2011 - Day Out 4: Staffordshire

Date: Saturday 12 February 2011

It is time for my first planned trip in February and Mr WME and myself have decided to visit locations in Staffordshire. So to start the day off I walk into Stourbridge to get my first bus of the day, National Express West Midlands 256 to Wolverhampton. Whilst waiting for the bus, I look at the 256 timetable and am surprised that there are only three buses on Saturday mornings before the half hourly frequency kicks in at 0930. The 256 arrives and I'm on my way to Wolverhampton. After a pleasant journey it is not long where I alight the 256 in Wolverhampton and wait in the temporary stop in Queen Street for Mr WME to appear, which he does after a couple of minutes. We have a bit of time before catching our first bus, but I seem to have taken over the bladder duties from Andy for today, and we head to the nearest toilets which are located in the Mander Centre. I was so desperate, I did not notice the sign that the female attendant was cleaning, nor did I see her in the toilets cleaning, but I could not have stopped once I had started.

After my little visit, we make our way to Stafford Street to catch our first bus of the day, so we head across Queens Square, where we seem to spot more discarded garments along the way, this time being a pair of tights, and it is not soon after we arrive at our stop to catch Arriva Midlands Service 76 to Stafford. Our bus arrives just slightly after its intended time of 1016, and we make our way to Stafford, hoping to catch our connecting bus to our first proper location of the day. After a pleasant ride, in which there seems to be members of CAMRA sitting next to us stating the pubs they have or have not visited, we arrive close to Stafford where we go around some local estates (with Mr WME informing me that these will no longer be served in upcoming Arriva service changes), before we get to Stafford town centre. With a bit of a build up of traffic and the fact that I cannot take any more of the female CAMRA member screaming at every pub she see, Mr WME and myself decide to get off just after the rail station and walk it through town to Gaol Square hoping to catch our connecting bus. We arrive at Gaol Square at nearly 1140, and we realise that the Arriva Service 432 which we need to catch is actually the same bus that we caught from Wolverhampton, even with the same driver taking us! It seems that our seats had been warmed up (by ourselves previously) and we start off on our journey to Eccleshall.

We arrive at Eccleshall, where we alight the bus. We have a walk around the village with Mr WME taking his customary photographs of public houses and libraries. After our tour and visit to the library where I seem to have upset the librarian by turning the speech on the information machine (not on purpose!), we visit our first public house of the day, The George Inn, where we decide to have our drinks by the roaring fire, until Mr WME gets too hot and we then move to our big table at the window to watch the world go by. After our drinks have been supped, we walk up the high street to The Bell, a rustic public house, which seems to be the locals pub of choice. We take our seats by the bar, where we are greeted not one but three barmaids serving. After a while, one barmaid enquires if the Bank's bitter is alright after she has changed the barrel, so it is up to me, The Bells previous cellar man (Not in Eccleshall, but Stourbridge), to have a look at the beer and even sample a sup to make sure it is okay, and it seems to be a lovely drink. After our drinks have been supped, in which Mr WME had to have two halves because he could make his mind which drink he wanted, and our opinion on the changed barrel, we make our way to the bus stop to catch our service 432, which arrived a few minutes later than the advertised time of 1320, to take us back to Stafford, it also seems a shame that this lovely village may be losing its public transport link with Stafford, after hearing the news from Mr WME that Arriva are cancelling the buses they operate there.

