Saturday 29 April 2017

29/04/17 - The King's Head - Bridgnorth

Geocaches - 10
Distance - 6.75 Miles
Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, May 99 Walk 14

A whopping 6 Good Beer Guide Entries in Bridgnorth, Shropshire.   Nearly as many good pubs as there are blokiebloke Geocaches.

There was much deliberation about whether to do the town properly.  Booking.com and Tripadvisor were consulted but alas, even with grown up kids, we still had family responsibilities limiting our ability to stop over.

We'll just tick off the one pub today and see how much we like it.

Walk database consulted for somewhere new.  We've rambled upstream west, upstream east, downstream east so that left something obvious to aim at.  And Country Walking Magazine provided.

We start at the Low Town Bridge, with a couple of micro caches to find.

Low Town Bridge
Bridgnorth - Low Town
Walking couldn't be any easy.  Head downstream, past the cows, under the bypass and follow the canoists who have never watched deliverance.

Walking the Severn
The Severn Down Stream
The turning point inland is marked on the OS Maps as "Sewage Farm".   You don't need an OS Map to know when you have reached it.  All is not lost, as Slade Lane is a riot of countryside colour.

Inland at Slade Lane
Gorgeous Shropshire
The remainder of the route is pleasant but surprisingly unphotogenic and brings us all the way back to the High Town.  The bunting is out to herald our arrival.

Into Bridgnorth
Bring out the Bunting
No need for debate on which of the 6 Good Beer Guide pubs deserving of the Mappiman Dollar.   Mrs M has consulted Tripadvisor and the Kings Head is number 1 for food.

I must have promised her a meal out in my sleep.

A grade II listed, C16th coaching house was never going to be any hardship anyway.

Kings Head
Busy Bridgnorth
Its a gem.  A chalk board of the four real ales, a charming Irish Host and some very fine food promptly served.  The Hobsons Town Crier drew gasps of admiration from Mrs M.  Creamy like in Harry Potter was the phrase used that meant nothing to me.

Hobsons Town Crier
Hobson's Town Crier
The bible (and TripAdvisor) have come up trumps again.

The Cask Marque App suggests the Stable Bar is accredited.  An investigation is launched and it transpires that this is a separate concern running a long outside bar in the courtyard out the back.  A long menu of cocktails shows they do Mojitos.

Bridgnorth, we will most certainly be coming back for the other 5 ticks.  And a cocktail for Mrs M.

Finally, I don't often blog about individual Geocaches but there's one in the main street that shows what this game is all about.  I have seen the market place many times, but I never realised that above it is the town hall.   There's a cache in it, which prompted my exploration and a jokey telling off by an Octogenarian to leave his cat alone.

Inside Geocache
Indoor Caching - Yes, it lives in that box
Town Hall GZ
The previously undiscovered Town Hall

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