A WALK ALONG THE HARD SHOULDER OF THE A50, OR A NIGHT IN THE VAULTS ?

February 2024. Uttoxeter.

It’s all well and good revisiting great pubs in Manchester and Sheffield, but that doesn’t tick a Beer Guide, and nothing gives a ticker as much pleasure as applying pink marker to a small map.

I’m never going to actually finish a GBG in-year again while spending 5 days a week in Waterbeach and Tunbridge Wells, certainly not doing it in pints, anyway.

But there’s still joy in a lone tick, like the Cavendish Arms in Doveridge.

Extensive planning revealed Doveridge was only a short walk from Uttoxeter station, only 70 minutes away.

And, due to the vagaries of split ticketing, it’s cheaper to get to Uttoxeter by rail, even as a non-pensioner, than it is to see a Coldplay tribute band at the Leadmill. Let’s gloss over the fact the train was late and the toilets closed; you can’t expect miracles on East Mids Railway.

All going to plan as we arrived alongside the racecourse. But that 2 mile walk to the Cavendish..

…that’s along the hard shoulder of the A50, surely ? In the dark. In the rain.

Suddenly, the Number 401 bus seemed a good option. It was leaving in 20 minutes, time for a wander.

Spoons haters will be pleased to hear the Old Swan was completely full, folk of all ages drawn in by the ale board;

Or not.

Time to appreciate an unsung market town at night time,

and wonder whether I really ought to be stopping here;

Or even there;

Or even the pub with two Pedi pumps turned round, that looked the liveliest of the lot.

But Pedi awaited in Doveridge, and dutifully I stood at Uttoxeter’s bus station awaiting the 18:45 to Burton.

Buses really are the micros of the transport world, aren’t they ? It never turned up, the chap waiting with me says “Never mind, be another one along at 7:25pm”. How do people put up with this ?

I started walking. If I’d started walking straight from the station I’d have been in the pub by now The chap calls out “Mind you don’t get mugged in the dark“, which was reassuring.

Oh look, a sign.

Well, now we know how BRAPA feels, trudging along muddy country lanes when buses and taxis fail, with only the glare of headlights and beeping of horns for company.

Blimey, you really are close to the A50.

And then, pitch darkness, and Doveridge emerges, not exactly shimmering, but reassuring.

That’s a pub in the distance. I feel it.

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

8 thoughts on “A WALK ALONG THE HARD SHOULDER OF THE A50, OR A NIGHT IN THE VAULTS ?”

  1. I’m sure we’ve all been there, done that etc, and lived to tell the tale. I’m sure also that we’ve all had the odd near miss, or even closer encounter with a speeding car, which to be fair, didn’t really expect to see a suicidal walker looming in the headlights.

    We brush it off at the time, perhaps even laugh or boast about it later, but is that second-rate pub at the end of the walk really worth putting one’s own life at risk, or worth traumatising some unsuspecting motorist, on their way home, just because the pub features in a guide that changes from year to year, at the whim of a load of bearded old blokes, sitting in the backroom of an equally grotty pub?

    Then there’s the issue of returning from that pub, with your senses, and reaction times dulled by a bellyful of beer.

    Sorry to sound so maudlin Martin, but life is precious, and not worth throwing away in pursuit of a blob from a pink highlighter. I’m not trying to preach, and I have attempted some dodgy walks, along busy main roads myself, but after dark, the odds against not getting mowed down, really are stacked against you.

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    1. You’re very sensible, Paul. I’m sure if you’d been with me in 1998 I’d never have walked into Mugabe’s presidential palace in Harare and avoided being approached by guards with bayonets but then where would be the story ?

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  2. I’m not always that sensible Martin, just ask my wife, but I’ve had sufficient close calls in my time to re-appraise risky situations. I normally ask myself, how would the family feel if my foolhardiness led to an untimely demise. It’s a sort of final check, as it were, and an attempt to limit risky behaviour before I commit to it.

    I’ve seen mention of your intrusion into Mugabe’s palace, before. Were you lost, or was wandering into the home of a notorious dictator, a momentary lapse of reason?

    Do tell, when we next meet, as I’m sure there’s a fascinating story there.

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  3. I’ve always thought that the best way of staying safe was to drink temperately.
    That way I’ve never needed medical attention not caught the attention of the rozzers during fifty-two years of using pubs.
    .
    The Smithfield had Wainwright on last July and I intended including the ex-Burtonwood pub on my next trip to Uttoxeter which might be quite soon.

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  4. I remember now cycling to Doveridge in late November 1973 when the Dove Bridge was just a narrow medieval one. The A50 has been widened twice since then.
    I didn’t use a Doveridge pub as it was the afternoon but I’d stopped off at the Roebuck and Old Star in Uttoxeter. Former Buntings pubs, they both had Ansells PA which was never sold in Stafford. The Roebuck was a lovely old pub I have fond memories of as a free house but it was lost on the owner’s retirement as the plot was too valuable for development. You know the Old Star.

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