30.06-2.07 - Days 167-169 - Buckingham to Brighton to Mynytho
Sunday 30th June - Buckingham - Brighton - Mynytho (Day 167)
After dropping me at Milton Keynes station, Seb, Sienna and Kate head off to Castlethorpe Dog Show, though they didn't stick around for the 1,000 duck race.
Meanwhile I train to Euston, walk to one of my favourite station buildings, King’s Cross St Pancras, and collect another train to Brighton on which I find a gaggle of friends / Kate’s friends - Ed, Andy, Rich, Matt, Tim and Dan for two nights away primarily just to watch the Euros in a different pub to normal.
I’ve read pubs are closing at a rate of two a day in England; some of these guys are doing their best to stem that flow of closures and this 48 hours will give them another boost. A surprising Thai lunch is at The Eagle before dropping our bags at our Premier Inn and wandering to the Lion and Lobster pub where we’ll watch Jude Bellingham score a 95th minute equaliser on a TV made before he was born.
That’s after tackling some trivia questions off the shelf - both the trivia and football involving drinking fines for incorrect answers or holding the unlucky coin every 5 minutes of play.
Relief of winning turns to bemusement when we’re shuffled out to make way for the incoming jazz band and so we amble along the seafront, ending up watching Spain overcome Georgia in a Walkabout before one late night dinner and a final nightcap at Mesmerist in this eminently walkable city.
Monday morning (Day 168, 1st Jul) and while most people are at work, we’re walking along Brighton Pier and mooching on the stoney beach in the warm sunshine.
We enjoy an hour in the dimly lit pool and snooker club before it becomes acceptable to visit our first pub of the day, classically named Prince of Wales.
The city is littered with drinking houses; the Inn on the Square hosts us for another outdoor drink before we settle in The Victory Inn for both today’s games with a sum total of 1 (one) goal between France and Belgium followed by Portugal and Slovenia.
The Grosvenor Casino is the final stop after the Victory Inn closes, though without the fountains, volcanoes or indoor canals of Vegas.
Tuesday (Day 169, 2nd Jul) After walking some of the windy narrow streets of Brighton, I jump on a late morning train back to London, hopping across to Paddington for another train to Banbury where I’m collected by Kate and the kids and we drive on 4 hours to our house in Mynytho with views down over Abersoch and the sea.