65.
Charlbury, via Witney, to
Oxford, revisiting key pubs,
Finally, it was time to have a go at a
proper Summer cycle pub crawl. Dave Wacey had done some quite detailed work in identifying
which pubs had scored most favorably in previous evaluation exercises. We
decided to have a go at the Charlbury area. Getting on
a train, we arrived at Charlbury at about 2.15, and
made a quick visit to the Rose and Crown, an excellent locals
pub with a good selection of beer. The beer was Young's Special or Bitter, Arkell's Summer, Deuchars IPA, Moles Barleymole
and Lodden Bamboozle. We decided to sample the last
two and were very pleased with them - a highly refreshing couple of halves,
very well kept. Well worth a repeat visit. Dave had sustained a puncture which
we attended to about half a mile down the road, and whilst we were waiting for
the vulcanising rubber solution to dry, we popped
back for a couple of swift halves of Greene King Triumph and Morland Original at the Bell Hotel. Surprisingly, the
Triumph was actually quite good, though the Morland
was not. Some IPA was also available. The
After repairing a second puncture which
was discovered, we were finally on our way a little later than anticipated, and
climbed the hill to Finstock for our first pub there.
We were served some more Triumph (IPA and Abbot also available), and a couple
of glasses of water, with ice! A group of local wideboys
were drinking there, propped up at the bar when we arrived. It has a very
quaint, stone walled, small interior, the kind of place where, with a few well
placed crusty old punters around and about, could be well suited to Midsomers Murders. In the middle of Finstock is the Plough, another quaint establishment with a
more wood panelled interior, and with an Aunt Sally
pitch too, which we decided to make use of in its excellent garden. The beer
was most satisfying - Youngs Bitter, Brakspear, Adnams Broadside and
an excellent tasting West Berks Good Old Boy. It was also served up at a
competitive price. Well worth a repeat visit.
After a bit of cross country, we arrived
at the Bird in Hand at Whiteoak Green, which had
improved considerably since our visit last time. Although there wasn't much
beer on, only Adnam’s Bitter, the atmosphere
was quiet and relaxing, and we noted that they had an excellent fish based
menu. It is however primarily a restaurant, but at least they have kept a
couple of decent tables for drinkers. Good westward views are also to be had
there. After a bit more of a cycle, we encountered the Lamb at
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The best pub of the day was just a little
way out of the village, and the older locals most probably hate it. The Crawley
Inn on our last visit appeared to be undergoing a makeover. This still appeared
to be the case as the interior was most shabby, as indeed was the exterior. The
atmosphere was superb though, with many very lively and friendly biker sorts.
Although, unsurprisingly, most of the regulars drink Stella or cider, the
bitters are kept excellently and average only £2 per pint. Tim Taylor
Best was on, but we opted for a fantastic duo of Slaters
Supreme and Notley Vale. One of them, I forget which,
was weaker and an excellent session ale, whilst the other one tasted pleasingly
strong.
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It would be the kind of place to while
away a Sunday afternoon. A bit of a trek got us to the Angel at Witney although in actual fact it was not as good as we had
hoped. Four standard beers - Tetley, Brakspear
Special, Bombardier and possibly Young's Special - greeted us. Nonetheless, we
had a pleasant enough stay, and there are a couple of very good bay window
seats if you can get them.
Moving on to the Mason's Arms at South
Leigh, we found the pub to be in a wonderful thatched roofed building.
Unfortunately the proprieter, Gerry Stonhill, is something of an eccentric, and has basically
turned the place into a very expensive restaurant, and the beer is too - Burton
at £3 per pint (although I have to say it was good Burton as I normally
won't touch that stuff), and served in handled half pint glasses with 366 on
them. The interior was very cosy with fantastic
tables laid for dinner, although we decided that a good idea might be to drink
outside. All in all, it was an experience, but I wouldn't choose to go back
unless someone was taking me to dinner there. The gents are quite interesting
too; not only do they have some choice sexist pictures, but they are called the
'Gentleman's Ablutory Block'. You can see what we're
dealing with here. Strangely, it had gone
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An eventful cross country cycle down a
muddy track finally led to the Woodman in North Leigh, where we met up with
Jenny Brett for a spot of dinner. I had ploughed into a very muddy puddle on
the way though had luckily stayed quite mud free, which was good as we were to
be dining. The Woodman is quite an average pub, doing reasonably priced,
filling food. The beer's not bad either - Hook Norton
Best, 6X and Spitfire. Outside toilets too. Up the
road is another Mason's Arms, a little more conventional, though the barman in
there serving a group of old soaks had quite an impressive set of mutton chops.
A product called Beacon by Everard’s was on
tap, but something must have been wrong with it as it was absolutely dire, and
tasted of cider. We played pool in a room away from the regulars, forcing the
ale down as quickly as we could, then left sharpish.
The Shepherd's Hall on the way to Hanborough is another one of these quite standard main road
pubs. Flowers and 6X were on tap. I don't really think that there is much else
to report about it, though they do have a bit of food. I don't think I used the
toilet as I couldn't find it. We deliberately sat on the seats outside, away
from everyone else. Final stop of the day for last orders was the lively Red
Lion in Cassington. Some pissed girls were outside
being uncomplimentary about a wedding that they had attended earlier that day. I
can't even remember what the beer was, though it wasn't very special and there
weren't that many of them. The atmosphere was however good, perhaps as they
were mid way through a meat draw, so possibly worth a repeat visit. There is
also a glassed over well in the floor on the way to the toilets which is
moderately interesting. We sat outside in the cool air taking stock of the day
and galvanising ourselves for the leg home.
Fortunately, some kind souls had closed the A40, and we were able to cycle
pissed down the middle of the carriageway, something which is very ill advised
at other times. And neither of us had particularly bad hangovers the following
day.
Dan
Lovegrove
dan@doctor-lovegrove.com
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