Fun and mystery...

Friday night I took a drive to Clay Cross, just outside Chesterfield, for a long overdue visit to catch up with Andy, Sharon and little Laura. As some of the pubs there come with a bit of a reputation, we'd previously agreed that it was probably best just to stick to a couple of local ones and that we probably shouldn't have too much to drink in unfamiliar territory. Anyone who has ever been out with me and Andy will appreciate how incredibly improbable that scenario ever was.

Sharon prepared a delicious chicken dinner to set us up for the night, then off we wandered to the Park House Hotel where I got to sample a couple of ales from a new brewery to me - Copper Dragon IPA and 1816. The beer was good, bar staff and locals friendly and with promise of a live rock n roll band at 9:00pm, it didn't look as though we would stray much further.

Four pints later, we decided that it was a shame for me to have travelled this far and only tried one pub so we headed off to The Cannon which has a good reputation and we were told was only 10 minutes away. It was actually 10 minutes up and down hill and in the freezing cold but well worth the walk for a nice pint of Milestone All Rye Paddy.

The aforementioned premises actually sit at a cross roads; well it shares the cross roads with The George and Dragon and The Shoulder of Mutton so we had to call in and check them out too while we were there. Two more very nice pubs as it turned out so after sampling some of their fine ales we decided to go back where we started and catch the last hour of the band.

So up to this point it had been a pretty regular night out and we both set off for home, but somehow on this five-minute journey we got separated and we've no idea how. I suddenly found myself alone, wandering down a dark country lane with no idea where I was. If I hadn't had my TomTom with me, I'd probably still be wandering now. When I got back, I obviously couldn't get in the house without Andy and didn't want to disturb Sharon so I let myself into the car, set the seat right back and prepared for an uncomfortable nights sleep.

Moments later Andy appeared, in obvious discomfort and with cuts on his face that he couldn't explain. It turned out he also had two large grazes across his chest but as his wallet and phone were still intact we can only assume he took a fall somewhere and hadn't been mugged.

So, exactly what happened or how the pair of us got separated in the first place will just have to remain a mystery. Perhaps next time, we'd be better off staying in...