The sun briefly came out yesterday and the boy looked longingly out. Weather and lack of inclination had reduced our urge to excurt but we thought we should take advantage.
I've been wanting to go back to the Royal Oak in Bath for a while but the last couple of times it didn't come off. Himself was up for it, although possibly slightly less keen. I took a look on Google maps to see if there was anything nice to amble around near the pub and found an old railway track that had been turned into a greenway. It took me by surprise!
I tried to see if I could find a circular route from Bath Spa station but the geography made it look rather difficult (it's not called the Two Tunnels route for nothing).
In the end, we took the easy way which was to get to Oldfield Park station and get on the path as close as possible and do an up and back "exploratory" walk so that we could try something more ambitious in the future.
It was a really pleasant walk - would be even nice on a spring day but beggars and that...
We walked about 4.5 miles up and back (as far as the southern portal the second tunnel) and landed comfortably in the pub about 4.45pm.
It's a very traditional sort of place - basic but airy and it was good to see the bar hadn't changed position.
The pub now also houses a brewery and they had 4 of their own beers on. If I'm honest I didn't expect too much but was really taken aback by how tasty the beer was. It didn't even occur to us to try any of the 4 guest casks or 8 or keg beers (not to mention the 8 real ciders on the board).
We definitely want to go back - it had the right vibe for us as well as the excellent beer. It's a 5 minute walk from the flat to the station and a 5 minute walk from the station to the pub. Building in the 13 minute journey and a bit of slack time, it means we could be there around 30mins after leaving home. Quite a lot closer than other pubs we like to go to...
Hopefully we'll get another visit in before we head back south.
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