INSIDE THE WORLD OF MEETUP

It was admittedly  a long way to travel just for a walk but turned out to be well worth it. A place I'd never set foot in before so wasn't sure what to expect. A cold, but clear and calm day so no winds to bother us walking around a very flat route. We headed south along the canal, it definitely had a "nice place to sit outside in summer" feel about it. We went around the park and back through the centre of town. Stopping at the Lord Nelson pub.  At Winthorpe we re-joined  the canal and headed south to the starting point. One of the best walks.  

  It was great to have a meetup closer to home as the Leicester group came over Ashby for the afternoon. I have had dozens of nights out here but never a daytime drink.  We started off the afternoon at the White Hart, and slowly made our way around the town. The Tap at number 76 micropub was a new one for me as was The vine restaurant and cocktail bar which was severely overpriced and the beer was horrible!!!!! I did enjoy visiting the usual suspects such as Weatherspoon's, the lamb and the bulls head. Unfortunately as it started to get lively the rest of the group headed back to Leicester. I managed to grab fish and chips while waiting for the last bus. 

Headed in the usually excellent Weatherspoon's with the group from the museum tour. Passed on food as the portions were small. Talked to some of the usual crowd as well as a few new people. After a couple of hours people started leaving so I headed to the bus stop. 

  Until I seen it on meetup I'd never been aware there even was a prison museum in Derby. It was a small poorly signposted place on a side street. I met the group and we went in, because of the group size we got a guided tour. It was a very interesting hour, we heard many stories about the prisoners, the public executions and seen the graffiti on the doors. 

  I'd not had a big night out for a few weeks. Due to the massive increase in taxi fares from the airport it's more cost effective to stay in the cheapest hotel. Unfortunately it's usually booked up solid, thankfully this time I managed to get in. Beeston social was a restaurant, pub and games room all thrown into one venue. Nice place and made a bit of a welcome change from the usual city center. Caught up with some old faces and generally had a reasonable night. Some were heading into town after midnight but I'd run out of steam by that point.

  We met in the Forge mill tea room where the others had a breakfast meetup that I didn't attend.  We headed towards Bestwood colliery, there was a good turnout and the weather was fine for the time of year. I'd not been on many of these walks lately because many of them were now on Sundays where the transport. I'd also got to the point where many of the walks were repeats. It was a flat walk that finished with a lap of Mill lakes.   

  I'd not been on a walk with this group for a while because for some reason they had shifted a lot of their walks from Saturday to Sunday. This is not good since public transport home is poor.  Had to go to Ilkeston via Derby due to traffic disruption and nearly missed the start of the walk.  We headed across mostly flat open fields to the halfway point at Strelley where we stopped for (overpriced) coffee and cake. Moved on through the housing estates then to Wollaton park where we see plenty of deer. Finally heading back to Nottingham city center.  

  An afternoon drink in Leicester with a difference, this time we were out of the usual city center places and down Welford road. The only downside to the day was that it was in the middle of the worst heatwave in living memory. Despite it being cool inside everyone insisted on sitting out the back. I alternated beers with diet cokes which I was thankful of later on.  It was a social afternoon which I enjoyed, the pub was a popular venue for live music in the evening but everyone was moving on by that point.

A day out in Nottingham with the Leicester group looked good on paper. I was feeling a lot better and was ready for it. Met them an hour after the start, once I know a group for drinking events I don't become the first to arrive unless due to public transport. The canal house was very busy for the time of day with security already on the door. Moved on to Ye olde trip to Jerusalem which was a change from the usual. I'm a fan of going to old historic places especially on daytime sessions.   We moved on to other pubs including the Magic garden, nice place to sit on a summer afternoon but the price of drinks were 20-30% higher than the other pubs. We then headed to the familiar Pitcher and piano, by this point it was gone 18:00 and the group was starting to go downhill. Had one more beer across the road then called it a day. 

  Bit of an early start at 5:45 and only a small group of 6 but it was good to catch up with a few old faces. A warm evening with no coats required until about 9. It wasn't nearly as busy as usual a couple of obvious stag parties but no queues for food and drinks. Did my usual terrible self trying to pick winners 1 out of 12, left after final race and got bus straight home.