I’m in a bit of a quandary with the blog.
On the one hand, I’ve been counting down to GBG completion, which IF it happens (and after the traumas of the last week I’m taking nothing for granted) will represent a culmination of a near 30-year pursuit.
So I guess you’ll be wanting real-time posts from the Spoons in Wick, the ferry cancelled due to flying haggis, the unexpectedly closed pub on Rousay…
On the other hand, I don’t know when the final push will start, and I’ve got around two hundred (200) pubs to write about from July and August.
So let’s go back to the first week of July, a time of endless blue skies and rocketing temperatures implemented by your Conservative government to ensure we never need go to nasty foreign countries ever again.
Ooh. What’s Mrs RM doing ?
Looking at caravans (aka “park homes”) in Rye Harbour, to be closer to the in-laws in Kent, that’s what. 5 hour journeys from Sheffield to Southborough to resolve family crises aren’t much fun, so Mrs RM has found a place she can work, attend to dramas, and admire Martello towers on the edge of a major nature reserve beloved by twitchers.
“Whatever you want” I say to Mrs RM, and wonder what the (non-GBG) William the Conqueror has to offer.
It’s a pretty little Sheps pub 5 minutes from the park,
the only pub left in a village of a few hundred a mile south of the Ypres Castle.
Unfussy, unspectacular, untroubled by tourists.
In fact the couple we chatted to had come from Dover. Dover !
A really pleasant all-rounder, with all day Cypriot food and a cheery barman who warmed to us (well, Mrs RM) when she followed up an OK but syrupy Spitfire (2.5)
with a tremendously rich and boozy bottle-conditioned 1698.
“Ooh, I’m glad we kept stocking that ! The old chap who drank three bottles a night died this year and we wondered if anyone else would have it“.
Don’t worry mate, I know at least three people who’ll drink that. You just keep the price at a fiver.
retiredmartin 
Time for your reflections on pubs? Thirty years is a long time. You’ve got a lot to say and reflect on.
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We’re you able to get to End of the road festival?
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Thanks for asking, Alan.
I had to come home shortly after arriving on Thursday (saw 3 bands), spent Friday and Saturday in Cambridge then got back to EOTR at 6pm on the Sunday, where I caught a full evening of great music, and saw peacocks in the morning.
So some late redemption on a difficult weekend.
Have you been ?
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No we are not really into camping and large festivals
Attended some of the free street festivals like Faversham Hop.Festival.Leigh on Sea Folk Festival.Rochester May day etc
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Whether you complete it or not there’s still plenty to which we can all look forward, Martin.
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I’m that rare person who’s got a lot of time for politicians, and that pic of Therese Coffey puffing on a cigar with wine in hand show someone who enjoys life. But yes, I could be Carl.
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Never worked for poor old Ken Clarke though, did it?
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C’mon, nothing can be more important than completion, surely? All easy too, apart from Rousay.
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What’s wrong with Rousay ? Fairly regular ferry, easy drive/walk to the Taversoe.
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Be sure to book the ferry online in advance, including the return leg, or you could be stuck on Rousay. They do book up,we couldn’t get to Hoy because all the return trips were fully booked.
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Thanks John.
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Nice surroundings. A decent village pub.
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I didn’t even know there was a settlement south of Rye before !
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It’s a very nice part of the world and we visit regularly as a family member has a caravan at Winchelsea Beach. I’m no fan of Spitfire but the 1698 ale is very good.
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We too used to visit, and sometimes stay with friends, who had a caravan at Winchelsea Beach.
Sadly one of them died, and the other remarried and moved up to Norfolk – but not with a caravan.
Nice part of the country for getting away from it all, but not being a fan of Shep’s, I haven’t been in the Willy the conq’.
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I rarely come across really good Sheps, either, but I may plan a trip to Faversham to try a few pints at source.
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It was TOO good, Charlie ! My octogenarian in-laws were drinking it as well.
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I bought three bottles of that 1698 from my nearest Post Office which is also an off license having momentarily forgotten that I don’t drink beer at home – and looking now I see they’ve got “05-2018” on the neck which presumably is meant to indicate that I should have drunk them four years ago.
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I rather like that caravan park -we have had a nosey around it several times -always seems quite civilised
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The ‘Kentish accent’ or ‘accent of Kent’ probably means that the “Yow ‘min Rye” joke wouldn’t work.
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