Chaps,
Thursday - Chap's taxi with Tone, Steve and Phil, Friday morning - Simber's cabs with Ian.
Friday afternoon - TBA
Saturday - Atlantic ale trail, dress code - Maritime Ale trail T-shirts to be worn.
Atlantic Trail looks possible with an early start! Bus from Gerrans Church 7:42am arrives Truro 8:27am. Train Truro to Newquay 8:43am arrives 10:10am. Great Western in Newquay opens at 10:00am for Breakfast and a pint, others in Newquay open from 11:00am. Ale trail then Newquay, Quintrell Downs, St Collumb Rd, Roche, Bugle, Luxulyan, Par. Train from Par to Truro 18:16pm arrives 18:40pm. Bus Truro to Gerrans Church 18:55pm arrives 19:31pm. Challenging, early but doable!!
Chap and Phil set off at 4.15pm, arriving at Tone's around 4.40pm to collect Tone & Steve. We hit the M5 around 5.10pm and made good progress, arriving in Gerrans at 9.00pm after a quick 'comfort' stop at Taunton Deane.
Fridge loaded and bags unpacked we were in the Royal Standard by 9.15pm to sup 4 pints of Doom/Cider/Lager before closing time. Back to the bungalow to carry on the beer and food fest to a non to respectable time of around 2.00am.
Friday - Day 2.
The four incumbent chaps arose around 8.30 - 9.00 am and had a full English expertly prepared by Steve and Tone. We then waited for the Dorridge Dozers to arrive which they duly did around 11.30am. Sim & Ian tucked into a sausage & bacon butty whilst we made plans for the day.
We set off to walk down to Place to catch the foot ferry to St Mawes, a reasonable 3 mile trek to work up a thirst. Arriving at Place ferry we had not read the tide timetable and were forced to wait for about 1 1/4 hours for the next ferry, wasting valuable drinking time. To idle away the time we walked round to Place Manor to admire the view. We were also joined by the Belgian cycling lady who was on a tour of the Cornish Coast. By the time the ferry appeared, there was a queue for the ferry, one which the chaps were at the front of, but now at the back!!. We managed to sneak on, leaving the cycling lady behind, well there was beer to be drunk.
A quick walk in the sunshine to sit in the beer garden of the Rising Sun was in order and the chaps settled down for a session. Chap, Tone and Phil managed 6 pints of Rattler each, Simber's chipped in with 3 and even Ian had a couple (something he latter blamed for being comatose in the evening!!)., whist Steve stuck to the lager. Nice afternoon had sitting in the sunshine, chatting & drinking ale.
The chaps lobbed on the 5.50pm bus back from St Mawes and landed in the Standard around 6.15pm. Beer and for some of us food was flowing with a fair bit of banter. Ian became the grumpy old man, moaning about the pub not doing chips, he later went out side for some fresh air and became non-compos-mentis!!. Around 10.00pm, an alarmed Simbers came back in to the pub saying Ian had disappeared and demanded a search party. This met with a non to enthusiastic response from the chaps but we did start looking for him. He was 'found' loitering outside the bungalow hiding behind a bin, something both Phil & Simbers had failed to notice until Chap arrived on the scene. By this time the chaps decided to call it a day as we had a bit of yomp planned to start at 7:40 am the following day!!
Saturday - day 3
The chaps emerged around 7.00am in the morning, an absurdly early hour considering the previous day's exploits. We assembled at the bus stop around 7.35 am to catch the bus to Truro with Ian looking very under the weather. Leaving the bus in Truro, it did not take Ian long to produce the 'goodies' - Ex Tory councillor in barf in street shocker!! as the chaps headed to the train station to get the 8.45 train to Par. The Truro - Par journey was pretty un-eventful with the chaps all arriving with their stomach contents intact. The Par Newquay journey was around 1 1/4 hours again fairly uneventful and the scenery was nothing to write home about.
We arrived in Newquay around 10.15 and quickly found the Wetherspoons pub to order a big brekkie. Some of the chaps opted for an early beer whilst others had a bit more decorum and had OJ. We found a flaw in the Ale trail plan due to the trains between Newquay an Par only being every 2 hours. A contingency plan was put in place, 3 pubs in Newquay, the 2 at Quintrell downs and 4 plus grub to get an extra stamp in Par.
The first pub in Newquay was the Red Lion up at the top end of the town, a quick ale and watching the dolphins was all we had time for before heading off to pub No 2 the Griffin which was just opposite the Wetherspoons of earlier, Due to time constraints only a half was had here and even Mr Smoothly Bollox tried one, his only alcohol of the day (almost red card material!!). Pub 3 on the trail was the Great Western Hotel - nice place for a jar and they had 'Proper Job' on tap so a pint was in order. A quick read of the papers and a game of pool for Phil before the chaps lobbed back to the train station for leg 2 of the trail.
Next village on the plan was Quintrell Downs where we had 2 pubs to go at. The Chaps headed for the furthest away the Two Clomes. The weather held up enough for us to have a pint of Atlantic ale and sit outside in the beer garden, again Mr Hillas abstaining from alcohol, until it was time to walk back to the Quintrell Inn which was next to the station. Quiet for a Saturday, think the bored bar-maid was glad of the custom. Another beer for the chaps whilst a game of pool was also in order to pass the time before the jaunt back to Par.
Arriving in Par, the usual dash for a piss was in order. This was made more difficult by the station toilets being locked. Some of us mad it to the first pub (2 minutes away) whilst others found a shady spot to relieve their acing bladders.
1st pub in Par was The Royal Inn, not a bad boozer if you had more time to spend in it. A swift pint was had for those of the alcohol persuasion (TB missing out again!!) before heading off. Pub 2 was a short walk away called the New Inn, here the chaps opted for a swift half due to time constraints. Again not a bad pub in a village on the outskirts of Par. Pub 3 was a bit of a trek, about 25 minutes up and down dale. Arriving at the Ship Inn it was decided to have a bite to eat in here to gain the bonus stamp to make up the full ten for the T-shirts. Nice pint and ok food (chips for TB!!) plus a rest after the stress and strains of the day, before heading off to the final pub of the trail in Par. Pub 4 The Welcome Home Inn was ideally placed around 10 minutes from Par station. The chaps had planned to get the 7.30pm train from Par back to Truro so again a swift pint was had before heading back.
Train from Par to Truro was uneventful, just a few knackered chaps that's all. Outside Truro station we managed to blag a cab for £45, taxi driver being a decent bloke. We arrived back in Gerrans at 9.00 pm. Unsurprisingly the Dozers bailed out to the bungalow leaving Chap, Phil, Steve and Tone to supp a final couple of jars in the Standard. The 4 remaining chaps headed off to catch Match of the day around 10.30. Ian was still awake but Simbers was zedding soundly.
Sunday - quick clear round and brekkie before departing for home, another good weekend but the next Ale trail will need careful planning!!