Pub locations do not come much more stunning than the Boat Inn, Penallt (2440 / 4004). You actually hop off the bus in England, negotiate the kiddies play area (a quick go on the swings and slide are optional), cross the bridge over the river (k)Wye, give yourself a good itch because those Welsh midges are buggers, and head down the track to the pub. It is one of those super basic affairs where location is 90% of the law, think Black Lion in Consall Forge, Staffordshire. They don't expect people to linger, so comfort and warmth aren't top priority. Loos are outdoors, the staff 'greet' you in that 'you are lucky to be in OUR pub' way that the National Inventories / Grade 2's / Heritagies do, and the likelihood of encountering a wet dog or saggy lyrca cyclist is quite high. If I sound overly cynical, it is the weariness of someone who's been pub ticking for 8.5 years, I still enjoyed it immensely. I take my excellent HPA to a table next to two cider sampling ladies from Kingston upon Thames / Switzerland. Rare for me to butt in on a conversation but I feel it is important that Kingston lady knows that my ongoing failure to visit the Wych Elm has been weighing heavily on me for three years now. She seems semi impressed, the Swiss Miss cannot understand my fast pub talkin'. "We have our meals in England, pop over the bridge, and do our drinking in Wales, how marvellous!" Ms Kingston tell the landlady later on. On the way out, I say cheerio to a group of locals smoking outside, but they eye me with an air of 'you're nowt special, just another tourist' disdain. Which I suppose in many ways, I was.
Back over the bridge into England, where I'm made to sweat on the subject of where the bus will stop due to contradictory online information. A sauntering elderly couple put me right.
Next stop Chepstow, and in ultra quick time due to an angry bus driver who absolutely bombs on, I'd love to have hopped off for my Tintern / Trellach ticks, but as we approach evening, buses are getting increasingly sparse. (The plan was to come back here on the Saturday, but I'd failed to notice it was a train strike day).
Micropubs have been few and far between on my Gwent holiday so far, and this one took me by total surprise, being called Queen's Head, Chepstow (2441 / 4005) n all. In fact, a sign on a closed door as you can see above had me fearing it was closed for a wake / christening / very early Christmas party. But no need to worry, I give it a firm push, it creaks open and I'm hit by that heady beery pong (see Cracklerock Botley & Cobbetts Dorking for similar examples) and I'm thrown head long into a sociable whirlwind for the next 27 minutes. I left with a hazy "what just happened?" discombobulation. The sheer amount of folk packed in spoke for the quality on offer. Gwent has been such a friendly place to date, it was no surprise to see a Micropub fit like a glove. A bloke at the bar called Kev collars me, he thinks I should go to more beer festivals and stop neglecting Devon, but commends BRAPA on the whole. I ask him if he'll highlight my GBG, but he hands the responsibility to landlord Kev who everyone loves. One of those classic owners who pretend to be grumpy and tired of life, but would sell you his right kidney if it meant a visitor was having a good experience in his pub. I didn't even get that Wve Valley glass that has been following me about. It was a relief to get some fresh air, but a top little boozer this one.
After all that, I really needed to just take stock, sit down, relax and breathe!
And the Three Tuns, Chepstow (2442 / 4006) offered me the opportunity to do all of those things. Perhaps a little too well! I properly nursed this next pint, a lovely Llandogo Trow Ale, served by a pleasant young barman. The pub was perfectly fine, bare boarded, unassuming, but a little boring, empty in comparison to the Queen's Head but not since the dreadful and now closed down Jolly Tap in Wakefield have I spent so long in one single pub with so little incident. In trying to smuggle a bit of chicken from my snack supplies, I nearly had a choking fit, but that was as exciting as it got.
In fact I'd lingered so long, it was nearly 7pm, which on midweek in Chepstow means that the third GBG tick, Chepstow Athletic Club, opens its doors.
So why the dickens did Former Si decide against going and instead take the next train to Newport. Worried about getting back to Abergavenny? He should've been more adventurous. Current Si (that is me writing this now) is fuming at Former Si's incompetence.
Once in Newport, I had a good fifty minutes until the next train to the 'Venny so I popped around the corner to buy some late night snacks from a Tesco Express / Sainsbury's Local or similar. Mission accomplished, I realised I needed a wee and I look up to see a Wetherspoons blinking back at me. Would be rude not to sample the ale as I piss, eh?
Classic late pint / needing a wee BRAPA photography coming up ......
And it is redemption for Former Si at John Wallace Linton, Newport. Pre-emptive then, but now listed in the 2023 GBG, chumbawumba! And I'd really not gone in thinking 'this has GBG potential' although strictly speaking, you should view every Wetherspoons in that way. After all, the John Fielding in Cwmbran on the previous evening had been an unmitigated beer quality disaster. But from the moment I tasted that 5% Bristol Belle, I was stunned like "wow, this pub keeps ale better than most places I've been in today!" And that carpet? Lush as we adopted Welshmen like to say. The atmosphere was bangin' too, as you'd expect from a Newport central 'Spoons. Plenty of hi-vis and paint stained overalls. Okay, so one lady was using a reusable Morrisons carrier bag as a pillow at the far end of the bar, but that is life in itself. Exactly the sort of incident my previous pub had been lacking. Well played Former Si, the boyo done goodo.
So there we go, another blog done. Another Gwent day complete. Join me tomorrow for my most epically rural walking day since THAT first day. I'd heard the Goose & Cuckoo was a rural classic, so I'd start there.
Thanks for reading / skimming / clicking on this blog,
Si
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