Chester 25th March 2022
Up for it were
Bolt, Yup, DC, Jacko, Bill, JC, Nails, Digger, Ali G, Tim, Goosey, Turk, Big Phil.
DC. Yup and Digger walked to the Butty Box where they met Nails and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast sitting outside in the sunshine. They then strolled to the station where they met Bolt, Bill, JC, Ali G, Tim and Turk, and were introduced to a new Squarrite; Big Phil.
DC received a message from Goosey asking him to get his train tickets as his bus was delayed. Thanks to the lads boarding the 10:37 train very slowly DC and Goosey just managed to board as the doors were closing.
Jacko met us at Crewe. Most of us went to platform 9 where the train to Chester should have left from. However it was changed to platform 10 with only 5 minutes remaining much to the annoyance of some who’d already boarded the train on platform 9 and who then had to scramble between platforms..
We arrived in Chester on time and had a leisurely walk to St Johns church and the Amphitheatre, through the Roman gardens and down to the river for sightseeing and a group photo.
We walked to the first pub and had a quick vote as to whether to drink or get something to eat first. Unsurprisingly the drink option won. We went into the Spitting feathers tap house that is is set in an historic great hall of medieval origin. It was rebuilt in the 17th century that was once the home of the Bishop of Chester.
With DC mentioning that he was bringing a group in when he did the recci along with Mceen and Jodie, they had saved us our own room. A number of the group had sandwiches here and Digger bought the round for his 66th birthday. Thanks Digger.
The group had a slow walk to the next bar. On the way DC, Yup, JC and Nails popped into the ‘The York Roast’ for a hot bap whilst Bill and Digger? called into the pound bakery for a top up.
At the ‘Chester Cross’ there was an excellent street musician playing a violin. We all stopped to listen to him before moving onto the Beer place; a bar in the market selling 6 drat beers as well as stocking a good selection of bottles and cans. Digger ordered a sour and complained it was sour 😂.
We then moved onto the Brewhouse & Kitchen (Microbrewery). Not a great selection of beers but we all sat on the balcony watching the world go by and Big Phil bought us nuts. The wasabi nuts were great.
We had a slow walk to our final drinking establishment, the Cellar bar, who informed us they don’t do CAMRA discount on Fridays. John moaned about the Oracle but said it got better the more he tasted.
We then prepared ourselves for the long walk to the curry house, Gate of India for our 17:30 booking. For once the service wasn’t too bad and we managed to catch the early train back home. Some of the party though were still hungry and had cakes and coffee at Crewe and moaned that the cakes were dry.
All in all I think we had a good day out and drank in some interesting bars.
Cheers
DC
