With a delivery slot scheduled conveniently anytime between 8 and noon, I was going to do a half day at work if the dishwasher arrived by 10…as you can see, I wound up burning a whole vacation day (I got a few hours prep work on a group meeting talk before the appliance arrived but the day was really already shot). To make the most of my time, I went for a run from Calne to Chippenham. Fortunately there were stops to be found en route, the first of which was the large, old travellers’ rest the Lysley Arms.
I had a Wickwar BOB, which always makes me think of stuttering (‘b’ is a difficult consonant for a stammerer) and that always leads me to Bob in Blackadder…a smile is a smile, though, no matter how far you have to figuratively travel to acquire it.
The Lysley is a sprawling pub but every room is small so you get a sense of intimacy. Most were in for food and appeared to have travelled to get here–foot traffic, the odd [sic] runner notwithstanding, is nonexistent and will largely remain so until the trails dry a bit. Real fires in iron stoves, exposed stonework and timbers, and friendly but not cloying staff make this a pleasure worthy of the trip.
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