We make our way back to Stafford, when the bladder that Andy has loaned me today needs emptying, so we get off just before Stafford town centre, in which Mr WME remembers a public house that he spotted in the area on our way to Eccleshall earlier, and he cannot find it, which is great seeing that my legs can't move much farther with the fact that they are nearly crossed twice over!! With the bladder requiring immediate attention we spot The Hop Pole Inn, in which the bladder is serviced and Mr WME gets the drinks in, plus a bar snack of Scampi Flavour Fries. With time to pass whilst supping our drinks, we cant beat a bit of bully, and have a go on Bullseye on the quiz machine, which we leave empty handed, he beat us! After our visit to The Hop Pole, we walk through Stafford, pass the jail and Mr WME needs to make sure he gets past quick before any guard thinks he has broken out, to get to Gaol Square and catch our next bus, Service 3 to Queensville, to get to our next public house. We are not long on the bus from the town centre, when Mr WME spots our next public house, so we alight the bus sharply and walk over the railway bridge to visit The Spittal Brook, a public house that is situated on the end of a block of terraced houses, it was also recommended by a colleague at work. The Spittal Brook is a lovely pub, with saucy postcards adorning the walls and is also included in the Good Beer Guide. We spot a collection of board games in the corner, so whilst having our drinks we decide to have a game of "four in a row" with myself beating Mr WME 3 games to 2! (see picture above) After his beating Mr WME decides he needs to get some fresh air, so we go out into the beer garden, which is nice peaceful surroundings, at least until the trains behind the hedge go roaring past! Whilst in the garden we see quite a few buses go past, and it is not long before we make a move, that is after the fact that Mr WME has been arrested by two young kids who are playing in the garden for "punching their dad". Whilst he can, Mr WME makes a break for it and we head off to the nearest bus stop to catch our bus into town, he may have escaped the police kids, but I later find out that my colleague spotted us leaving. We wait a while, which may give the reason why we saw so many buses go past in The Spittal Brook, so we decide to walk, that is until we spot a Service 825 heading towards us and we make a quick dash to the bus stop which the driver spots us and kindly stops. We barely make it to our seats before we alight outside our next public house, The Sun, which is the latest opening of the Titanic brewery. We only have a little time in The Sun, before we have to catch our next bus, which stops right outside.

We catch our Service 76 bus, which takes us to our next location, Penkridge, and after our return visit to the local estates on the suburbs of Stafford, it is not long before we alight at Penkridge, and we visit The Horse and Jockey, a pub in which Mr WME finds out the final score of the match between Wolves and Arsenal, bad news is, it is Wolves which have lost with a score of 2-0 at Arsenal. After a quick drink in "The Jockey", we make our way up Market Street, and visit The Star Inn, a pub that Mr UKBuses and myself have spotted on a previous visit to Penkridge. We have a quick half in The Star Inn (see picture left), where hunger is kicking in, so we head back to the bus stop with a visit to "Jasper's", a bakery which we purchase some pasties to nibble on, and also cakes for our journey ahead. We catch the Service 76 again, with a short journey to our next location, Brewood.

We arrive in Brewood, where we visit the next Public House, The Swan, where it is my round and get some more bar snacks, some Pork Crunch, to nibble on whilst watching the Six Nations rugby match between Wales and Scotland, with Wales having a good lead. The pub seems quite busy and we found a table in the corner by luck. After resting our legs, we decide to visit another public house in the area, and it is a short walk to The Admiral Rodney, in which we take our pews at the bar, even though there is a vast amount of tables to choose from. It seems a shame that the pub was quiet, as it seems to be a nice little place. It is nearly time for our next bus, so we sup up and make a move and walk past the church and graveyard to the bus stop which is situated opposite The Swan. We are nearly there and I spot the bus coming so another quick sprint is needed to get to the bus stop before the bus does. I manage to, Mr WME seems to just walk at a leisurely pace. Despite the running, the bus is actually early so it is a few minutes before the bus departs on its way to Wolverhampton.

After our last journey of the day on Service 76, we arrive in Wolverhampton, and with a bit of time to spare, we have a drink in The Posada, a lovely little place situated in Lichfield Street close to The Art Gallery. A bladder stop is also needed, so whilst in the toilet, Mr WME finds us a seat, and we rest our legs a bit. Its not long before we revisit another pub in Wolverhampton, The Wheatsheaf. It seems to have been taken over since our last visit, and the pub does not seem as busy as it once was, which is a shame. We end our night playing darts with a game of 301, which Mr WME takes the game, even though i just needed a score of just 1 (No finishing on doubles as we would still be playing!), with Mr WME having a big score to finish, he managed to win! I scored the victory of the second game, this time playing a game of 101 to make it more quick to finish the game, and I beat Mr WME with a final score of 13. So a decider is needed, but due to the time and the dart board oche being taken over by a disco, it is a game for a future trip. It was also time for myself to catch the Service 256 back to Stourbridge, with Mr WME accompanying me to the bus stop in Queen Street, before he makes his way back home.

Again, another good trip with Mr WME, and there seems to be no let down on the trips with it seeming to be a good start to 2011. My pub of the day would have to be The Spittal Brook in Stafford, and the barmaid of the day goes to three! The barmaids were all good in The Bell in Eccleshall, but they alas do not beat the barmaid at The Swan on our recent visit to Chaddesley Corbett. Looking forward to our next trip, that's if Mr WME does not get caught whilst being on the run from the police kids!