Time for DTW6 down in Cornwall. The early birds are planning a Thursday get-away on the 4th October around 7.30pm, others to come as and when. Final arrangements TBA.
Bring a sleeping bag, towel & pillow Plus any other chap oddities you may require!!
Friday will also involve the Cornwall Challenge between Toryboy Ian and Fat matchstick Phil, an all day drinking contest agreed on the last session. Refereed by Chap so fair play will be assured!!.
Thursday - 2 car loads of intrepid Chaps set off around 7.30pm from Brum. Rog's taxi with Daz, Phil and Chap arrived at Taunton Deane services around 9.30pm shortly before the Tone taxi with Simber's and Ian> After a quick comfort break the Chaps headed off down the next port of call Tesco's in St Austell to up with beer and other essentials that Tone's shopping expedition had missed out. Simber's who is not use to the Chap scatter-gun approach to shopping took over at the self service tills to complete the shopping sortie. Leaving Tesco's we headed off to Gerrans again in the pouring rain and arrived shortly after mid-night.
Cars un-loaded and sleeping accommodation sorted the Chaps settled down to beer and pizzas whilst watching TV. Simber's immediately found the channel with Sexcetera on so we were forced to watch the episode about 'Europerv' a big meeting in Amsterdam for exactly what it says on the tin, Pervs from Europe. The light weights bailed around 2.00am leaving the more seasoned professional to keep going to gone 3.00am before calling it a day.
Friday - the day of the Cornwall Challenge - the Chaps got up reasonably early with most of us up by 8.30 for a cooked brekkie mustered by Tone & Ian. The day was set for the Maritime Ale Trail from pubs in Falmouth through to Truro. It was also the Cornwall challenge between Toryboy and Philbert as to who could last the pace of the all dayer.
We set off at 11.00am to catch the bus to St Mawes and then the ferry to Falmouth. Simber's map reading skills are not what they were so we missed the first 2 pubs out of the 4 possible in Falmouth and ended up in the Quayside Inn on the harbour front for the first pint and official stamp of the day. The challenge also started in earnest with Philbert on the cider and Ian having to drink some real ale - well out of his comfort zone. next Falmouth pub was just up the road called the Front and pint and stamp number 2 was gained.
Time for a train-ride (well all of 2 minutes) up to Penmere, with Tone making sure the ticket collecting chappie was aware of out honest intentions. Just as we got of the train it started raining, this was probably apt for the next pub on the list called the Clipper. The chaps happened to arrive just as the wake had started for the gaffer of the pub (we think), so a bit of a frosty reception was had. This was not made easier by Simber's the man with the cat asking for the official stamp that they had not seen in years for our t-shirt forms or maybe the fact he was wearing his 'Geoff Boycott' titfer!!. We refrained from nabbing a plate of sarnies from the buffet and swiftly headed for the next pub. The next pub the Boloswick Inn was far more welcoming. Better beer, friendly locals, roaring fire and a pool table. The Chaps had a pint and a 1/2 in this one as well as some good old pork scratchings and a game of pool before the 20 minute hike back to the railway station.
Next stop was Penryn and yet another hike from the station to the first pub on the list, the Thirsty Scholar. Nice little boozer with decent ale and a reasonably fit bar maid who scored 7.5 on the C & D Arse scale!. It was good to get out of the rain for a while before heading of the next Penryn pub the Kings Arms. Probably the worst pub of the day in terms of ale as the draught Courage was complete piss and it was time to move swiftly on with a newly acquired 'salt cellar' for the chaps breakfast table. Final port of call was the Famous Barrel, famous for being shaped like a barrel!. Good ale in here and friendly locals including the little Jack Russell dog who took a shine to Simber's hat. Due to a discrepancy in ABV for the Cornwall challenge, it was deemed by the committee that Tory Boy (TB) had to sink a double whiskey to even out the count between him an the fat match-stick. The fat match-stick (FM) claimed to have sunk half of this before handing over to TB but this was hotly disputed by the more sober members.
Final port of call was Truro to do the last 3 pubs to make up the 10 for the day, we hiked back up to Penryn station with Simber's insisting on no food till Truro, even though some of the chaps were gagging for fish and chips on the way there!. Arriving in Truro we had another yomp down to the first pub on the list, the Wig and Pen. The Chaps had visited this one before on previous occasions so new the score and supped a quick jar before moving on. Next pub was the Old Ale House, again previously frequented by the chaps to drink a swift pint and eat a few monkey nuts supplied in this joint. Simber's then decided to break rank and nip out for a secret sortie to the chippy without telling anyone else before we moved on to the final pub on the list. The Crab and Ale house is a little back street pub, it was the 10th so TB & FM were suffering by now although FM's spirits were raised by the Latvian Pole dancer who took a shine to him, he was well in his element. The rest of the chaps suggested a curry leaving FM to the girl's charms but the opportunity was not taken. At 8 o'clock we flagged down a 7 seater to take us back to Gerrans.
The journey proved eventful, with Rog directing the cabbie to Gerrans as he had never been before!. TB was dozing trying his best not to barf in the cab and FM was flaying his arms in some sort of hypnotic dance routine. We arrived back around 8.30 and pulled up outside the Royal Standard - TB sneaked down the lane for a quick barf and was let back into the bungalow to sleep off the day's excesses. The rest of us made it safely in to the pub for more beer and finally some food. Around 10.00, FM who's was sitting like a gibbering garden gnome on the bar-stool was final escorted back home victorious in the challenge by chap. The rest of us stayed till closing time making, completing a fair old 11 hour session with everyone well in to double figures.
Saturday - Even after the previous day's excesses we all made it up reasonably early to tuck into full English number 2. After discussing the options we headed off to St Mawes on the bus getting off at the top end and walking down past the castle to observe the breath taking views across the bay. Walking down in to St Mawes we sat outside the Rising Sun pub enjoying a pint or 2 in the glorious sunshine. A berk-away group of 4 chaps, FM. TB, Simbers and Rog decided to get the ferry back across and walk home to Gerrans via the Plume of Feathers. Chap, Daz and Tone took the easier option of an extra pint in the Rising Sun and the bus back home.
Rog cooked the steaks on the BBQ and we all sat down to a steak and chips and red wine before heading for the pub. The pace was a bit slower in the evening but plenty of beer and banter was had with Daz getting rather irate about his allegiance to the 'Dogheads', I think there's a Villa fan in there somewhere!!. We stayed until chucking out time before heading back to the bungalow.
Sunday - the usual bit of chap domesticity was had in tidying up after the weekend before heading home back to Brum. Another successful flying mission for the Chaps.
Piccies - here