I was picked up on Friday afternoon by Sham and we pottered down the scenic route to Chipping Camden and our billet at the Lygon Arms. This is the cheap version, not the hugely expensive version in Broadway, and extremely pleasant it was. The first person we met was an American lady who worked in the Chiswick Business Park next to Silver Crescent, so that was a bit weird. We then dined with the locals in front of the tele as England huffed and puffed to a bonus point victory. Good enough but not earth shattering.
Next day it was off for the live match which kicked off at 12, noon. There was time for a Doom Bar before going into the shed. That was an experience. Its terraced and as we got there ten minutes before kick-off we had to squeeze through a few locals to get a spec. The abuse we got was bizarre.
'You can't just turn up with ten minutes to go to kick-off and expect a view' eh, why not? 'What are you some group of toffs who never go to matches except in Corporate' eh, no, but we do like to see how the other half live........that went down well. We did move a few kids in front of us so they could see, but once the game started everybody settled down.
It was not much of a game in the first half but it picked up in the second half and Georgia ran out worthy winners in the end. They are a big unit so could give the big dogs in the group a test.
After the game we visited a few horse racing pubs in the Cheltenham area before settling for the Plough to watch South Africa v Japan. What a proper game of rugby that was and well played to the Jap's for a very well deserved victory.
On Sunday before we left we went on a tour of Simon the Farmer's homestead and this picture shows how much we looked the part.
