No.48 - Queens Head, Blyford, Suffolk

Saturday 30th June, 2012

2 Queens Heads in 2 days ! After what seemed like only a 5 minute downhill dash we came to a screeching halt at another grand looking pub, The Queens Head in the village of Blyford. Set in a huge area of land, it was another perfect looking 'summertime' pub. It was also a perfect surface in the car park for Ade to perform some skids on his bike.
Sitting right opposite Blyford church, it was another perfectly situated pub. There were a number of the 'older generation' in the bar tucking into lunch as we arrived which actually gave the atmosphere in there a nice calming feel. Obviously a very handy spot for the oldies to get to and from surrounding villages.
The pub dates back to somewhere between the 14th and 15th centuries and many of the original features can still be seen including the very low beams! The roof also was beautifully reed thatched which by all accounts were provided by the river just over the back running behind the pub. With only Bitter and Broadside on tap we were a little limited for choice, all of us going for Bitter, however there was one other Adnams related beverage available to us - Lemon Tinkle! Damo was now really mixing his drinks, something we were keeping an eye on.
We stopped for some proper lunch here, as although we had delicious sausage rolls earlier, cycling a mile here and there was hard work! Sandwiches accompanied by chips was the popular choice, with myself going for a crab mayo & rocket on brown. Nice!
The time was now creeping past 2pm so we'd been on the road for the best part of 4 hours and a few yawns were starting to creep in. I thnk it was just a cocktail of beer, food, warm sun and a restless night causing this slight drop in energy levels. So to pick ourselves up we turned our thoughts to the evening entertainment and tried to find something in the local paper that we could go visit. Unfortunately there wasn't a great deal on so we decided that we'd get back at dinner time, shower and head off to a restaurant somewhere. I tell you, all this biking makes you hungry!
Before leaving I tried my skills at negotiation and attempted to prize away from the bar staff the 'Diamond Ale' pump clip which was on show behind the bar. There was no chance. I was met with a resounding 'No' and that was even with the offer of making a donation to the local church !
After watching Ade do a few more skids in the car park we started our final leg towards Halesworth. Only 3 miles to go and our last destination would be reached. Farewell Blyford, thanks for the Lemon Tinkle.