retiredmartin

My last Beds pub in Harrold was right on the border with Bucks, and also with Northants; you get a lot of those “3 counties colliding” scenarios as you hit the Midlands, which is what makes the current ordering of the GBG so nonsensical. Beds at the very start, Northants half way through. Use the alphabet, for goodness sake !

A first trip to Cogenhoe since, well, possibly EVER, though I was definitely down the road in Grendon in that hot summer of ’76, when a tubby (un)Retired Martin was drinking Praed’s noted ales at the Crown,

sorry, playing drums at a Salvation Army band camp at Grendon Hall. I sprained my ankle and missed my mum that week.

On the upside, the area has hills and view overlooking the Nene Valley, like this one from our next tick.

Cogenhoe’s Royal Oak is another those unfussy village pubs that Northants specialise in (see also : Three Horseshoes at Ecton just over the A45),

the sort with machines dispensing sweets that turn your teeth green, the sort tubby 11 year olds love.

Unfussy but warm and welcoming,

with two beers you’ve heard of and the one from down the road you haven’t that secures the Guide place.

I find a little raised seat in the corner, next to the raging fire, that allows me to stare imperiously down on the backs of a couple in front. It’s slightly awkward,

but not TOO bad and we’re soon all chatting to the landlord about the fire he’s stoking up and making jokes about being burnt to a cinder.

That smell of real fire is one of the Top 10 reasons for going to a pub, along with sense of community, banal chat and a very crisp pint of IPA (3.5).

Posh food, being greeted at the door and called Sir don’t even feature in a top 1,000.