No, no that like. The actual marbles that Elgin stole. Always wanted to see them.
Mrs RM and I had passed through Elgin on our mammoth Scottish tour of June 1998. In 21 years, they seem to have lost the marbles (if they ever had them) and gained a Wetherspoons. Which is a gain in my book.
The 13:15 from Forres was unexciting, though I was richly entertained by a young couple exploring the many travel options on the ticket machine.
“Shall we go to Newcastle with our mates for your 21st ?”
They had 8 mates. What would it cost their party in total, dear reader ? One for Tom Irvin I feel.
Elgin isn’t without its charms, even on a dreich day like this.
Some lovely brickwork at 105 Shoes, a micro pub in waiting,
some mysterious street art for Mark,
excellent alleys, all given little plaques by the TIC,
a shop just for blokes, which must breach some rule or other,
and a splendid work-in-progress of a cathedral.
I’d compare it to Linlithgow, but that probably leaves you none the wiser and will cause great offence in of those two towns.
Two GBG pubs in Elgin, the first hidden down a little close. My favourite type.
The Drouthy Cobbler had clearly decided that their WhatPub opening times (10:00 to 00.30) were so last year, and two blokes drinking coffee looked startled when I opened the door at 13:30.
“Oh, we’re not open ’till 4pm mate” And I thought it was an English disease.
A shame, WhatPub promised excellent coffee and cakes. And gins.
No chance of the next one being closed.
A fairly plain beer range, nothing local, and at £1.29 for Deuchars (with voucher) pushing close to the minimum pricing threshold.
It wasn’t great, as I’m sure you can tell from the lacings, but the chicken dippers filled a hold till my haggis supper. In fact, my rating dropped from NBSS 2.5 to 1.5 during the course of a pint that ended tasting like tea (but not TEA).
I didn’t see any takers for the Deuchars, but one chap did brave the Phoenix (£1.89/£1.39). You can’t really drink Lancashire beers in Moray, can you ?
The stop in Elgin might have been rescued by the Ionic bar, but ironically (in an Alanis Morisette way), it had no Bass.
retiredmartin 
“Any chance of a pint while I’m waiting?” in reply to “Oh, we’re not open ’till 4pm mate” often works.
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Exactly. If you’re shut, don’t sit there chatting with the door open (see also: Micropub).
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“The actual marbles that Elgin stole. Always wanted to see them.”
I think he hid them in his namesake in Ottawa, Canada (the Lord Elgin hotel).
“Rare appearance for the Navigator”
I see two distilleries and an ice house. My favourite though is the Moss of Barmuckity. 🙂
“Possibly Robbie Williams lyrics”
Naw. The Who’s Tommy. (see me, feel me)
“Everyday sexism”
Now, now. These days anyone can self identify as a bloke if they so choose.
““Oh, we’re not open ’till 4pm mate” ”
Bloody hell.
“Beers you’ve heard of”‘
Ayup. BBM has promised a pint or two of Doom Bar some time in the future (winnings apparently).
(probably only open when the council across the street meets) 🙂
Cheers
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“The actual marbles that Elgin stole. Always wanted to see them.” – but Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin only took half of the Parthenon Marbles which you can more easily see across the road from the Westgate Brewery’s Museum Tavern than if they were still in Athens.
£53.10 return for Dundee is about what I’m paying for my trip there soon.
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£76 return from Waterbeach for me, still a bargain. Do you get PubMan discount ?
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No, just OldMan discount – and TPX does some bargains between Manchester and Edinburgh.
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The Muckle Cross, finally a pub I’ve been to. We liked Elgin, especially the Cathedral. Liked this stretch of Scotland, but then, it’s all wonderful.
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You’re always honest re the beer quality Martin and I really like that. Doesn’t always detract from the pub but if it continually poor then it does…
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And to be fair, so are you. You’ve been lukewarm or worse about the beer in these estate pubs over a long period. My bet is the beer is more consistent than in pubs with ten pumps on, though.
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I would agree with that and say one is probably enough in most estate pubs….the needles beer was magnificent in my last post 🍻
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