Things to do in Sussex when you're...

...waiting for the Glasgow plane!

Friday was spent travelling from Cambridge to Crawley, then meeting Maggie and Clive for a few pints - a quiet night as we were expecting to meet Hector, Marg, Craig and Yvonne at Gatwick Airport the next morning...

Plane travel being as reliable as always, the plane was cancelled "for operational reasons" - although at least the Glasgow 4 were able to re-book a later flight. I'm told they had fun filling in 8 hours at Glasgow Airport.

Of course, we also had to fill in the same time... Selflessly, we decided to follow the original plans, so, in the world-famous people carrier, we headed for the Royal Oak, Friday Street. This is a former King & Barnes pub, now independant. It also was runner up to the Kelham Island Tavern in the 2009 Pub of the Year contest, so not too bad then! The Surrey Hills Ranmore Ale was surprisingly tasty for a 3.8% beer - Craig take note! I'm told that the other beers were in equally fine form.

Crossing the county line, we next visited the Surrey Oak, Newdigate for its beer festival. The weather, sadly, was against us - imagine it raining on a bank holiday weekend! However, we (by now Dr Stan, Colin, Clive and me) managed to spend the afternoon here quite happily. Maggie was taking over driving duties, so I was able to sample a few of the 20 or so beers on offer.

Eventually, we had to leave to go to Gatwick to collect the Glasgow 4 - the evening was spent at the Swan, then a curry at the Ram before returning to the Swan.