Beer ride... The Halfway House

Ark building has been pushed aside today. The rain has stopped if only for a day, so we felt were able to join the gang from Mercia Cycling Club on their weekly beer ride.

Me, Gary and Paul from across the road made fast progress into Burton on Trent to the meeting point - Gary, on his new bike, was strong and repeatedly pushed ahead, upping the pace. Paul from across the road was moving at a fair lick too - it was a struggle for me to keep up and I fell back 20 or 30 yards on a couple of occasions. When we reached the meeting point, The Abbey Arcade in Burton, unfortunately there was no one there; we hung around like surly teenagers on a street corner and were joined by Barry the Bellringer, first time out with Baz this year!, but there was a distinct lack of any of the usual suspects from the Mercia club.

At 6.40pm we decided to set off for Donisthorpe and The Halfway House, via Caldwell, Linton and Albert Village. This was a rippling ride of fairly gentle undulations taking us finally to the pub. Tim and Norman were already there having made the journey directly from home and missing out the Burton meet. A little later we were joined by Pete who had travelled from Burton but was late getting to the start point.

The Halfway House, Donisthorpe

The Halfway House is a traditional village local set in the heart of Donisthorpe. It has recently been 'refurbished' and its name changed from, in my opinion, the more traditional 'Turks Head'. It's a higgledy-piggledy old building with various small rooms emanating from the bar area. There are faux beams, a warming woodburner and a relaxed and welcoming feel to the place. The new landlord/chef seems a friendly chap - he took the trouble to come over to our table for a short chat. Gary has eaten here and he said it was good food presented well. The beer was certainly good - very well kept Castle Rock Harvest Pale (2010 Champion beer of Britain) slaked our thirst and we sat happily chatting for an hour of so. It was getting dark as we left the pub, so lights were in order. I noticed that my computer/mileometer wasn't working - after having lost one the other day this one is off my really old bike - it could be the batteries are a bit dodgy - but it started working again after a mile or two.

I got home at about 10.30 - 45 miles covered, not bad for a Wednesday evening