Day 5 - 04/05/19 - Timmermans

We were too late to get a place on any of the Toer de Gueze buses, so we decided to make our way to Timmermans brewery by public transport. We used Google Maps to plan the journey; walking / bus / walking, all straight forward so far, but our challenge was to buy a ticket, as you need to buy them beforehand. We found a list of places on line and the visitor centre chap pointed us in the right direction. He doesn’t use buses himself as he has this rather special vehicle to get around in - he’s very tall though, no idea how he gets into it.

We reached the shop and did our best to communicate our plans and with their help, brought the right ticket. We made our way to the appropriate bus stop, and within minutes of the bus arriving, someone asked us which bus we were waiting for and explained that the bus stop had been moved around the corner temporarily. Lucky for him we got on the right bus ! No changes, so sat and enjoyed the 1.25 hr journey, including having a face time call with Ash, Kirsty and Izzy - it was lovely to see them and have a chat.

The weather started during the journey and continued for the rest of the day, to consist of hail, wind and sunshine. A little cold to be honest, it looked much brighter at home.

We managed to get off at the right stop and then had a straight forward mile walk to the brewery. On the way we passed a chemist and Chris was suffering with heartburn, so went in to buy some Rennie. The pharmacist, checked the computer, turned around to open a hatch, and low and behold, a pack of Rennie was sitting there - what a cool system that was !

The tour around Timmermans was free and included a small taster of 5 month old Lambic. Timmermans dates from 1702 and is the oldest lambic brewery in the world. There wasn’t a guide, but we could look around the whole area, and Chris took the opportunity to ask lots of questions at the end when we received our tasters. (I’ve just realised where Ash gets his inquisitive nature from).

At the end of the “tour” the inside and outside bars were open where we could purchase other beers. Chris had the Strawberry and I had the sweetened lambic - very nice it was too. There was also a band who looked liked they were enjoying themselves sharing their music with us. They reminded me of our HR Brass Quartet at The Christie, who entertained us at Christmas.

On the way out we were given complimentary bottles of Blanche Lambicus - a lovely gesture, hope it tastes as good as the bottles look !

We had a much easier journey home, although we had to be asked to get off the bus as the journey had ended ! Once off the bus, everywhere looked familiar and we made our way back to the visitor centre where we were staying in our Motorhome, buying some delicious fresh bread on the way.