Day 7 – Barton to Burton

Miles walked: Only about 7
Weather: Glorious blazing sunshine

We had an easy day’s walking. Although we were sad to leave the lovely Shoulder of Mutton, it was a nice day. It was roasting hot, and Ross has turned quite pink. I’ve turned a most impressive brown – on one side anyway. I suppose we need to walk the river the other way to get an even tan… We weren’t expecting to get a tan at all walking an English river in September.

We got to The Burton Bridge Inn in plenty of time, and sat out the back having a lovely cup of tea (regular readers will have noticed our tea obsession) and running through the show, looking at the brewery behind.

They’d got barrels upon barrels of beer stacked up in the yard of the brewery. One regular told us he’d taken a mate to the pub for the first time, and when his mate saw outside, he said, ‘Blimey, they get through a lot of beer in this pub!’ The Burton Bridge Brewery actually serves eight pubs in Burton, so it’s not as bad as he thought…

The event went great. A mate of mine from Bristol was up visiting a friend in Derby, so they came along, and it was nice to see a friendly face. Alison and Tony, our couchsurfing hosts for the evening came along too, so that was nice. Also, a man who’d come out on a date, but been stood up, so he thought he’d come and see us instead. He said it was the most original thing he’d ever seen, and he seemed to have a whale of a time. That made us happy.

Other highlights were a Chinese woman, who didn’t seem to understand we were doing a performance, and kept trying to interrupt to chat to us. At one point, half way through Dad singing a heartfelt song, she loudly asked him how long he’d been playing guitar. I bet that never happens to Bob Dylan.

Also, I liked Geoff from the brewery buying us a round of drinks:-). But the absolute highlight was getting to tell the story of why Burton beer was the best, actually in a pub in Burton, while drinking some of it. What could be more appropriate?

So below is a recording of it. You’ll notice it’s enlivened by heckling and interjections from Mum and Dad. This really is Terry and June on tour at times.

I’d also like to say thanks to Alison and Tony, our lovely hosts for the evening, who were kindness itself. And even had a rabbit called Ross, which made me laugh. We were sorry not to meet their kids, who we heard all about – Adele is an opera singer and actress and Adam a sports journalist. You could tell they were in equal parts proud of and bemused by their offspring. I like to think our parents feel a bit the same about us. When they aren’t feeling exasperated.