INSIDE THE WORLD OF MEETUP

  Slightly disappointed with only 4 people turning out, free carpark, on a bus route and great scenery. Apart from a short section being overgrown (I was prepared with pruners) it was a clear walk all the way round. Everyone seemed to like the route along with the stop in the Star pub at West Leake. One of the girls was autistic and hadn't had much contact with anyone outside of family and one friend in 6 months. She chose my walk as the first thing to do and was exchanging contact details. Good to have made a difference. 

  3 venues and over 80 people on the list. Rather them than me organising !!!!! Got to the Pitcher and Piano first and was quickly joined by most of the others. Expected more people in town for a bank holiday weekend.  Second venue was All bar one which I don't recall having been before. Upmarket and a bit on the expensive side even by city standards. The annoying thing was that the 40 plus meetup crowd and filled the place and they only has 2 bar staff on which was poor. Finally onto Mojos where several of us felt that we go too often. I lasted until around 1:30am.

  Back to another daytime pub crawl in Leicester. The idea was to throw a dice at each pub to decide the next venue. Bit strange but it worked out ok. Starting at the old horse on the other side of the train station. Nice place with a massive beer garden. Second stop was Loaded dog, a sports bar with loads of screens. Where photo was taken. It was a bit of a trek back into town but we followed NEW WALK a path I don't think I have ever been down. The grand union was only a small place and we seemed to fill it us, there was around 20 of us by this point. Next door was the Kings head, we sat outside upstairs. On the main road was the Barley Mow, several described it as a "rough pub" but it seemed fine on arrival and we stayed longer than expected. The beer was also cheap by city standards. Finally I finished at "spoons" and was clockwatching for public transport.  A good day out.

  Another walk with another reasonable turnout (10). We met at Newton lane carpark and followed an anti clockwise route. It was hillier than I expected since I always plan the opposite way around. The group kept getting strung out due to 4 being a bit slow which was a minor annoyance. Otherwise the rain held off until we reached the pub in Kimberley. After a good chat we headed off down the old railway line and back to the starting point via the canal.

Second pub crawl II hosted, this time around Trent bridge. Unfortunately a far right protest and counter protest was in town. While this didn't affect us directly, several people dropped out as a precaution. We started at the Trent bridge inn, where half the group joined and the rest came later on. We sat outside at the embankment and the brewhouse.  Wetherspoons was packed due to the lower drinks prices and we struggled to find a table. We then moved on to the Waterside which was a popular choice. The weather was good, drinks were flowing. Finally we ended up at William Gunn which was another good choice. A few were planning their nights out from here but I was done for the day. It was another great afternoon and I had the motive to plan more in the future.