The Inn Way, the NKHC way – Alison (May 2002)

The Inn Way is ninety-mile circuit with forty-four pubs, so the poster said. Read on to find out how to do ten miles of it with six pubs (all real ale).

It was the March trip to Little Langdale in the Lakes. Did the Saturday morning dawn fair? Of course not! The tops were nowhere in sight and I for one didn’t fancy a day in the cloud. Adrian was of the same opinion, although everyone else decided to go for Wetherlam.

There’s an easy 10-mile circular route taking in both Little and Great Langdale. Perfect for iffy weather, it involves very little tarmac and can obviously be started at either valley. It also has a slight twist – six pubs on route! I’d had my eye on this one for a while. And having eventually joined CAMRA at the start of the year (but that’s another story!) I felt a moral duty to check on the quality of the real ale in these pubs. Local branch meetings aren’t for me, so the next best way to be an active member is through actively lifting pints!

Adrian and I set off with the others round the track at the back of the hamlet. They soon branched off and we continued, past the other mountain club hut up there. The occupants there were only just setting off too, so maybe the morning ‘faff’ is something that afflicts all clubs! It was a short haul up the road to the bottom of Pike of Blisco (and this was the longest road stretch). We skirted round to Blea Tarn (passing the chicken shed on the way, for those that remember it – not one of my best bookings!) and then down the steep path to the campsite and over the road to the Olde Dungeon Ghyll. Pub number one was at 11.30, but not too early for a decent pint of Yates sitting outside in reasonable weather (it pays to stay low sometimes), and having done nearly half of the route we deserved it.

It was about 1km along the path at the side of the hill to pub number two, the Stickle Barn Tavern. A pint of Theakstons here and sarnies outside out of sight. It’s only a hop; skip and a jump across to pub number three, the New Dungeon Ghyll. A quick run up to Stickle Tarn to work off pint two first? Naa! Another pint then – well as Adrian said, it would be rude not to. Theakstons again. Adrian’s XB was off (apparently they keep the barrels close to the boiler and that was the second barrel to go off – thought they might think to change the storage!), but I was sticking to ‘Best’ anyway.

This was where by rights I should have been feeling the weight of the beer in my legs, but didn’t feel too bad yet. We went over the road and up the hill a bit to follow a path along for about 3.5km and into Chapel Stile and pub number four, the Wainwright Inn. It was like an oven inside so we took our pints (a huge choice here, but I settled for Cracker as I’d never had that) outside. This was where the pain barrier hit and tiredness set in. Fortunately it’s only a short walk along the river to Elterwater and a pint of my favourite beer, Bluebird, as a reward at the Britannia Inn, pub number five. Finally it was a haul over the hill and back down into Little Langdale and the sixth and final pub, the Three Shires Inn. We hadn’t got far down our pints of Jennings before Nick and Neil came in, everyone else had gone back to bag the showers. We’d certainly seen more of the day than they had – at times it was actually sunny in the valley. And my legs felt as though we’d done a good days walk, but I expect that was partly due to the alcohol slowly turning to lead in my veins! I also felt happy in the knowledge that at least six pubs were keeping their beer on cask and, apart from the XB at the New Dungeon Ghyll, were keeping it well.

We’d started shortly after 10am, and didn’t get to the Three Shires until nearly 6pm, so it would be pushing it to do the full ninety-mile circuit in less than a week I reckon. Unless you didn’t have a pint in each. But it would be rude not to! Cheers!