The Bridges, Ratlinghope

After Stiperstones I got back on the bus to go round to Bridges. The pub here used to be called The Horseshoes and when I first went there it was, rather improbably, an Adnams pub. It is a long way from the Stiperstones to the Suffolk coast.

Now it has been renamed The Bridges and taken over by the people who run the Three Tuns Brewery in Bishop's Castle.

The pub has been thoroughly refurbished - the bar is now in its third different position since I first visited it some 15 years ago - and every table inside had been booked for Sunday lunch. But this did not matter as it was a sunny day (though look at that sky) and you can sit outside. In fact the best place to sit is the other side of the lane by the stream.

I am not an expert on the pub trade, but if you have bikers and pony trekkers drinking at the same time, you are probably doing all right.

And you will find a better selection of Three Tuns beers at The Bridges than you will even at the Three Tuns itself.