DoNstamos wrote:Savage climbing. Love the enthusiasm, this is why we climb.
Well, at least is why we drink beer. I just added this to suppertopo and thought I'd echo it here in case anyone is interested, re the pub bit.
I was being modest. It is the world's best pub. Strong words. Especially as it is a bit of of new pub, by UK standards (the pub in my village started serving in 1279). Here is some history about the pub near the route:
"The Square and Compass began life as a pair of cottages commanding a little bluff known as Lychard (meaning Bank), which overlooked the village and a marvelous view of the Channel. Around 1776, it became an alehouse, owned by Wareham brewer c#m clay merchant, under the sign of The Sloop. There were connections with smuggling, including skirmishes with excisemen at St Aldhelms Head. A new tenant landlord, a stone mason called Charles Bower, seems to have changed the name around 1830. He ran the place for more than 40 years, to be followed by his widow, then a series of tenants until 1907, when the Newmans took over. In the interwar years the pub became a fashionable watering hole for a creative set, the artist, Augustus John, cartoonist Low, pianist Harriet Cohen, actors Leslie Banks and Gwen Francon-Davis amongst many signatories of the Visitors' Book. During the war the clientele changed to include physicists and astronomer Sir bernard Lovell and nobel laureates Sir Alan Hodgkin and Sir Martin Ryle, all developing radar nearby. The Square evaded the heavy hand of modernisation during the 1960s. Its oldest clients, some in their nineties, remember reaching up to the same serving hatch with change for ginger beer in sticky hands."
Basicly: Someone invented hand beer pumps. The Square and Compass ignored the invention. It also ignored the invention of carpets, heating, level floors, electric beer pumps, plastic, forks, spoons and double glazing. It hence now finds itself in fashion. The beer comes from a small hatch the other side of which is a pile of beer barrels. Each with a tap. No pipes. No bottles. Use a mobile phone, or ask for a cabernet sauvignon and you will be set upon by large dogs. Result? Perfection. The climbing is also very good.