Man in a Hat Previews Hereford and Chester !

                                          Time to up the ante!

Now don’t get me wrong, Man-in-a-Hat has had a lot of interesting experiences over the years:

·     trying to get into a boarded-up pub in Wellington (Feb 2014);

·     helping to keep the river Humber flowing at North Ferriby (Apr 2014);

·     blowing a young lady off her stool with his Frankie Goes To Hollywood in Llandudno (Jan 2015);

·     3 nights in Lowestoft (Mar 2015); 

·     meeting The Pope of Brinnington on his way back from Gainsborough (Apr 2017);

·     enjoying pre-match hospitality in the company of George Haigh at Brackley (Nov 2017);

·     having a brewery to himself in Lancaster (Dec 2017); and

·     surviving a whole weekend on toasties in South Shields (Sept 2018).

To name but a few.

But, he’s never done back-to-back stay-over away games without going home in-between. This season was to be the one:

·     York followed by Southport (couldn’t get my act together);

·     Telford followed by South Shields (both Saturdays, I mean come on, be sensible!);

·     South Shields followed by Darlington (South Shields nearly killed me on its own!);

·     Curzon followed by Warrington, followed by Yeovil (too short notice);

·     Spennymoor followed by Altrincham, followed by Ashton, followed by Alfreton (too local);

·     Leamington followed by FC, followed by Harrogate, followed by Guiseley, followed by Runcorn (just plain daft); and

·     Boston followed by Brackley, followed by Nantwich, followed by Fylde.

But then, the football gods tossed me a bone. Chester on the Tuesday after Hereford. Direct trains all the way. It has to be done!

Where’s the Hat?

Many of you have politely enquired as to the whereabouts of the hat.

For those who have been too shy to ask, it’s simply that the last time I wore the hat was verses Chester at home back in December, and I think you’ll agree that County have been on a tidy run of form since then.

So basically, I daren’t wear the hat at the moment. Everyone I have explained this to fully understands. In fact, one gentleman even offered to give me “a right seeing to” if he saw me wearing it again this season.

Logistics

As you can imagine, the trip took some organising, and much may go wrong, but here is Plan A.

My trusty companion Stafford, is joining me, so it’s first class all the way. Well, sort of.

We’ll be getting the train down to Hereford Saturday morning along with you lot, but then we’ll be hanging back in Hereford for 2 nights, before getting another train to Chester on Monday.

After a couple of nights in Chester, including indulging in the match hospitality, it’s back to Stockport Wednesday morning to complete a nice little (big) triangle.

Hereford

It will be nice to get back to Hereford. I’ve lost count of the number of stop-overs I’ve done there watching County. And, we always seem to win!

However, the lucky guest-house is no more, and neither is the lucky pre-match pub, so the alarm bells are already ringing.

Football aside, Hereford has much to offer. Just 3 pubs in the Good Beer Guide (Barrels, Firefly & Gordon Bennetts), but plenty more to go at, including the Beer in Hand, Black Lion & Lichfield Vaults.

Chester

We don’t stand a chance frankly. 10 pubs in the Good Beer Guide alone. Stafford likes the dark stuff, so priorities include the Brewery Tap (Spitting Feathers), the Big Hand Alehouse & the Deva Tap.

There are also a couple of interesting Sam Smiths pubs, the Boot Inn & the Falcon if we manage to get any exploring in.

Guess we’ll just have to go on the Stockport CAMRA day out to Chester Saturday 22^nd June?

One place we won’t be going, is the Cavern of the Curious Gnome!

Now I’ve written this, I really want to wear the hat. Surely it’s just a load of suspicious nonsense? We’ll see.

Full report to follow of course, but not until after the Blyth game I’m afraid.

As you know, you can find all of the pubs I mention on the excellent CAMRA website www.whatpub.com

Man in a Hat