INSIDE THE WORLD OF MEETUP

  I was amazed this walk was even happening, first I'd been on the pub crawl yesterday but woke up feeling ok. Then the heatwave reduced the 30 walkers by the hour to 8 by the time I arrived at the start. To be honest it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We headed north then along a footpath due east, before joining the back of the airport trail. The airport was one side and soulless warehouses on the other. The rest point was Greggs in the terminal before the most interesting part of the walk. It was surprisingly scenic for saying we were so close to the airport with ponds and shaded woodland. There was about a mile of road before the aeropark where loads of people were plane spotting. Then a short walk through the estates back to the start point.

This was one meetup I was looking forward to, a day out in a completely new town. No accommodation thanks to a wedding so it was going to have to be a late bus/train home. The only quiet pub in town was the Admiral Nelson slightly out of the centre, where we started before heading into town. While the Mercado lounge was not really a pub we did come across some nice places.  The town had an upmarket feel to it, by Fernie hall some of the group started getting loud and annoying the bar staff. I finished off at the Freemasons arms after an impressive day where most of the venues were busy.

  Fan club night was a long time coming with some of the group I'd not met since before lockdown. I'd also managed to get a hotel room for the bargain price of 40 pounds per night. We met at Weatherspoon's where the service was slow but thinned out as the night went on. Personally I like to do a bit of a crawl before a club but we went straight in at around 11 and it was empty. It did however gradually fill up, I must have got lost in the action as I looked round and only a handful remained at around 2:30am. Headed out shortly after, not the most memorable night but ok.