July 2026. Heading towards Wales. Regular readers will know that “family issues” have conspired to keep our travels to a circuit between Sheffield, Cambridge and Tunbridge Wells these last few years, with a few interludes in the Balkans and along the Leeds- Liverpool canal to break the monotony. On Thursday I broke the shackles and… Continue reading TAKE THE FIRST TRAIN TO MILFORD HAVEN
LOOKING FOR ROTHERHAM’S NEXT BEER GUIDE PREEMPTIVE AMONGST THE FAMILY DINING PUBS
July 2026. Rotherham. Mrs RM’s sports injury persisted into the new week, scuppering a restart of the Cask Camino. I said “I’m off” and took the tram down into Sheffield, and just kept riding on the Tram Train, like in a 10,000 Maniacs Cat Stevens song. Parkgate retail park marks the end of the Sheffield… Continue reading LOOKING FOR ROTHERHAM’S NEXT BEER GUIDE PREEMPTIVE AMONGST THE FAMILY DINING PUBS
THE WORLD CUP FINAL, TATER TOTS AND TEMPER TANTRUMS
July 2026. Sheffield. Back from Darlington and a disappointing Chinese takeaway (life lesson : never go back) I popped next door (ish) to see how many folk were going to watch the World Cup Final at our local. The Blind Monkey had decent crowds this last month for the England matches; I even heard people… Continue reading THE WORLD CUP FINAL, TATER TOTS AND TEMPER TANTRUMS
BASS BY THE TEES
July 2026. Middleton One Row. Near Darlington. From the Steam Machine I walked to Heighington Station, a dull mile through industrial estates, ending at a dead pub commemorating the first ever train. Somewhere along the way I realised I could stay on the service towards Saltburn and get off at Dinsdale, which I’d never heard… Continue reading BASS BY THE TEES
TOP 100 PUBS – STEAM MACHINE, NEWTON AYCLIFFE
July 2026. Newton Aycliffe. County Durham. A fascinating extract from the CAMRA pubs website here; The birth of the railways, the decline of the mines, the posh pubs either side of the Great North Road, and a star in the craft beer firmament that’s made the Good Beer Guide after a decade. What took it… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – STEAM MACHINE, NEWTON AYCLIFFE
90 MINUTES IN NEWTON AYCLIFFE
July 2026. Newton Aycliffe. Durham. I was staying overnight in a grim car park in Darlington as I didn’t fancy paying the outrageous hotel prices that kick in during the English summer. That £1,492 a night wellness retreat is walking distance from my next pub in Newton Aycliffe. To be fair, you do get a… Continue reading 90 MINUTES IN NEWTON AYCLIFFE
HOPE TOWN
July 2026. Hope Town. Darlington. A fifth night parked up in a campervan in the suburbs of Darlington in a year; Cockerton Parish Council are probably debating me now. Cockerton, where W. Alderson & Son‘s baps had so enraptured me last summer. All the best stuff was gone just after noon on a busy Saturday,… Continue reading HOPE TOWN
£6.85 A PINT ! IN DARLINGTON !!
July 2026. Darlington. Every year brings a new Beer Guide entry in the posh bit of Darlington, west of the Great North Road. Sometimes it’s a rough and ready place like last year’s Kirk; more often it’s an upmarket diner like the one in Piercebridge that doesn’t have the clock that stopped, dead. Yes, places… Continue reading £6.85 A PINT ! IN DARLINGTON !!
STILL A QUID YOUR CHEESE AND ONION COB AT SHEFFIELD’S WELLINGTON
July 2026. Sheffield. Foiled in my search for a can of tomato gose (though the Neptune Black Cherry Oatmeal Stout at Hop Hideout was superb), I took the tram back towards RM Towers, wondering if I should make a rare stop at the Welly. At that precise moment, the tram ground to a halt at… Continue reading STILL A QUID YOUR CHEESE AND ONION COB AT SHEFFIELD’S WELLINGTON
SEARCHING FOR TOMATO GOSE, SETTLING FOR GERMAN MUSTARD
July 2026. Sheffield. Back in Sheffield from a cruelly curtailed Cask Camino (CCCC), a man’s thoughts turn to tomato gose. I constantly read how exciting (ugh) the UK beer scene (ugh) is these days, how folk who drink Bass are to be ridiculed etc etc. But can you be a proper country without a brewer… Continue reading SEARCHING FOR TOMATO GOSE, SETTLING FOR GERMAN MUSTARD
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