We were up early on Friday morning as we had to head to the train station to get a train to Leeds. After a bit of kerfuffle with having the wrong train times, we managed to swap to a 10:30 train, which arrived in Leeds at 12:50. Luckily our hotel room was ready, so we were able to drop our bags before we headed off to Hop City. This beer festival was rescheduled from last year to early July, and then again to August 6 following some changes to restrictions ending. It was all outdoors and (Murphy’s law) it was absolutely pouring! We’d come prepared with an umbrella though so after getting a first beer, we found our friends and joined them at a table that was fortunately mostly undercover. We had a fantastic afternoon and evening trying a bunch of hoppy beers and chatting to some people we knew through beer events, before heading back to collapse in bed at a reasonable time.

In the morning we had a fairly dodgy continental buffet breakfast – so for me a piece of toast with jam and a couple of pieces of ham – and then grabbed our bags and popped into Decathlon. This outdoors store is fantastic and we grabbed some waterproof trousers for Peter as well as a few little bits for the walk. We then headed straight for the station, ready for our train to Manchester Piccadilly. Following a quick stop for lunch sandwiches, we then jumped on a train to Buxton. When we got to Buxton it was absolutely pouring again, so we trudged our way through the rain to our hotel, where thankfully we were able to check in early again. Waterproof clothes seemed like the way to go, so we got changed and then headed off on the 35 minute walk down to Buxton Brewery. Peter and I accidentally took a wrong turn but after thoroughly exploring the industrial estate where the Brewery is located, we did find the tap room and grabbed a sheltered seat in the garden – and texted Lee and told him not to take the tempting side path! 

Lee arrived about half an hour later and we had a great afternoon catching up over a couple of beers and talking about the plans for the next few days. Bryan, Ros, Paul and Aurelia were all supposed to be arriving at 6, so we headed back into town around then to meet them for dinner at the Buxton Brewery pub in town. Over a delicious meal, we discussed the plans for the next few days beginning the walk and who was meeting who where. We decided to head to bed reasonably early so after dinner and a quick stop at Sainsbury’s for lunch supplies, we headed back to our hotel.