Huddersfield

So, a night out in Huddersfield was decided upon. Ten to eight train.

Arrived at the Railway in Greenfield with 15 minutes to spare - a swift pint of their ever-excellent Elland Beyond the Pale was quaffed in near record time before departing for the station where Nigel was just arriving on the platform.

The display screen said that the train was going to be 15 minutes late, so we walked back across the road for another swift pint. Another Beyond the Pale was downed. Hmm 2 pints in 20 minutes, not a good start!

The train arrived 2 minutes later than advertised with the front half in darkness and locked.We took our seats and awaited the guard so we could buy our hugely overpriced tickets to go through Standedge tunnel. Rumour has it that the 5 mile train journey from Greenfield to Marsden is the most expensive - on a £ per mile basis - in the country. Go Northern Rail!!

Luckily Northern Rail were being especially generous again this evening, and the Guard didn't appear. So we had a free journey. Cheers, Northern!

Once we arrived in Huddersfield we made straight for probably my favourite pub at the moment. The Grove. I, rather foolishly, went for a Thornbridge Halcyon (7.7%). a fantastic beer, but dangerously drinkable for that ABV.

Next up was a Brewdog Punk IPA - another great beer.

We then made a move into Huddersfield Centre to the Vox bar to sample their Erdinger Dark. They have an unusual downstairs room with some very tight booths - where we sat.

After our forcedly intimate pint in Vox we headed down the road to The Sportsman. this has fairly recently been taken over and reopened by the owners of The West Yorkshire Licensed Refreshment Rooms on Dewsbury Station. It is now a very nice pub - although never having been before I can't compare it to how it might have been previously.

They have taken the interesting move of having a small sample of each beer available in a shot glass next to the pump. I presume so you can see what colour the beer is.

A Roosters Jasmine IPA was sampled here. - Things were getting somewhat hazy by now. and I don't recall too much about this beer except that it wasn't as good as the Halcyon or Punk IPA from earlier.

We then moved on again to the Kings Head on the station for a swift pint before our train left. I chose the Elland's Top Of The Hops. So I'm told. After supping this it was time to catch the train so we crossed to our platform and boarded.

Those lovely people at Northern Rail very generously let us have another free journey back to Greenfield. As there's no available ticket offices at either end of the journey, and no conductor coming along the train to collect tickets, there is no way of paying. - Not that I'm complaining!

On arrival back in Greenfield, we decided that it would be rude not to round the journey off without another pint in the Railway. So across we went. I had another Elland Beyond the Pale.

As the pub was rather busy, we had to share a table with a very nice couple who were sampling the Railway's excellent range of bottled ciders. Talk turned to the draught Old Rosie scrumpy and it was decided that we should all have a pint. It was at this point I decided it would be best if I went home. Nigel stayed and had a pint.

I haven't heard from him since.