Bring Me Sunshine: Derbyshire Wayfarer Pt1

With the news that the Blogging Board of Control (BBC) are investigating allegations against Pub Hermit, regarding fake pictures then I can guarantee some bona fide snaps on here.

In his last post about a boozer called Ebenezer’s he clearly filtered photos to show sunshine in Hampshire, which, as everyone who has watched the England/Pakistan test series knows, is absurd.

He was fooling no one with his phoney beer garden shots enjoying a pint with punters in shades, shorts and sliders.

(genuine sunshine)

Rumours that he was looking through the same microscope as The Shamen back in the 90’s with their E’s are good chorus are as yet unconfirmed.

We all know that if you want sunshine you need to hit the north- somewhere like Matlock for example.

On my recent hike, which ended in Matlock Bath – read it here – then there was some glorious Derbyshire sunshine on view.

A wayfarer ticket, less than £14 for unlimited travel on bus and train around Derbyshire, was order of the day and first stop was a short stroll

(A usual Alan pub crawl)

from the station towards Matlock Green and the 590 – Red Lion DE4 3BT.

A classic looking locals’ pub and considering it was just before midday there were already half a dozen punters in, observing all the new track and trace rules.

The barmaid was keen for us to sit down but we had to check out what was on and a pint of home brew from Moot Ales, (Matlock Blonde) was magnificent and a perfect start.

A decent pub selling good beer and some proper sunshine as we headed off for a steep climb and a revisit.

The Thorn Tree Inn was next on the agenda, which is up a serious hill, as it was so good on our last visit – read it here – we thought we’d check it out again.

However, whilst the views were good and you could see Matlock Town FC

(hope you enjoyed it last night Ian) covid opening meant it was shut till 4pm so he directed us towards the ever reliable Greene King boozer 591 – Duke Of Wellington DE4 3GX.

It feels like it’s just at the end of civilisation before you head off into the wilds (well, towards Tansley) and it was a decent pub that felt more pubby than foody.

(Ezeer Goode, Ezeer Goode, He’s Ebenezeer Goode)

Temperature checks as we arrived but we could sit anywhere we wanted and there were quite a few other punters in too looking to take advantage of the Rishi bonus.

I had a point of the Dancing Dragonfly (Pheasantry), which was spot on and always nice to see a bit of variety in a GK boozer.

Two good solid pubs that both had a reasonable amount of punters inside for pre 1pm on a Tuesday…

The conversation was warming up with my two walking pals as we had some more hills in the distance it was time to kick on and head for (more) hills.