69.
Cycle to Drayton, Sutton Courtney area,
Foolishly, I have deleted the text that I
had taken hours to write documenting this crawl in detail. So you'll have to
read the one I've rewritten whilst in a bad mood after realising
this error...
It didn't start very impressively with a
trip to the Perch at Binsey which used to be a rather
good pub but has really let itself go now. The garden
was looking rather unkempt, the giant chess set scuffed and knocked over, and
only two of the four beers (Adnams Bitter and Old
Speckled Hen) were on. We ended up being served by a giant weightlifter of a
woman, so decided not to complain about the pub's demise. A shame as the pub
and buildings could be superb.
We rewarded ourselves after ascending Cumnor Hill with a swift half at the Bear and Ragged Staff.
Once again there was decent beer - a choice of Suffolk Summer, Triumph or IPA
this time. Another pleasant pint at the Cricket Club also followed. A much less
pleasant pint was had at the Merry Miller in Cothill.
The pub was empty, being mainly a foody evening
establishment, and a barmaid stirred herself out of her seat to pour us a foul
half of Triumph which was quickly exchanged for a less foul half of IPA. The
beer, and food, was expensive and the pub didn't really have any redeeming features
- 'a piece of shit, never to be returned to'. Fortunately the Black Horse at Gozzard's Ford was better. Though out in the country, it
had the air of an urban, estate pub, a little like a Mr
Q's with two bars, but with less arseholes drinking
there. The beer was a lot better, and we could choose from Highgate
Black Pig (a very nice earthy mild), or Old Speckled Hen or IPA. We stayed in
the beer room - the other room is for solid intake.
By the time we reached the Crown in Marcham, I discovered that I had yet another puncture. I
decided to fix it in the pub whilst we had a protracted game of pool. The Crown
is a very average boozer, quite good bar snacks, reasonably friendly, but
Greene King. They had a good selection though - Suffolk Summer, Black Pig and Morland Original. After I had found the toilets, it was
noticeable that there was a large un-used sector next to the trough. Not sure
what it was for - perhaps a shower or cubicle or very small area for a tramp to
sleep. A pleasant surprise greeted us at the Red Lion in Drayton - Greene King
Mild, which we chose in preference to Morland
Original. We enjoyed our Mild in the immaculate beer garden with its world
class Aunt Sally pitch. Pub seemed like a friendly local, so friendly in fact
that you can see into the gents' toilet from the street!
Next up was the Wheatsheaf,
the best pub of the day where we enjoyed a fine game of round the board darts.
It's a basic locals pub, with some slightly strange
punters, but the beer is interesting and well kept. On our visit they had
Shires, London Pride and 'Summer Madness'. There was also a decent selection of
snacks. The Swan at Sutton Courtney is a big pub standing on its own. It
largely does food on a Saturday evening, which seemed generous in portion size,
and it was quite tolerable as we sat at the bar. The landlady was doing the
rounds and she seemed pissed. Not alot else to say
really, but nice enough. Morland and IPA were the
beer choices.
A short way up the road, we managed to
walk into a wedding reception at the George and Dragon. Fortunately it was
winding down a little, so we helped ourselves quite easily to the copious food
that was on a buffet table, and some hog roast outside in the beer garden.
Magnificent - saved us having to mess and fool around with buying dinner. A cosy enough pub, but nothing that special on tap: IPA and Morland. Our final stop on the road was at the Carpenters
Arms in Appleford, which was yet another very
moderate pub for locals with lots of people tucking into solids. IPA and Morland were on the agenda, not surprisingly Morland because the pub was still kitted out in red and
blue, a throwback to its Morland roots I think. The
train was due, so we made swift work of our halves. On the way back to the
station, we thought that we had stumbled across a Cricket Club party in a
marquee. However, on arrival, a rather large (though polite) bouncer greeted
us, informing us that it was some sort of society function. We decided that
getting in was probably not an option and wisely headed for the station.
After the train journey back, it was still
not time to call a halt, so we took in a couple of
Dan
Lovegrove
dan@doctor-lovegrove.com
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