What a day! An early start had to pave the way with a full English at Tony’s, before the stroll to Creasey Park to board the coach. When the coach arrived we were told that it had no toilet facilities. A four hour coach journey without a WC would require some bladder control, especially on the way home.
Pulling into the services for a comfort break a very slick Marshall’s coach pulled in next to us with dark tinted windows. As the passengers alighted it was clear that it was the players from St Albans City on their way to Bath. With a few ex-Saints now plying their trade with the Blues and ex defender Ben Herd now at St Albans, it made for a little light hearted banter in the services. Back on the road and with a slight delay at passport control, we hit Merthyr at 13:30 and headed straight for the Winchester Bar on Castle Street.
From outside it looked closed, like most places in Merthyr, but on closer inspection we popped in and sampled a couple of pints of Rhymney ales. As a Rhymney Brewery owned pub it regularly stocks up to four of its own ales and we snaffled a couple pints of the Hobby Horse, a decent 3.8% bitter and the delightful Rhymney Gold, the local breweries first golden ale.
Next up, just around the corner on the High Street was the local Wetherspoon’s. As is their style, the establishment is named after someone local, in Merthyr’s case, Dic Penderyn. Dic Penderyn was a coal miner involved in the Merthyr Rising in 1831 and was hanged after being falsely accused of stabbing a soldier in the leg. Our visit to Merthyr was the 185th anniversary of his death.
Enough history, back to the beer. Here we tried another local bitter from the Cold Black Label a respectable 4.6% bitter called Miners Ale, a mental 6% bitter from the Bullmastiff Brewery, another Welsh brewery and the ever reliable Hobgoblin.
Although only a 10 minute walk away, the ground is quite a steep climb from the town centre and some of the Regimentals were blowing out their arses when they reached the top. Still, we were looking forward to our chip cob’s, until we discover the lady who buys the bread is on holiday. Apparently, only one person is able to buy bread!
On to the match, and what a match. The lead changed hands several times, we had wonder goals, penalty claims and a last minute winner in a 7 goal thriller. The players threw everything they had at the Martyrs, but two late goals left us with no points after narrowly losing 4-3 but with a proud bunch of fans and a squad of blue shirted heroes.
After applauding the players off the pitch, we popped down to the Polish sklep for some supplies for the trip home and headed back to the ground to sample a Speckled Hen or two in their beautiful new bar. Just as we had ordered another round, the players informed us the driver was keen to leave as he was pushed on his tacho. Quickly grabbing some plastic glasses we swiftly decanted our beers and boarded the coach back to England.
Remembering that we had no WC on board, we had a quick break before crossing the bridge and spent the next 3 hours jigging, fidgeting and precariously pissing in bottles until we stopped in Hemel to drop off some players. The bushes were well watered there! With a couple of night caps in the HQ Bar and Cooper’s, the day came to a close with cheerful celebrations, sore throats and heart breaking memories of another eventful trip to Welsh Wales.
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