UP TO THE TOR, DOWN TO THE 6X

Ooh, genuine tourist material for you.

James and I, bonding on another Father-Son walking trip this week, agreed that THIS is Britain’s worst tourist attraction as we whizzed past it on the A303;

Wouldn’t it be sensible if we moved those silly stones somewhere out of the way (South Dakota would be fine) so we could have a motorway through Wiltshire into Somerset ? Avebury is far more interesting.

We stopped in Glastonbury for a GBG tick energising walk up the Tor.

Never been up there, but the temptation to race James up there and back and knock 10 minutes off the suggested 50 minute time to maximise drinking time in Becket’s was irresistible.

To be fair, James is one of the few people I know who can keep up with my pace but he always overpacks (like his mum); a T-Shirt would have been fine,

It looks quite plain from the Levels, but the views from the top as clouds whizzed over and you got a sense of recent flooding near Pilton were staggeringly beautiful.

Then the wind whipped up and I wished I’d brought my coat.

Back in town we agreed that Glastonbury looked a little predictable, all Tibetan prayer wheels and weed.

But Beckets ? Surely I’d done this before ?

Well, no. What looked from the outside like a rather staid (ex) Wadworth town pub turns out to be a scruffy boozer. How have they hidden it from me for so long ?

Normally in 2020 the first thing you get to hear is

“GET BACK, ye plague carrier, you” etc etc

Here we got

“How old is he ?”

Now, it’s not the first time my cherubic 21 year old has been mis-aged, but he doesn’t look 16 and it had only just turned 5pm. I consoled him.

“He’s 21 !“

“Sorry, it’s the mask” . A good rescue.

A one-woman show by the look of it, the drinks left on a table for you to collect and woe betide you if you touched the chain protecting the bar.

Strange, and at £6.90 for a pint and a J20 (he’ll learn) no bargain. But with locals who DIDN’T look like Waterboys fiddlers and sang “Happy Birthday, Dear Rachel” without reserve, a mountain of tat, and a great 6X, I sort of loved it.

So, what does GREAT beer look like, Retired Martin ?

Bet you’re glad you asked. You know, sometime 6X is the best beer in the world.

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

11 thoughts on “UP TO THE TOR, DOWN TO THE 6X”

  1. “agreed that THIS is Britain’s worse tourist attraction as we whizzed past it on the A303;”

    Bringing back ritual sacrifice at full moon might help.

    “Wouldn’t it be sensible if we moved those silly stones somewhere out of the way (South Dakota would be fine) so we could have a motorway through Wiltshire into Somerset ?”

    Why not just put an overpass above it? You’d also get a better view as you drove past.

    “We stopped in Glastonbury for a GBG tick energising walk up the Tor.”

    Blimey! I didn’t realise there were that many Muslims there years ago (which I deduced from all of the ‘Moors’). 😉

    “Then the wind whipped up and I wished I’d brought my coat.”

    Great photo just above.

    “all Tibetan prayer wheels and weed.”

    Well, they do go hand in hand.

    “but he doesn’t look 16 and it had only just turned 5pm”

    (slow golf clap)

    “and woe betide you if you touched the chain protecting the bar.”

    Blimey! You weren’t kidding about the chain!

    “Strange, and at £6.90 for a pint and a J20”

    Yikes!

    “You know, sometime 6X is the best beer in the world.”

    There’s a certain South African ex-pat currently living in Texas who would agree.

    http://www.kimdutoit.com/2019/01/31/banzai/

    Cheers

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  2. I agree about Stonehenge -usually surrounded by hapless tourists trudging round wondering what it is all about (we visited in early 80’s -think you could touch the stones then but it was still boring ) Glastonbury Tor -seen many times but never explored -I think as non NT members you should have to pay -NT land/properties are for “special ” people ,like me who pay handsomely for the priviledge ! Glastonbury was a disappointment for us -not keen about the pubs but the Who’d a thought it ,where we stayed ,was passable !
    PS Only joking re NT -you are very welcome to visit our properties for nothing

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    1. Yes, National Trust properties are for “special” people who reckon £4 for a sausage roll is fine !

      Glastonbury itself is a let-down, oddly old-fashioned in a bad way. The “Who’d a thought it” was the only Beer Guide pub there for many years but they seem to rotate them now !

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    2. I last visited Stonehenge as a child. My father parked the car at the side of the road, lifted my sister and I over the fence, before climbing over himself. You could walk right up to the stones, touch them and climb on those that had toppled over which, being children we of course did.

      No admission charge, no new-age travellers and no Japanese tourists. No fake druids and no human sacrifices – sorry Russ!

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  3. Agreed, Martin. We visited Toad Rock several times, for that very purpose, when Matthew was young. Last time we were there, was to attend a family engagement party at the Toad Rock Retreat.

    Wellington Rocks, on Tunbridge Wells Common, are also worth a visit; as is the Mount Edgecumbe pub, nearby. Then there’s the High Rocks, with attached restaurant and pub, and finally, for really serious climbers, there’s Harrison’s Rocks, near Eridge.

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