INSIDE THE WORLD OF MEETUP

  Another music night with minimal travel. Only 2 others turned up, I can't figure out why this is often the case since it's a good venue. The numbers were lower than usual since it was a paid event. The singer was good although some of the songs were a bit subdued.  Steady night overall finished around 11.

  Probably not the sort of event I'd have attended by itself but seen it as an opportunity to plan a walk. I went from Ilkeston stopped at the festival for a few hours, then planned the rest of the walk on the way back. There was about 8 people turned up, all older than myself. Coupled with music that was subdued I quickly decided that I wasn't hanging around for too long. Enjoyed the food, had a bit of a chat and left after 2 and a half hours.   

  After hosting a few successful walks it was time to try a pub-crawl. I picked a route inspired by the website  https://www.designmynight.com/nottingham/beer-gardens-in-nottingham   The route was Junkyard, Cross Keys, Magic Garden, Blind Rabbit, Pitcher & Piano and The Canalhouse. The junkyard was not a bad start apart from the weather which was awful. After an hour the numbers had built up to around 8. I went by 75 minutes per venue and people were messaging to say they were joining later on. The weather improved by the cross keys enough to sit outside. Most of them were impressed by the magic garden and we bumped into another group we knew at the blind rabbit. By the  Pitcher & Piano people were starting to get hungry and left so we never did the Canalhouse. Some came back for a later meet but I left by then. Got good feedback.....

Somewhere completely new was long overdue even though it required 3 buses. Starting opposite the gold course we headed towards Breadsall via Cloves Hill , Brackley Gate and Drum Hill. It was a great combination of rolling hills, t racks, fields and woodland . Breadsall seemed an upmarket type of place where we stopped for coffee and cake. From there we headed back to the starting point via Broomfield Hall, Morley Church and the Golf Course.

  Got up to 30 by Thursday, 20 by Saturday morning and 16 turned up which is my best to date. We set off from Rushcliffe park following the railway line south. Admittedly the narrow track wasn't good for having conversations with everyone in the group. This changed when crossing the fields towards Bunny. We had an interesting mixture of people. Everyone like the pub I choose for the usual half hour break. We followed the last 2 miles through the fields where a problem with my phone meant having to navigate from memory for half an hour. 4 of us went back to the pub in Bunny for an hour after the walk.