Two or three miles west of Longstowe is the village of Little Gransden, which is reached by a Stagecoach bus.
Here we find the Chequers pub, a fine free house with Son of Syd's Brewery within its walls.
A Chiltern Travel minibus takes us to our next village, Gamlingay, a few miles to the south west..
There's two pubs to do in Gamlingay. First up is the Cock, a Greene King establishment.
Close by was a free house, the Hardwicke Arms, but, sadly, it's closed now. Another one bites the dust!
Directly to the north is Abbotsley. Again this was, until recently, home to two pubs. The Eight Bells is still open.
The Jolly Abbot, once owned by Paine's Brewery of St. Neots, is the one that is a pub no more.
Taking the B1046 in a westerly direction, we approach the town of St. Neots, but before we get there, we find what seems to be a suburb, called Eynesbury. There are three pubs to look into here, all of which, according to the internet are still in business. First, a Charles Wells tied house, the Cambridgeshire Hunter.
The two other pubs are both in the free trade; the Chequers and the Hare & Hounds.
Conveniently, there's a new road that will take us to another part of the outskirts of St. Neots, a place called Eaton Socon, with the church in its centre.
There's some nice spring flowers to look at!
The road through Eaton Socon runs parallel with the River Great Ouse, which is navigable, with boats using Eaton Socon lock.
Beside the Great Ouse is the Rivermill Tavern, which usually has a decent range of beers.
There are several other pubs in Eaton Socon. One of them is the Waggon & Horses.
Our next stop is the White Horse, plenty of history here.
Then we come to the Crown, another free house.
Our last pint in Eaton Socon is at the George & Dragon, where Greene King beers are sold.
Contiguous with Eaton Socon is Eaton Ford, where there's another Greene King house, a good one called the Barley Mow.
Stagecoach buses serve Eaton Ford, but it's only a short walk over the Great Ouse into St. Neots town centre....
....but that will have to wait until the next post.