June 2026. Apperley Bridge. West Yorkshire.
Back on the Cask Camino last Sunday, which seems to be the regular date solely on account of the Travelodges on the way being £30 rather than £189 that day, at least till we get to Skipton.
We park at Shipley, take a 5 minute train back to where we left off at Apperley Bridge, and set out for the canal, just past the school where reader Prof Pie-Tin was once a boarder.
Except that I’d promised the Prof I’d nip in the George & Dragon opposite, even though it looked a gastro horror (M & B’s Vintage range),
and it is.
But…it looks less dark than when we nipped in to use the loo a fortnight ago, and that Kirstall pump clip is always a good sign.
“Who’s next ?” asks the barman, never a good sign, as the gentlefolk who’ve just strolled to the bar, 5 minutes after us, attempt to queue jump. Or they would, if pubs had queues.
Mrs RM, spooked by the named fish,
eschews the fish finger sandwich in favour of calamari, and we spend 10 minutes staring at the fish tank is search of Peroni.
The soundtrack is naff pop, the ambitiously priced calamari starter was crispy and chewy, like a good beer,
and the Three Swords held on defiantly against the raging of the heatwave, as good as any in a Kirtstall pub.
Despite that heatwave, most of the gentlefolk had opted for the inside rather than the solid looking garden furniture, as old Yorkshireman melt at 29 degrees.
It won’t get the George & Dragon in the GBG, but there’s worse places to wash your hands on a camino,
and there’s even two (2) sets of crossing lights, pedestrian and equestrian. And you don’t see those very often.
retiredmartin 