Visited 23th May 2010.
Ferndown is a little way outside Bournemouth and roughly on the way home for me so it became my next stop. It turned out to be surprisingly easy to find and 'spoons have a car park at the rear. So far so good. Again, it is pleasantly cool inside and again I manage to get a table next to a large open window where I sit and read the paper while sipping that very underrated drink for a hot day - the larger shandy. It really is to nice to move but I have a few more miles to cover and so it's back on the bike and off into the sunset. (Well, a nice image but he sun wasn't setting and I wasn't heading in that direction!)
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Visited 23th May 2010.
Bored sitting at home and the weather is nice - hot even, maybe the hottest day of the year so far. Out comes the bike and I'm off to Bournemouth. This turns out to be something of a mistake as a couple of other people have had the same idea and Bournemouth is full. Fortunately, being on a bike I'm able to find somewhere to park and take a walk through the park to the beach... Which is also full. I don't stay long as I wasn't planning on sunbathing and there is no space to put my towel anyway. Instead I walk back to the bike - just a little warm by now - and try to find a 'spoons. I've already visited a few in Bournemouth so I know I'm going to have to go a little further afield. The Parkstone and Heatherlands is where I hang my helmet. A burger and a coke ("it's Pepsi, is that OK?") later and I'm feeling cooler and a bit more human again. The pub is dark and cool and I'm sitting at a table looking out of a large open window where I can feel a refreshing breeze blowing in. I'm feeling very comfortable but I need to move on as I have planned for one more stop today. One quick word of thanks to the attractive young lady who was kind enough to interrupt her afternoon to take the photographs.
© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.
Visited 16th May 2010.
A little shopping and then into our third 'spoons of the day. A quick recap. We started with breakfast. This was followed with beer and now Mrs. S fancies some pudding. We ordered coffees and a sticky toffee pudding and apple and pear crumble. Although the pub was not very busy it took a very long time for our puddings to arrive and when they did we were quite disappointed with them. Both had been overcooked, the sticky toffee was far to chewy and the crumble didn't. It was instead just a solid mass. The pub itself felt spacious and airy but we didn't stay long as Mrs S. felt the need for more shopping. As it turned out the main thing we bought was an umbrella from HMV as it suddenly started to pelt with rain and despite our new purchase we were both somewhat sodden by the time we had walked back to the car. Oxford is a great place to visit and the rain was just part of the adventure - we will return.
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Visited 16th May 2010.
Mrs S. and myself fancied a cooked breakfast and neither of us fancied cooking it ourselves so we jumped into the car and headed off to Oxford. The plan was to head into the city centre but a fun run put paid to that idea and to avoid the jams we turned left and headed towards Cowley and "The William Morris". It was pretty busy inside with a lot of breakfasts being served. We were a bit peckish by this time and so were happy that breakfast arrived (and also disappeared) in record time. We both liked the pub but we had a full day ahead of us as the plan was to also visit two pubs in the centre of Oxford (and do a little shopping). Here's hoping the fun run's finished and the roads have cleared.
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Visited 25th April 2010.
Mrs S. hadn't been out on the bike for a while and so I thought I might be able to tempt her by inviting her to Sunday lunch. "It's nice and warm", I said "and don't worry about about the clouds. The forecast says no rain today." To cut a short story even shorter Mrs S. was not in the best of humour when we arrived in Uxbridge both cold and wet. Definitely damage control time. Fortunately a chicken burger and coffee did the trick, while I opted for a more traditional Sunday roast to do the job. The pub itself was narrow but fairly long. It was reasonably crowded but not so much that we had a problem finding a table and while at the bar I had a long chat with one of the locals. So a friendly place as well. To improve things even further, while we were eating the sun came out, dried the bike and roads and allowed us to have a very pleasant ride home. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.
