Hot on the heels of the Edinburgh crawl, I popped across from Peterborough one Saturday afternoon to go for a couple of drinks in Norwich with G and Dave and Smiley. The others had started much, much earlier in the day with a trip to the superb Norwich beer festival. I had also started earlier too, taking the care to fortify myself at a chip shop in Thorney just outside Peterborough. Not much further up the road, in Thorney Toll, was the Black Hart, a cosy, mature Elgoods pub that did a good line in home cooked fodder that I saw others consuming. I opted for one of the weaker ales as I gazed at the extensive selection of bar snacks that I unfortunately didn't have any appetite for at the time, having additionally ordered a pickled egg from the chippy. Although they didn't have an enormous range on draft, there is a good selection on pissflow there and if you want to drink mild, pissflow does not detract from the taste too much.

Quite a long way further on was the Carpenters Arms at East Winch which was quite a wooden and slightly foody though still pretty cosy place to stop. There were very few other people in there and so my stay was pretty brief. It was also evident that they had not yet got round to changing the Greene King IPA because it was below its usual standards at about 3 in the afternoon. Much closer to G's house and after pulling in at a pub that was sadly shut as well as getting stuck behind a tractor I decided that deserved one more half, so stopped at the Mariners at Felthorpe. This pub had a large front bar with a load of old people watching the horse racing as well as a much smaller back room with chavs playing pool. Not a lot to do there then, but they did at least have some Archers beer on which was nice. The atmosphere was still however decidedly local, but reasonable at the time though may have 'livened up' later on...

After parking the car up at G's house, I consulted the bus timetable and realised that I had approximately 12 minutes to wait for the next bus. the Brickmakers at Horsford is next to the bus stop, and the window of opportunity, combined with the need for a piss, gave a persuasive argument for going inside. And a good idea this was too as they had Adnams Explorer on tap which was quite a nice and refreshing. The pub was not quite up to the standard of the beer and the locals seemed not the most welcoming to outsiders, not that this mattered for such a fleeting visit. After a bus ride into the middle of Norwich, I met up with the other three and we went into the Coach and Horses on Thorpe Road, home of the Chalk Hill Brewery and fortunately with some excellent beer on tap. I was playing catch up so went through some very nice and strong Flintnappers Mild (5%) very quickly, and had another one to wash down my dinner - the burgers are very good too. For 5pm on a Saturday it was pretty lively too. The pub has its own website at http://thecoachthorperoad.co.uk/home.htm which gives some pictures of the inside of this traditional looking pub. One point of particular interest is the extremely powerful hand dryer in the Gents' toilet - it is like a jet engine.

Attempting to recover from the blast of hot air from the dryer, we had a walk in the cold air to the Red Lion, which is another pretty good although quieter and less distinctive pub. By all accounts the selection of pub food is actually quite good, but we weren't hungry at the time. They also had a reasonable selection of decent hand pulled beers on at the time which was nice, and we had a pleasant chat over our beers, mine being a pint for catch up reasons. We sauntered along the road a little more to a gem, if slightly touristy, of a pub called the Adam and Eve. The building is extremely old with a strange layout and low ceilings. Circulation space at the bar is cramped, but fortunately we managed to get a wonderful space in a small narrow semicircular shaped side room where we took up a couple of rickety tables¹ and enjoyed pints of Old Peculier. The pub has its own website where a more complete picture can be obtained at http://www.adamandevenorwich.co.uk.

In the heart of Norwich, there is a pub where one can drink all manner of Belgian and other continental ales. The Belgian Monk is pretty trendy and quite busy and the prices are on the steep side. However, it is definitely a good place to go for a few more interesting ales. We had some of the cheaper options and stood by the door getting out of people's ways all the time. I think mussels and chips were probably on the menu. There then followed a bit of a walk towards the Fat Cat, but we paused for a moment in the Mitre, a much more nondescript pub than the Belgian Monk - I don't even think it had much or perhaps any proper beer on, but we made the best of it and settled at one of the peripheral benches. Not a lot of people in there at the time either which was just as well because the bar area is a little cramped. We wondered about the quality of the Sunday Night quiz, which could be easy pickings for G and Elizabeth.

We had decided that the Fat Cat would be the final stop of the day and had been lucky enough to get a seat near the Gents. This was just as well, for the all day drinking that we had participated in was soon catching up and many of our party were beginning to fall asleep. As per usual the Fat Cat was of the highest standards and we were spoilt for choice with the beer. I elected to have the Marmalade beer which I have still made up my mind about and to be honest was probably not concentrating on too much anyway. I have written glowing comments about this place before, but to get it in its full glory, go to www.fatcatpub.co.uk. A taxi ride just before midnight propelled us at top speed, and somewhat erratically, back to Graham's where we put a Peter Kay DVD on although I did not really watch much of this at all, falling straight asleep. Bed was indeed the right thing to do because I had tried to hold a very simple conversation with Elizabeth and ended up not being able to string two words together, and incapable of doing even this decided to call it a night.

¹ Thus causing Smiley to have one of his customary spillages.