The annual crawl was upon us again and coincided with Avril's hair appointment at Colour Nation. We carried this out early and after customary rewards of Samuel Smiths products at the Champion at Oxford Circus, moved off to Waterloo to begin the festivities in earnest. This year's theme was a dice driven pub crawl and our fate would be decided by the dice, so there was the potential to end up anywhere. Fortunately the gods were shining upon us and the dice didn't send us anywhere undesirable.

The plan was to meet at Waterloo and although we had missed a couple of pubs they were still in the area and we met them at the Hole in the Wall. On this occasion we sat in the more student bar like back room, but it did allow us an excellent opportunity to see what they had on tap - Hogsback TEA, Cottage Goldrush, Doom Bar, Adnam's Bitter, Abbot and Young's Bitter and Special - which did not disappoint. The dice managed to keep us in the area for one more and after finding that the pub we were supposed to visit was closed, we headed to the Camel And Artichoke in the direction of 'Lambeth'. This place wasn't too bad and had a fairly good choice of Trelawny, Greene King Edmunds, Proper Job and Doom Bar. The pub itself was reasonably pleasant, quite long and thin with a side bar and not overly trendy or gastro. The sort of place where lads would go on a crawl such as this.

Time was up and we had to go to the next pub, and again nobody played the 'travel joker', so it was but a short walk to the Steam Engine in Lambeth. This was a rather different pub and one that I quite enjoyed for some reason, even though it had the atmosphere of being the sort of place that would attract a load of drunk locals in their 50s on a Saturday night to dance to a poor quality DJ. Its cosiness I think was why I quite liked it, although the gents' were particularly spacious too. Beer choice was limited to London Pride. Eventually we left and the decision was taken to play the 'travel joker'. This transpired as a one stop bus ride towards the river, which was a bit of a disappointment, but the fact that we wound up at the magnificent Tamesis Dock - a boat on the Thames - where we enjoyed some great summer sunshine. They don't have real ale but the keg options are nevertheless interesting, being Camden Pale and some sort of Scottish Porter. The dice then concocted a move to one of our most favourite pubs, Zeitgeist (AKA Jolly Gardeners), the black flock wallpapered German themed pub. On this occasion we were able to enjoy their beer garden which is more accurately described as a yard and has about three tables. Beer selection is all keg and all German, but excellent, in the shape of Weihenstephaner, two varieties of Erdinger, Paulaner, Kostritzer, Flensburger, Konigs Pilsner, Bitburger and Krombacher. Wunderbar!

Just up the road is a much more traditionally English pub, similar to the Steam Engine, called the Black Prince, with a nice long horseshoe shaped bar and a few well -kept bitters: Doom Bar, Harvey's Sussex, Thwaits Wainwright. The beer garden was full, so we stayed inside, but the surroundings were very cosy and welcoming indeed, and I would gladly go back again. Finally the dice directed us to a significant bit of travel and a trip down the Northern Line to Clapham Common, where we ended up at the Frog which was a bit of a 'bar' rather than a pub, with an emphasis on wine and tapas. The surly and slightly pushy barmaid insisted that we were served at the table, so some poor quality Wandle for me, lagers for the others, and some crisps arrived. We paid by using exact money, leaving shrapnel on the table for our server.

Normal service was resumed at the Sun, one of three pubs overlooking the triangular bus terminus 'Old Town'. This one was the trendiest of the lot but it did redeem itself in having a decent selection of beer, Doom Bar, Sambrook's Junction, Yella Belly and Purity Ubu. For some reason most of the hipsters were outside in a rather squashed garden where there was no seating left, so we waited inside for a bit, where Adam and Mark embarked on some sort of board game, given that it was deserted inside. On another side of the triangle is the Rose and Crown. This is a much more basic, drinkers' pub, and not at all trendy, with a pretty spartan interior. Their selection of ale was truly excellent: Hopback Crop Circle, Greene King Bohemian, Okells Bitter, Betty Stogs, Everard's Tiger, Olde Trip, Dark Star Hophead. An excellent place to top for a few beers but sadly we could only stay for one, and crossed the road and walked all of 20 metres to the Prince of Wales. This is also a very good pub, with a great deal of tat hanging from the ceiling, but with a good vibe and some nice beer: Sambrooks Wandle and Junction, and an offering from Harveys. Well worth a visit and again a pub that we could have stayed in.

After a few minutes trawling Sainsburys for reduced price sandwiches (dinner) we walked just up the road to a nice back street pub, the Bobbin. Even though it was quite a trendy place, it did have a dart board, and so it became the scene of our annual pub crawl game of Killer. I think either Andy P or Rich won, after a long and drawn out ending. The pub has a nice long bar just as you step in through the front door, and those who want to drink go to the right, by the dart board. There is also a good selection of beer for the drinker; I recorded Tribute, but there were perhaps two or three others, most likely Otter, Harvey's, Doom Bar, Sambrooks and Deuchar's IPA (as their website says). Avril managed to squeeze in a black sambuca just before we left.

The dice was rolled again and took us not that far, to Vauxhall, where after a bit of a false start, we settled upon the originally named Riverside. This is one of those cavernous warehouse types of pub with vast expanses of seating that often attract rowdier elements. Having said that it was lively without being boisterous, Matt perhaps being the biggest rebel, putting Richard's dice into his glass. The beer selection was pretty good too even though it was all Young's: Kohinor, Bitter, Special and Golden. Eventually though we had to go and headed back to Banbury via a rapid trip on the Victoria and Bakerloo lines, and no doubt a pasty at Marylebone. A good crawl that worked out well especially as the dice had been so kind.