9th October 2022.
Why are we travelling to the Western Lakes, so soon after our last trip ?
You’d better sit down.
After completing the Beer Guide on Rousay on 10th September (you may just be aware of it) I conducted a thorough audit of the GBG, to make sure they all had ticks and crosses against them. With 4,501 entries, it’s easy to confuse the Plockton Inn with the Plockton Hotel and tick one by mistake.
I re-checked the half dozen or so GBG22 entries with a cross through them and “CLOSED” in pink, and came across the “Inn at Ravenglass“. Twice I’d stopped in the village and found it closed since Covid*.
Hey ! Didn’t BRAPA just visit ?
He did, and this is what he said;
“Like all brilliant pubs, it is impossible to describe that winning formula that made the Inn at Ravenglass (2317 / 3880) such a memorable tick. It had no carpet, no upholstered benches, there wasn’t a pub cat or a stained glass partition leading to a snug. It was quite plain and modern, but it was quite brilliant.“
And BRAPA is always right (bar the odd choice of loo stop). It was brilliant. And gets an extra point for confusing us by saying Holly House Hotel rather than the Inn at Ravenglass.
“Are you SURE this is the right pub ?” said a nervous Mrs RM.
The hand pumps provided the necessary assurance.
It’s the welcome that’s the winner, and the crisp Fell Crag (3.5),
and that lovely smell of real fire.
I guess it could feel a bit like “restaurant with rooms” if you focus on the Sunday roast (NSRSS 4.5),
but that ignore the blokes with dog at the bar, and a soundtrack of “State Trooper” and “Only Love Can Break Your Heart“.
A bit of Nebraska in western Cumbria.
I won’t be changing my designation of the Taversoe as final pub, but frankly this would have made a great finale, and Ravenglass itself feels almost as remote despite the little touristy steam train.
I thought Mrs RM would want to walk off the roast, but the wind would have blown her to the Isle of Man.
Mind you, there’s worse places to be blown to.
*Closed for 3 years, re-opened on Easter Monday.
retiredmartin 
But it ‘does’ have stained glass (in the) window!
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Nail biter stuff here.
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For the obvious question, if it closed pre Covid, how on earth did it make a subsequent guide?
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Not in the current guide but that doesn’t matter!
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It’s those nagging doubts that crop up after you’ve completed a long cherished goal. Although not in the same league, as your epic quest Martin, I realised that there was another small section of the North Down’s Way, that I’d inadvertently missed.
The result of taking a wrong turning when descending Box Hill, meant I missed the official route, via the famous Stepping Stones. So, at some stage, I will need to walk that short section, for the sake of completeness.
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