by Lawrence Bland
Sadly only two hikers for the September hike, this time around Garstang. We caught the 1205 bus from Lancaster to the Brockholes Arms, no real ale so we made a quick exit, although we were promised an easy level walk over farm land, we walked up Stubbins Lane to the canal and followed the towpath to the Kenlis Arms at Barnacre, adjacent to the old Garstang & Catterall railway station, Dartmoor IPA and OSB Hopscotch were on offer. Back to the canal towpath and walked to the Church in Bonds, good and bad new here, the pub has finally been sold, no one knows to who, but it’s going to close as a pub next Thursday (September 26th). We had a Theakston’s Lightfoot, sunbathing in the beer garden. Continuing walking to Garstang, Peter & Rob are the new managers at the Eagle & Child, no sign of them, in fact the pub seems the same as ever, Hobgoblin was the only real ale available. Nothing on at the Kings Arms, so we made another quick exit. The Crown had Thwaites Original & Wainwright on, nice tidy pub, we were surrounded on all sides by TVs. We found a new landlady at the Wheatsheaf, Sandra O’Brien, newly arrived a week and a half ago, she is still sorting things out at the pub, the old S & N range was on offer, we tried the Caledonian XPA. Passing the closed Bell & Bottle (the former Farmer’s Arms) to the Th’Owd Tithebarn, Mole Tap (who brews this?) was sampled. We finished our Garstang pub crawl with a visit to the Royal Oak, the usual Robinson’s range was available, we tried the seasonal Dizzy Dark Side, Martin rated this the best beer of the day. Back on the 1719 bus to Lancaster.
Webmaster’s note: Mole Tap is probably Mauldon’s Mole Trap