450 miles for good cider

There's good cider and then there's jaw droppingly awesome cider, more akin to wine.

I'm busy sipping on Knights Malvern Gold which I aquired, oddly enough, near Malvern.

For those who think that the alcopops they sell in South Africa (and here) are cider, you just have to get yourself some of the real stuff. It ranges from absolutely rancid to ludicrously fine.

Hereford is real Cider country, but you can find local brews all over England. Most farmers markets these days will sell real cider - the stuff that is flat, strong and bitter sweet.

Some of the mass produced stuff isn't bad - a cold pint of pub cider on a sunny day is sheer bliss - but nothing can touch the real stuff.

This weekend I had a solid grounding in English Driving, from Hampshire via Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, through to Shropshire, into Worcestershire and back again. Long distance driving here is truly tiring as there is no unbroken stretches of road more than 10 miles in length, but that does make for a very interesting experience.
You have to constantly adjust speed as you approach towns and negotiate the millions of traffic islands dotted everywhere.

It's easily possible to completely forget London and realise what so many visitors to England never do really grasp, that the vast majority of England and Britain is countryside of breathtaking soft beauty. For many, there's the misconception of England as one great expanse of concrete.

You can spend a day in a 20km radius and not get to see all there is to offer, for in that small circle, you'll find at least one major town and 20 to 30 hamlets and villages.

Another amazing aspect is the changing countryside and architecture from one place to the next, still very noticable in these modern times of Burger King and Tescos.

As I have another glass of Malvern Gold, I reflect on a fairly rushed drive through the English Countryside and realise just how much there is to see of it.