Seaside Sojourn - Day One

Whilst waiting for my train at Waterloo station, I saw a familiar figure shuffling along the concourse- it took me a few seconds to work out who but it was Bernard Cribbins, looking old and frail, but despite his recent appearances in Dr Who it appears no one else recognised him.

I'd taken the Friday afternoon off in order to beat the rush-hour frenzy and head off to the south coast - a quiet journey just a little under two hours with some nice views of the New Forest along the way - where I met Steve and Cath at Branksome station.

(left) Branksome Railway Hotel

We were staying at the nearby Branksome Railway Hotel - we wandered over and checked in.

After paying for our rooms we were rather dischuffed to find that we also had to pay a deposit in case anything got damaged. Damn cheek - do we look like the types that would smash up our rooms?!

After checking in and dropping off our luggage, we decided against a beer in the hotel and wandered off down the Poole Road into Bournemouth to our first port of call, the Porterhouse.

This is a small pub belonging to Ringwoods serving three of their regular beers - Best Bitter, Fortyniner and Old Thumper - plus guests Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted and Martons Old Empire IPA.

Being mid-afternoon tt was nice and quiet and the beers were in good condition so we settled back to relax for a couple of hours. We were joined by Tony and Lesley who'd driven down from Darlington.

After a couple more beers we wandered off to one of our old haunts, the Goat and Tricycle on West Hill Road.

Several years ago a group of us had come down, not just for a Darlo game but also for Neil's 50th birthday. We stayed at a hotel just down the road and the Goat became our local pub.

(right) The Goat and Tricycle

Neil, along with his other half Mari, had been planning to join us for the weekend but they became one of the early casualties of the Icelandic volcanic dust which was grounding most flights in northern Europe.

As then, the pub had a large range of ales on offer - it's a Wadworths pub so there are quite a few from their stable such as Bishops Tipple, Horizon, 6X, Strong In The Arm and Henry's Original IPA.

There were also a good few guests on offer: Tom Wood's Springtime, Cairngorm Howler, Ushers 1824, O'Hanlons Yellow Hammer, Everards Tiger, Holden's Wind Blower and White Horse Saracen.

On the way in I bumped into a guy who asked if I was from CAMRA? I mean - just how did he guess that? It turned out he was from Sheffield and his local CAMRA mates had asked him to bring down various newsletters but he only knew this pub. Ever organised with my trusty map, I soon put him straight on the places to visit.

John and Bev were next to join us and as well as sampling the beers we also had some food. A very decent menu, the pick of which was the trio of steaks for less than a tenner - gammon, pork and rump steak plus chips, tomato and fried egg - very good quality, well cooked and quickly devoured.

A surprise guest joining us was Gavin Ellis who was looking for some people to tell his bad jokes to.

We remember his comedic talents all too well from pre-season trips to the Isle of Man and Eire several years ago. Suffice to say they've not improved.

(left) Have you heard this one, Ted?

Gavin told us that he'd taken the coach to Rochdale, had taken the train down to Bournemouth and was going to the next game at Cheltenham in his taxi. He's going to take a few fans with him - I hope they're taking cotton wool with them.

Brian was the last to join us - he'd been to see some cricket at Trent Bridge before driving down to complete our merry band - and after a quick pint, we wandered off back to the Porterhouse.

Unlike earlier, the pub was absolutely crammed - it seems to be a real locals place and age-wise the clientele reminded me a little of Number Twenty2. We had another quick pint before heading off back to the hotel for a relatively early night.

Update: Read about Gav and his taxi ride to Cheltenham here.