Today was almost a perfect Saturday - a day when everything almost goes to plan. Needless to say they're rare events.
It started at Paddington - John and Howard were already in Raffles having their breakfast when I arrived. We tend to end up here once or twice a season - a quite reasonable breakfast let down by the poorest of catering sausages.
We caught a train to Swindon, arriving there just a few minutes before Steve jumped off his train from Cardiff. We then boarded the one-carriage service to Cheltenham which took through the tight, scenic valleys of the Cotswolds to Stroud.
And then more transport - this time a taxi to Nailsworth, arriving on the dot of 11am at the Village Inn - opening time.This place came highly recommended by Liz and the other London Millers who were here in the FA Cup a few seasons ago. Not that we would have gone elsewhere anyway as our copious research showed that there were precious few other options.
(right) DAFTS at opening time in Nailsworth
But this wasn't a case of Hobson's Choice as the pub encompasses not one, but two breweries - the Nailsworth Brewery and the more recent Hetty Pegler brewery.
The pub has only been in it's present form since 2006 and it has quite an active role in the village with book clubs, music nights, football teams and the like. Interestingly they also let people come in to brew their own beers and what they don't take away with them is then sold in the pub.
The ladies behind the bar seemed surprised at having customers so early and perhaps that is why that not all the pumps were in operation. But they soon put this right to give us a good choice.
The beers included Viking Bitter Alestock and Old Rocky from Nailsworth Brewery, Wheel Tapper from Cottage, Hereford Brewery's Muttley's Revenge and Arbor Oyster Stout.
The pub even operates a loyalty card scheme - buy nine pints and get one free - which meant we had almost four free pints by the time we left.
The pub even operates a loyalty card scheme - buy nine pints and get one free - which meant we had almost four free pints by the time we left.
After trying most of what was on offer, I stuck to the Old Rocky which was a nice strength pale ale, very more-ish, whilst the Oyster stout was tasty but just a bit lacking in body for my liking.
We were joined by John Bell and then Martin who'd brought along one of his former work colleagues. And of course Rich, John and Andy also found their way here after stopping for a few beers in Stroud.
During the course of the session John W presented me with a little notebook - obviously doing his best to turn me into a fully fledged ticker so I will now do my best to use it. To be fair he also got himself one!
The London Millers had also warned us that the journey to the ground was up a very steep hill and not one for the faint-hearted (or one with a heavy bag of camera gear). I took the precaution of booking a taxi but I wasn't short of volunteers to share it but not all of them could fit in. Howard opted to walk - he may be the oldest but he's still a fit 'un.
I suppose the ground has to be at the top of the hill in order to find enough flat land to form a pitch - and it's quite a plesant little ground with cover on three sides, including the away end.
It was interesting to see that amongst the subs, Paul Terry was warming up with the others before the game so he can't be too far away from full fitness.
We were joined by John Bell and then Martin who'd brought along one of his former work colleagues. And of course Rich, John and Andy also found their way here after stopping for a few beers in Stroud.
During the course of the session John W presented me with a little notebook - obviously doing his best to turn me into a fully fledged ticker so I will now do my best to use it. To be fair he also got himself one!
The London Millers had also warned us that the journey to the ground was up a very steep hill and not one for the faint-hearted (or one with a heavy bag of camera gear). I took the precaution of booking a taxi but I wasn't short of volunteers to share it but not all of them could fit in. Howard opted to walk - he may be the oldest but he's still a fit 'un.
I suppose the ground has to be at the top of the hill in order to find enough flat land to form a pitch - and it's quite a plesant little ground with cover on three sides, including the away end.
It was interesting to see that amongst the subs, Paul Terry was warming up with the others before the game so he can't be too far away from full fitness.
The other noticeable thing was that there was a female linesman, Sarah Garratt, on duty today. Liz and I generally refer to female officials as Linesbirds where youthful bum-fluff officials are dubbed Linesboys. It amuses us.(left) Don't worry, she knows the offside rule...but as for the other lino
The game started with Forest Green having the better of the play - they were attacking the end with the Darlo fans and the main problem for Darlo was Reece Styche - he was all over the place although he fell over too easily for my liking.
Sam Russell made a couple of good saves in the first half including a spectacular tip over the bar.
Greg Taylor was kept busy in midfield but was on the end of a hard challenge and was replaced by Jamie Chandler who apparently wasn't 100% fit. You'd never have guessed as he had a great game.
Darlo started to take hold of the ball for long periods but failed to come up with anything useful and it was nil-nil at the break.
The Quakers looked a bit livelier after the restart and after being awarded a free-kick close to the by-line, Michael Smith headed home the cross from MB-W.
Darlo brought on Chris Senior for Modest and then Curtis Main for Smith (M) in the hope of extending the lead and went close on a couple of occasions.
Forest Green upped the pressure in the dying minutes and with seconds to go, a soft-free kick was awarded on the touchline in the Darlo half. The Forest Green players, including the keeper, massed into the Darlo box.
The ball was crossed into the box and it was difficult to see what happened but journeyman striker Steve Guinan - who scored once for Darlington against Barnet in 1995 whilst on-loan - was credited with poking it home despite the vociferous complaints from Darlington players who were adamant it hadn't crossed the line.(right) Ian Miller gets to the ball first
And it was those few seconds that stopped this being a perfect day. We trudged out of the ground bemoaning the free-kick and the linesman. But we had to hurry as we had a taxi waiting and before long we were back at Stroud station.
In fact we'd made such good time we had a chance to catch an earlier train to London - so long as found an accomodating train guard as our £8 single were timed for a set train an hour later.
In fact we'd made such good time we had a chance to catch an earlier train to London - so long as found an accomodating train guard as our £8 single were timed for a set train an hour later.
And so we arrived at Paddington an hour early - Howard caught the tube home whilst John and I took the tube and popped along to the Euston Tap.
Liz joined us after she'd got back from Sheffield - a day round the pubs for her and her cronies as their game was called off due to rain - and then my Wycombe photographer chum, Paul, popped in for a couple of pints. Hopefully I'll see him again next weekend as I make a nostalgic trip to the Waters Green Tavern in Macclesfield...
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