Richmond, Surrey (Wednesday 15th May 2013)

What to do, what's the weather going to be like? We'd decided to make our 'country walk' tomorrow, so Wednesday was to be our River Thames wander, which turned out to be a much longer walk than tomorrow's, this day, only about 22 miles...

From Dan's in Putney, we walked westwards along the River Thames to Kingston, a few miles, indeed... then up to Kingston Gate and into Richmond Park, on to the Pen Ponds in the centre of the Park, and out to Richmond Gate and a short way down the hill to the famous view above.  

We could have gone into the Roebuck at the top of the hill, another good pub, but decided to wander down the hill and visit one we hadn't been to for quite a few years, The Victoria Inn, Richmond Hill, which used to be a rather too smokey pub in the 'old days', as it is a small one-bar building, though with a garden out the back, and now a Punch Taverns' house. 3 ales here; 2 regulars, Sharps Doom Bar (4%) and Youngs Bitter, or 'Ordinary' (3.7%), and the guest on this day, Thwaites Wainright, a 4.5% golden ale, not bad, and the pub has improved in the smoke-free atmosphere, nice sights out of the window, and bragging a warm landlady, Denise, inside, cheers m'dear!

We then dropped down the hill to the river again, and visited one of our favourites, the Waterman's Arm's, a Youngs' pub, that now outsells it's always well-kept Special (4.5%) and Ordinary (3.7%) with the regular guest here, Twickenham Three Naked Ladies (4.4%); I do like this beer!  The Irish landlord, a regular conversationalist, was away, we believed, but didn't ask, however, we missed his chat and updates.  We then headed back to Putney...

 

Tomorrow, and into the deep excesses of Surrey (honest!) cheers!

Lincoln Green

When my brother and I got to Lincoln, we walked uphill from the railway station, up ‘Steep Hill’, with historic buildings all around, passing the cathedral on the way up, which has one of the most impressive frontages of buildings in the UK, awesome! 

We had an early lunch at the Victoria Inn, 6 Union Road, just below Lincoln Castle.  This is a Batemans’ house that, in addition to their own XB, sells Castle Rock Harvest Pale and Timothy Taylor’s Landlord as regular beers, and guest ales too, up to 7 ales in total, as well as ‘real’ cider from the cellar!  The Victoria has a comfortable feel about it, some very interesting artefacts, a true pub, and good value food to boot, sandwiches with chips on the side, soup and bread roll, ploughman’s lunch, the usual pub fare, yes, but good quality. 

Walking around the castle, we reached The Strugglers Inn, 83 Westgate, this has a long main room and a smaller ‘snug’, but we sat out the back in the garden, which was a warm and protected place to sit.  The Strugglers has up to 6 real ales, including Greene King Abbot Ale and Rudgate Ruby Mild, among the regulars, plus guests, and I had a couple of pints of Salamander’s Golden Salamander, which went down a treat.  Lunch is served here too, reportedly very good value too, by the Good Beer Guide, but we had already eaten, so I cannot pass an opinion. 

I came back downhill, walking round to the east and south, Dan went to visit the cathedral, leaving me alone to visit The Jolly Brewer, 27 Broadgate, a ‘rock’ pub with regular live music.  The exterior doesn’t look too inviting, but don’t let that put you off, as the bar staff are warm and friendly.  The interior is ‘green’, with lighting helping to augment an art deco feel to the main room, look at my photo and you’ll know what I mean.  Work adorns the walls by local artists, so, should you fancy purchasing an original, there you are.  Westons’ Perry and Broadoak Moonshine cider were on sale, and up to 6 real ales are available, with Young’s ‘ordinary’ Bitter and Courage Directors the regulars, and often 2 locals among the guests, I enjoyed Leila Cottage Lincolnshire Life and Grafters’ Over the Moon! 

Further south and getting closer to the station, I met up with Dan again at the Green Dragon, Magpie Square, Broadgate, a 16^th century timber framed inn, with 10-12 regularly changing real ales on sale throughout the pub.  Henry VIII dined here a few years ago as a guest of the, then incumbent, Duke of Suffolk, so we were drinking in the company of very famous ghosts (the Good Beer Guide suggests “quality food” is available, but I still wasn’t hungry).  We sat outside, enjoying our drinks sitting by a peaceful side road and the canal (you can just see the back of my brother in the photograph).

I enjoyed visiting Lincoln.  Cheers!