The good ship BRAPA sails on, aimlessly across stormy beer filled oceans in search of perhaps the perfect pub, or at least the eventual 4,500th one!
Only a late flurry of 11 pubs across the Bank Holiday weekend helped me to retrieve a quite pathetic month, and I ended with a respectable 24, the monthly average for May is 23 so I had to be happy.
Trips to Surrey & South London, East Buckinghamshire, and rural Cheshire were the main away days, with bonus trips to Glasgow and Tyneside very enjoyable extras. There was even time for a pre-emptive Hull tick.
The highlight of the month was bringing up one quarter of the GBG, my 1125th tick in the Red Lion at Marsworth. The aim now has to be to try and stay above this total once the new GBG is published in September, and I have the inevitable drop in numbers when I "cross-tick". I lost 110 last year, it's bound to be more, so I need to get to at least 1250 I'd say. It'll be a tough ask!
Best three pubs of the month, well there were plenty of classics so was hard to pick:
1. Lamb, Surbiton
2. Nags Head, Bunbury
3. Lion Hotel, Moulton
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| Pub experience of the month - Nags Head, Bunbury, Cheshire. |
Also the Laurieston in Glasgow and Rose & Crown in Ivinghoe were unique experiences in different ways, so honourable mentions.
June is traditionally a very fruitful month, but again, I think it'll be more of the same and it could be a struggle to get to twenty! Last year, I did 41.
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| One of the 41. Last June, in Troon. |
We kick off in North Derbyshire on 3rd, the last BRAPA chauffeur day in a long time. Apperknowle is the key location being the first alphabetically, and as I've said before, Derbyshire is becoming an increasingly important county as I'm getting through the likes of Bucks and Cheshire quite well.
On the 10th, I'm back in Buckinghamshire for a second trip north of the county, looking at the logisitics, I think I could be relying on the odd taxi which is never good! But if I get the 4 done I want, I'll be delighted.
The 17th sees the yearly 'work summer Heavy Woollen trip'. Less heavy woollen as the years go on, the plan is Oldham but I'm gonna see if I can edge them towards a second Newcastle trip of the year instead! It'd be easier for me, and will get more pubs done. See what they say at work next week.
And finally, on the 24th, my main York friends are joining me in Hartlepool, a trip I've had in the back of my mind for quite a while now. Should be a good day!
It'd be a big help if I got myself back into a Tuesday night rhythm too, so if I'm able to leave at 4pm, I'm going to really push myself, otherwise I think I'll struggle to get above 20 as there's no holiday dates in June which I can use. July will be far better!
See you then for more blogs and twitter check-ins in the near future!
Si