INSIDE THE WORLD OF MEETUP

  Oakham falls firmly into the category of towns that made me think “why have I never been here before”. We started off near the train station at the grainstore pub that sells craft beers and went from there.  Heading around town we visited 7 venues from traditional pubs to sports bars and more upmarket venues finishing around 7PM.

  I'd not been to Castle Donnington for a long time, but since I was hosting my own event at this venue, I thought it would be a good idea to go to this meet up. The Castle Inn is a great place for live music. I was initially lukewarm on the band but they grew on me over the course of the night. The rest of the group were middle-aged women from Derby, but it was still a good night. 

  I started out 6th on the waitlist with 30 people on the walk. Mothers day combined with slight rain reduced the list drastically to 14 on the morning to only 5 people turning out for the walk. I went for the simple reason I'd never been Long Eaton before and it was convenient for the buses on Sunday. We headed along the canal north and turned west onto a footpath that went towards the M1 bridge. The walk was good so far if a little muddy but then a few problems began to occur. 1) The 3 others were too slow for the group leader and I got the not so subtle hint he was getting annoyed by this. Under normal circumstances with a bigger group slow walkers get the memo but not this time. 2) I mentioned in conversation that I started walking with this group at the end of covid lockdown. The conversation drifted towards anti vaccination and other conspiracy theories. I have a very low opinion of these people but couldn't be bothered to argue so ended up walking ahead alone for aroun...

  It was a rare (4th in a year) meet with Derby socials but I'd not been here before. Nursing a painful back injury walking was one of the few activities I could do. It didn't help when the organiser didn't put the map pin in the correct place and I was searching for the start point a couple of hundred meters down the road.  We followed the nutbrook tail for around 3 miles to the excellent coffee shop for a break. One of the group had a drone which he briefly flew to take this picture. The rest of the walk had a "make it up as you go long" feel but it was ok.

  A night out in the city centre was slightly overdue it involved 2 venues the cosy club followed by the Hockley arts club. Over 70 people were on the list but typically half that number turned up. The first venue was a nice place if not massively overpriced. I caught up with a few old faces and got talking to a few new ones. The second venue was had loud music although they kept mixing the styles often to ridiculous levels. It was a good night until I returned from the toilet to discover 90% of the group had left.  A good night overall and I managed to arrange to go to a gig with another member outside of meetup thanks to this night.

With 5 star reviews and excellent feedback I quickly started planning the second walk to host. I opted for a circular walk this time (to help the motorists) and also found a starting point with free parking. We started in Shardlow and headed north doing a circuit of St chads nature reserve before heading towards Breaston via coffin walk. I was worried about the mud that I encountered on the test walk but it turned out to be a lot drier. One of the group happened to live in  Breaston and recommended the Chequers inn on the high street which turned out to be a nice place to stop. It got a little too comfortable and we all had to persuade each other to move on.  We had to take a detour for a mile due to mud but that was pre planned. Then followed the canal from Sawley back to the starting point. Had a few drinks and a good chat in the new inn after.

  I'd done beat the streets a couple of years earlier. We met in the Horn in hand for breakfast before heading to the venues. First stop was whiskey stain at the red room which I didn't plan to watch but were ok. I then made a dash to Rough trade to see Grain who to be honest weren't great but that was the only time I went that venue.  Cam mannix who I'd seen before at splendour put on a good show at rock city. From that point on all the bands I wanted to see were at rescue rooms. Bloodworm were ok, but lacey were far too heavy for my taste so I went back to the horn in hand for a diet coke and a rest. Others from the group were also taking a bit of time out. By the time we went back the cost of living were on at 19:00 and the crowd were getting louder. Unlike last time I didn't spend long alone due to losing people. The publics and The chase put on a great show the crowd got very rowdy with crowd surfing and concerned security. It was a good end to the day. As peop...

  The main focus was beat the streets on Sunday but since I was staying 2 nights. I might as well join the meetup that was just up the road. The Crafty crow was a slightly more up market venue located at the top end of friar lane. About a dozen of us turned up including a couple who were going tomorrow. It was nice and social but nothing heavy. The crowd started to disperse around 10pm.

  Normally I wouldn't be bothered to travel to a walk that was only 3-4 miles but it was the most boring weekend of the year. After a catch up we headed past the nice houses and into the fields where it got very muddy very quickly. We went down the appropriately named "bog lane" where it was so bad I had to hold on to the fence all the way down. The rest of the walk was done on solid ground, they opted for a walk around the lake at the end but I lost them in the last 10 minutes and got the bus home. 

  I'd been given an organizers spot on a drunken night out years ago but never got round to actually using it. I used a day off work to plan a route that I posted on meetup. Initially I was a bag of nerves especially having to post details on parking (I don't drive), planning for bad weather and what to do if people turn up late. The attendee list never went higher than 16, overall 26 people signed up, 7 attended including myself, some dropped out on the day and some dropped out without updating on the website. Expecting a mud bath we headed into Cotgrave country park and followed the Grantham canal all the way to Bassingfield. The ground was reasonable, the weather was mild and the conversations were flowing. It's a lot easier with a  small group. We crossed the fields, the busy main road and had a short pitstop at the garage before heading into Skylarks nature reserve. The path to the river Trent was the only major muddy part which we overcame in a few minutes...