retiredmartin

Mrs RM, James and I are off to see the parents/in-laws and other family members I can’t remember cause I don’t do family trees.

James asked if I’m up to date with the blog, which is the equivalent to asking about the weather in our family.

Well, I’m delighted to say I’m now up to this very week’s Great 4 Day Birthday Scottish Tickathon, though as there’s eighteen (18) ticks I wouldn’t expect a quick conclusion.

Let’s start on the Northumberland coast.

I was up here a year ago in Seahouses, gateway to the Farne Islands and home to 83% of the nation’s chip stealing seagulls.

Beadnell, a mile south, has a lower profile but more expensive cluster of self-catering accommodation, and more quiet beaches than you’ll find on the whole of the south coast.

For the first time ever on this blog, I present the Periwinkle Gathering Code of Conduct.

Those of you with an interest in beer (about 8%) will know that periwinkles replaced hops as the key ingredient in home brew craft in 2018.

The Craster Arms is a smart looking pub, with a Christmas market and braziers in the garden. BRAPA will be able to confirm this authoritatively, but I reckon Northumberland’s GBG cohort is 56% “smart dining”.

The door was open at 11:50, so I walked in even though I knew someone would accost me with a “Can I HELP you ?” and send me into the cold for another 10 minutes.

At 12:00:01 I bounded in and peered over the menu advertising Monterey Jack cheese to the (inevitably) local beers.

Fearing the worst, I picked the middle one, mainly because it was the middle one.

You’ll be expecting a line that includes the words “pashmina”, “reservation for Hartley-Jenkins”. “home brew” and “NBSS 2”, but the Blonde was rich and foamy, a straight 3.5. Go figure, as they say in Duddo and Felkington.

Nothing else to see, everyone else was silently perusing the plastic menu. Except Martin the Owl, cruelly abandoned by BRAPA in favour of a cauliflower.

A cauliflower !