Bad beer, good beer

Penkridge to Tixall Wide

I omitted to mention yesterday that I sampled the Banks's Mild in the Star pub in Penkridge. Unfortunately it had a nasty metallic taste, and the replacement from the new barrel didn't taste much better. Perhaps the old stuff hadn't been properly pulled through.

The Star redeemed itself today, though, with an excellent Sunday roast lunch and a pint of Jumping Jack. The lunch was exceptionally good value at £5.50. If we'd had room for pudding that would have been an extra £3.00. I can't remember ever having been anywhere where the service was so quick. After ordering and sitting down with our drinks we barely had time to wonder whether we should have brought the crossword when the food came.

Before lunch we went to the Methodist church in the village, where a few people remembered our son-in-law Ben and his parents. His dad used to be the minister there.

We left our mooring shortly before 2.00 and moved slowly along a pound which had gone down several inches in the night. (At 0600 we'd been awoken by the boat banging against the side. I looked out and saw that the mooring lines had gone loose - I tightened them and went back to bed.)

The low water level revealed how the bank had been strengthened in the past with old tyres.

Later we found ourselves negotiating a narrow channel in the reeds.

Slightly more hazardous was the sunken boat, the second of our trip so far.

Never a pretty sight.

Speaking of sinking, one little job I did while we were going along was to clear out the waste hose from the bathroom sink.

I undid the Jubilee clip and pulled the hose off the white plastic bit, then blew through the hose to eject the gunk. Testing it after putting it back together revealed that the sink still wouldn't drain properly. Undid again, removed plug device, cleaned with old toothbrush, blew more gunk out of hose, reassembled - now drains properly.

Reach for the skies ...

... and give me your logs.

And so to Tixall Wide where we have moored for the night. After a light tea we walked to Great Haywood and visited the Clifford Arms. This is the "good beer" of the title: Okell's Porter. This was the best beer of the trip so far. And the barlady (landlady?) gave me a taster glass before I committed to the pint, and she removed the sparkler on my request. Perfect.

A small note on the weather: It has been a bit cooler today after some rain yesterday evening and overnight. There's still been a good amount of sunshine though, but it has been more comfortable. Not that I didn't like the heat...