03/09/19 - The Half Moon, Hitchin

Distance - 7 Miles
Geocaches - 11
Good Beer Guide Tick 420 - The Half Moon


I consider myself a bit of an of an expert in this part of Hertfordshire.  I spent 13 years working for a company with its head office in Hatfield and spent many evenings exploring the area.   In order of entertainment found...  Hatfield (still carry the mental scars of a soulless new town),  Stevenage, Hertford, Ware and  the Jewel in Hertfordshire's Crown - St Albans.   That became the de facto standard for overnight stays.

Hitchin always escaped me and despite its lack of pubs, I really enjoyed the historic market town with a considerable amount of high end restaurants.   There is a single Good Beer Guide Pub, which I will come to after an evening walk, where I discovered exactly how close we are getting to the end of British Summer Time.

Geocaches present a decent 7 mile walk to the South West.   The landscape is mainly agricultural, but the paths were good. 

The OS Map suggests there is a pre-walk drink to be had in Charlton, but sadly the campaign to save the Windmill failed.

Community Action

Another Dead Soldier

After many fields, I arrived at Great Offley where the Red Lion was open for custom.   I knew I didn't have enough daylight to warrant a stop, regardless of how much I wanted to explore this bastion of patriotism.

Free House

Lanes take me back to Hitchin civilisation, but not before the single battery power mini torch came out to help with route finding.  8.20pm and its time for bed.

Evening Walking coming to an end for 2019

Pitch black by the time I find the Good Beer Guide 2019 Entry that is The Half moon.   Initial signs of high cask turnover are very promising.

Supplies

The Half Moon by Night

A real surprise to walk into a packed pub on a Tuesday evening.   The reason - Quiz Night.   The prizes must be out of this world.   Not a free table to be had and I was not the only one forced to hover at the glass return point as the Quiz Master read out the answers to round 1.

I scored a high percentage on a literature round, where I could only shout "Hunter S Thompson" as the answer to the question, who invented the style of journalism known as Gonzo.

I continued to hover at the place where leaning was an impossibility, nursing a very decent pint of Youngs Special.   How would I fare in the 2nd round?

Nil Points, so I went in search of food, keeping Hitchin 8th best restaurant open longer then they expected.

I'm back next Tuesday. 

Its a toss up between geocaching in the dark or getting into the Half Moon early to enter a team of one into the quiz.