At Ulverston station a pashmina’s lady holding 2 champagne glasses but no bottle of champagne hoped to get lucky, like in the Daft Punk song. I think she’s hoping for a Spoons in Ulv, anyway.
She didn’t seem that interested in the views across Cartmel Sands;
Next stop, Cartmel. Or rather Cark with Cartmel. It’s all “C”s here, apart from Ulverston.
I’d have to walk the 2 miles from the station to the home of horsey racing, sticky toffee pudding and a new GBG Brewery Tap at Unsworth’s Yard. I sense no-one actually walks very far round here, they just spend the time in shops buying Helly Hansen fleeces.
The lady who accosted me at Cark station was actually wearing cashmere.
“Where’s the pub ?” she demanded.
Why ask me ?, I thought. What do I know about pubs ?
Failing to deliver an answer within 0.73 seconds, she turned to boyfriend and said “Ask someone else“.
Panicking, I pointed left. “Head left, 5 minutes at most“.
Well, the Engine was only 3 minutes away for me. How could I have forgot the Engine in 18 months ?
I’d allowed plenty of time for my six ticks to take account of train cancellations, micro pub disappointments, and the need for Baa Baa Toure to rest on long walks
But as I admired to views from the edge of Cartmel it suddenly struck me I was already ahead of schedule. Blimey.
And Unsworth’s Yard didn’t detain me long either,
just a quick half Last Wolf Red (cool, silky, creamy NBSS 3.5) and a chat with a young chap who embodied the positivity of youth and hoped I’d come back later in the year when they’d have people and pizza and live music. I thought things might have been busier on a gorgeously sunny March Saturday, but they weren’t to know that I’d be coming.
NO ! I didn’t ring the bell.
Cartmel was quieter than I remember, and everyone is 67 and wears a gilet, my word of 2022.
There’s a sign advertising Cartmel AFC v Storeys of Lancaster in the Lancs League but I’m not waiting an hour to watch “Proper” football, and walk the bounds.
I’m tempted, as I’m always am, to stop in a posh pub and pay £13.95 for the Sticky Toffee Pudding and pint offer I just made up, but my body is a temple and I have calories from Dalton Pie Shop to burn off.
Mrs RM would not, I believe, have shown such discipline.
retiredmartin 
I love Unsworth’s Yard. Beer, cheese and pizza. Very busy on race weekends. You should have tried the Royal Oak in the square. It has recently been re-opened by Fell Brewery so the beer should be good.
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Fell beer is lovely. Sadly on these trips it’s fatal (literally) to add to many extra pubs to the itinerary ! Until the end, of course.
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[dons Pashmina] “Is the famous ‘beer’ pub at Strawberry Banks still going?”… [drums fingers]… “Hurry up young pub man!”
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Oddly I was trying to remember that one, only previous GBG tick. Yes, Masons Arms still open, Robinsons and Hawkshead (though oddly didn’t pop up when you search What Pub under Cartmel).
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The Masons Arms is up on Cartmel Fell which is about 10 miles from Cartmel. In the 80s it was one of the first pubs with a Belgian beer list. The Manager and his wife were wonderfully rude to customers – Basil Fawlty style. They refused to have chips on the food menu. Put up with it because of the great beer. More friendly now but beer range is not as good.
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Along with the still missed Wilkies Bar in Leicester it was quite a pioneering beer pub. I recall they had their own beer(s) on at one time, a Damson beer rings a bell. The Ribs were great too…
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I have a Helly Hansen gilet. Seriously. Have I won?
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You win.
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I claim a warm half of GKIPA in a Hungry Horse somewhere on the outskirts of Doncaster.
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You should be so lucky. You’ll have a (previously opened) bottle of Doom Bar and be grateful.
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