I didn’t do a preview of August when I summed up July.
Mainly because Mum was poorly and it looked like all bets were off, but also because I hadn’t even thought about it.
In fact, until my Sis asked me about a trip down to Helston this week I hadn’t looked at my diary for four months.
Mum seems a lot more mobile today, and is desperate for Sis and me to get down to Cornwall to resume ticking visit her new great-granddaughter Wren, named after a St Austell bottle conditioned DIPA I guess.
I confess I wouldn’t have chosen mid-August to chase the pashminas down in Cornwall, but it would be good to actually get to Tintagel and that tricky west coast for the first time in my life, now I have a campervan that can squeeze down lanes.
I think I’ll head to Devon, pitch the camper in an overnight carpark too close to a cliff, and see how good the buses are.
Look at all these gaps, made worse by the extremely long Devon place names.
August would normally be a month of football, music festivals and a mad dash to tick pubs that then drop out of the next Guide.
This year we wait till late October ’till GBG21 crashes on the mat.
So that’s nearly a dozen weeks to get my GBG percentage up to 95%; only 13.90 pubs a week. I reckon I know a good 0.90 of a pub in the Borders that fits the bill.
Of course, with 952 new Covid cases today a panicked Government could pull the plug on my pubbing (and the economy) overnight. At least I’d done Leicester and Preston by Christmas.
Scotland looks even more risky, and Mrs RM was keen to head round the northern coastline with me later this month and find Nessie, if not Bass.
If Scotland gets closed, I can always finish off the Isle of Wight, and party like it’s 1955.
And I still need trips to the Channel Islands, Man and Antrim, all of which would be pleasant places to get marooned on if Covid erupts.
Anyway, enough of me. Look at Duncan’s progress. Let him be a lesson to us all.
Both Devon and Cornwall have something very rare in them. Pubs I’ve been to that you have not. Looking forward to the write ups.
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Yeah, a few there that I’ve been to as well that you still have the pleasure of visiting. But I see you haven’t done the one in Bratton Clovelly. Be warned, that is one weird place, it exists in another dimension of space and time. Be afraid…
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Oooh, exciting.
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Ooh, boasting now.
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They are both great pubs. LOL. Not too big a brag.
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Name them then ;-0
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I believe Staghunters in Brendon is one.
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Drewe Arms, Drewsteignton is another.
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That’s the one run by the 100 year old lady that rarely makes the GBG !
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Yes, “the 100 year old lady that rarely makes the GBG” was Mabel Mudge a distant relative of mine who took on the Drewe Arms in 1919, kept it for 75 years and DID regularly get in the Guide when it was more about GOOD beer than interesting beer.
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Couldn’t you just nominate Simon as your proxy, and let him do all the hard work?
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There’s a temptation to deploy that pairing system they use to vote in Parliament, but think of what I’d miss !
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If you need any Isle of Wight insider knowledge let me know. The buses can be interesting.
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Very kind of you. Pub Hermit (are you related) is also a pebble’s throw from Wight.
The buses are horrendous, as I found out last year;
https://retiredmartin.com/2019/05/14/frampwood-mac-retiredmartin-has-to-come-back/
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You can probably manage to do a fair bit of inroads in Devon basing yourself near a station and using trains, I recall day rover tickets being quite reasonable.
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Scott,
Yes, like me in Cornwall two years ago, based in Penzance for £10.75 I used a day Rover for also drinking in Plymouth, Truro, Falmouth and St Ives.
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I’ve found a lay by next to Morchard Road Station from which to get to Barnstaple and Exeter.
Most of the GBG pubs are several miles from the stations on the line. I blame Beeching.
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Is that the latest editor of the GBG?
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952 from a population of 66.5 million? Time to get this whole thing in perspective, before we’re all reduced to paupers!
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Perspective ? Have you gone quite mad. 925 of those are from nightclubs in Aberdeen and Preston, so the answer is clearly to ban kilts and lambs.
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“Lambs?” Is there something I don’t know about Preston?
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Symbol of Preston.. https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Preston
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Well considering the reputation of Aberdonians, perhaps we’ve found the link to COVID spread.
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I really hope lockdown doesn’t return as it’s all so bloody tedious!
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Official, from the British Beer & Pub Association, the Government has made it clear it does not need to nationally close pubs to re-open schools, but that it may limit social contact in some parts of the country to enable schools to reopen.
https://www.beerguild.co.uk/news/no-trade-off-needed-between-pubs-and-schools/
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That’s better than nothing! Cheers Paul
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What’s so important about schools ?
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It’s where you learn about our glorious history.
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