
Will come direkt to the Bell; according to http://www.streetmap.co.uk it looks not too difficult. Hope i do not mess it up similar to when picking up Port in Brixton from Chris yesterday. Though there are mitigatings factors, I have again a tooth infection which requires me to drink lots of Port just for antiseptic purposes. In addition the pain becomes more bearable
I hate getting a bit long in the tooth!
Also i need to get back at one stage to the Saffron Hotel that night and would like to join you in the "big Cab ride"
regards and cu Thursday
WS1
P.S. Will bring 12 glasses (6 for Axel)
"Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough" Mark Twain
Unless you are drining with a good SatNav the only way you will find your way from the Saffron Hotel to The Bell is by taxi. There are a few miles of dark English country lanes between the two locations so there is no other way to get there.
There are lots of us heading back to the Saffron Hotel so hopefully no one will get lost
Derek
"The first duty of Port is to be red" Ernest H. Cockburn
thanks a lot for the warning, but I want to walk from Audley End train station to the Bell. This should be fairly easy. Please correct me if i am wrong. To get the next morning from the Saffron Hotel to the train staion i am not sure yet. Do you have any suggestions?
regards
WS1
"Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough" Mark Twain
WS1 wrote:thanks a lot for the warning, but I want to walk from Audley End train station to the Bell. This should be fairly easy. Please correct me if i am wrong.
That bit is quite easy; I did it last year and will probably be doing it again this.
When you come out of the station’s main entrance, you are facing East so you have to turn left and walk up to a T-Junction where there is one of those painted roundabouts in the road. You then turn left onto Station Road and keep following it. It will swing to the left and then to the right which is where the Bell is. Be aware that it will be dark and there are no streetlamps! It takes about 10 minutes if you don’t get lost.
I'm at the Saffron Hotel, and hoping to join in on team transport home. I think I'll be arriving sufficiently late by train to merit walking directly to The Bell, so would appreciate it if someone could do the key honours for me (by which I mean collect them and bring them along for me). I'll be catching a train up from The Big Smoke - it sounds like others might be on the same one potentially, but I'm not going to nail my whatsit to the doobrey by saying which train I think it will be.
Ghandih
A man who likes vintage ports, and we're not talking Carthage
I am hopefully picked up by Tom tomorrow and would very much like to join the transport-club after the tasting to the hotel, too. I guess we would be needing more than one cab, more like a bus.
Thank you. I hope they are well insulated with the weather we seem to be having and due in the next day or so! Weather and traffic permitting I hope to drop by on my way to The Saffron around 6pm or a bit earlier.
For anyone who is interested, I do have a taxi booked but could only get space for 4 of us. Should be leaving the hotel about 6.50pm. PLease PM if you want a seat so I know to wait for you!
Ben
-------
Vintage 1970 and now proud owner of my first ever 'half-century'!
coming back on your suggestion can you please pick up my key at the Saffron Hotel for me? Will try tomorrow to call them to let them know. Have again a crazy time at work
Will come direkt to the Bell; according to http://www.streetmap.co.uk it looks not too difficult. Hope i do not mess it up similar to when picking up Port in Brixton from Chris yesterday. Though there are mitigatings factors, I have again a tooth infection which requires me to drink lots of Port just for antiseptic purposes. In addition the pain becomes more bearable
I hate getting a bit long in the tooth!
Also i need to get back at one stage to the Saffron Hotel that night and would like to join you in the "big Cab ride"
regards and cu Thursday
WS1
Happy to pick up your key. Anyone else who wants this service, please post so here.
Anyone walking from Audley End station to the Bell is strongly recommended to bring a torch with them.
P.S. Will bring 12 glasses (6 for Axel)[/quote]
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
I will present the bottles in my care in decanters, and will bring some spare decanters plus neck tags..
..there isn't really space for a side table to divvy up bottles, so can we all be well aware that measures need be very modest, so that all may enjoy..
- there will be at least one more bottle than participant, so we won't go thirsty!
If my spies tell me true, then one very venerable contribution will be in magnum format, so such restraint may be cast aside - in one instance!
Tom
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
Patches of light snow are expected from dusk, with more substantial falls expected after midnight. We rarely get heavy snow here, and usually less than is forecast. At this point I would guess the potential issue is not getting here, or getting back to the Saffron Hotel - but getting home tomorrow. However, there are plenty of pubs with nice big fires in and around Saffron Walden..
Suggest people bring warm coats and hiking boots - just in case..
Tom
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
