INSIDE THE WORLD OF MEETUP

  Been feeling under the weather for over a month, so an afternoon drinking day with the easy option of jumping back on the bus if I started feeling worse was what I needed. It was nice to see some new pubs like the distillery pictured above. Typically over 60 people were on the list and the actual figure was close to 20. I caught up with a few faces I'd not seen for over a year as well as met some new ones. We moved on to the Rutland and Derby where we spent a couple of hours. Then we moved onto the outdoors to the craft beer festival. Most of the beers had already sold out despite it being an all weekend event and not even Saturday night. The rest of the group didn't seem impressed and we moved onto a nearby pub after one drink. The final pub was table service only but all of the previous Covid restrictions elsewhere had been lifted. I was enjoying the evening but didn't want to push my look any further, headed home around 20:30.

 I'd been ill for the best part of a month, a night out in Leicester for that evening was cancelled. I managed to get myself to Shardlow for a walk as it wasn't too far from home. Only 5 of us turned up but it was good to catch up with the organizer who I'd not seen for nearly 18 months. It was good flat easy route alongside the canals, started near Great Wilne. Headed past a couple of marinas and stopped for a drink at the steamboat inn. We all wanted to stay longer but managed to get back on the footpaths. The return leg was basically retracing our steps on a path close to the one we went out on.  Nice area, as per usual the group were stopping for a drink but I was only 15 minutes from the next bus so it was home early.