On Saturday there was a Walsall CAMRA social in Bloxwich. Now this place is always a great pub crawl but there is a couple of boozers that always get missed as they are not on the main drag. So I opted to head over early and visit these two before joining everyone else.

After the standard warm welcome and excellent breakfast at Jack & Ada’s I jumped on the 31 and was soon in Bloxwich. First up was The Spring Cottage. A pub I’ve not been in for over a decade.

First thing that caught my eye were the baps. Three plates of em. I’ve not seen them piled so high before. I love a pub cob but with breakfast still very fresh in my memory I opted to be good and not have one.

The Liverpool match was on so despite it being early there were no vacant tables. I launched myself up on a stool by the bar, which took some doing I tell thee, and as soon as I’d had my first sip, Paul a lad i know headed over. I’d completely missed him as I did my search for a table. He invited me to join his table so I climbed back down off the stool. Which was quicker than the ascent.

In the toilet was a selection of deodorants and after shaves which was a nice touch. I opted for a spray of Milano Wealth. I’ve not been to Milan and I’ll never know wealth but it made me smell good so I’ll take that.

Next on the agenda was The Romping Cat, which is a great pub and a stunning looking building in my opinion. It also has a cracking name. The pint of Boon Doggle was in great nick, barman friendly and welcoming and it was a good visit.

It was time to meet the others so I headed to New Invention Brewery. My friends Sean and Lauren were here which was a bonus, two other Walsall CAMRA members were here too and Karol the friendly welcoming owner was all smiles as usual. There were 15 keg beers, 2 cask and a fridge full of cans to choose from. The Hazy In Love cask was ace.

Me and Sean had the usual football discussions, mainly on potential away trips for next season. He then rejoined Lauren at the bar while myself and the Walsall CAMRA members talked abut the branch. I was urged to reconsider stepping down as Chairman but it really isn’t working and we need new leadership.

I then perused the food menu and caused outrage by saying that onion only belongs on cheese and onion cobs and should not be on pizzas or in curry where you have to fish them out.

Next up was The Wheatsheaf and a toilet visit was required. In there was an absolute top lad, Luke Jennings who was one of the great people I met at The Fitters Arms. I’ve not seen him in years so we had to hug even though we were in the bogs. He is the best karaoke singer I’ve known. First time I heard him it was like “wow”.

I returned to the bar and Dennis was having a discussion with the landlord as to how big the head of a pint should be and haggling as to the degree of CAMRA discount on offer. The landlord tried to bring me into it but I went into shy mode and instead went off to search for any Walsall FC representation amongst the sea of Aston Villa/Man Utd/Liverpool bunting. I found a mirror and a flag along with lots of England stuff from St George’s Day so I was happy.

We split up from here and I went onto The Queen’s Head. Pie and pint was order of the day here, although I had to pay for them separately which threw me and I ended up counting out two piles of shrapnel. I felt a bit like Scrooge. Anyway the barmaid dashed off to get me a fork before I had chance to say I didn’t need one because I’m uncouth.

The pub was busy but without music. Then someone approached the jukebox. I really try not to pre judge people but when this happens I always guess if they will put on something shit. I had faith in this lady and she didn’t let me down. She chose Break My Stride by Matthew Wilder. What an absolute banger. The next lady put on 3 Arctic Monkeys songs which also went down a storm. Nothing came on after Fluorescent Adolescent so I moved on via the toilet.

The toilets here have an old school scales set which costs 20p. I declined this. I have women in Walsall Town Centre come up and tell me I’m fat for free so I don’t need to pay to glean this knowledge. I put the 20p back in my pocket and used it later towards kebab meat and chips.

Last mission in Bloxwich was to head to the Wetherspoons and as a nod to Matthew Wilder nothing was gonna break my stride. It’s right by the bus stop so had to be done. Last week I had my first pint of mild in 30 years so here I went totally left field and had a stout. I hadn’t heard of the brewery and they had me with the word choclatey on the pump clip. It was very good.

On the bus back I had a message from our Treasurer Frank who was heading to the Black Country Arms so after the aforementioned kebab meat goodness I ventured there.

Frank was upstairs and as I approached his table David Clarke another Walsall fan emerged from the toilet. I always bump into him outside toilets. And we always hug. Hugging inside and outside of toilets on the same day? I’ll be getting a reputation.

After a quick pint we rounded the day off in Katz. Mr Clarke joined us, and Sean& Lauren from earlier also showed so it was a cracking end to a top day but I was done in so headed home, even getting a taxi which is so unlike me.

Bloxwich you were ace. I’ll be back soon.