retiredmartin

July 2024. Ripon.

Yes, from ripping Yarm to Ripon yarns on the same trip. Some of you think no effort goes into this.

The journey back from Sunderland was going smoothly till Boroughbridge, when the A1 had a sharp case of “amateur driver-itis“, as folk who haven’t driven since Easter hit the road for their holidays and forgot to put petrol/water/oil in their Fiat.

Luckily, we’d already decided on a stop at Ripon (actually, Mrs RM meant Knaresborough, but close enough), and we just missed the 2 hour holdup in sweltering heat.

It must be a decade since my last visit; Ripon is the Thirsk of the, er, west (?), but Mrs RM got the required shot of the exterior of the cathedral,

her attempt at an internal shot blocked by what looked to be a graduation ceremony.

I didn’t think Ripon had undergraduates. Mrs RM insisted it did. I cared not.

I knew it had pubs,

the Water Rat my most recent tick in town, down by the river. Young folk, ramblers, children, gentlefolk. A good mix.

4/5 for the setting, with stepping stones enjoyed by excited toddlers, 2/5 for an interior that Stafford Paul would probably declare “not pubby”,

and with a lone seating area which although not expressly set for dining made Mrs RM feel a bit uncomfortable about taking up a table.

So a good job we finished the Theakston between us in 10 minutes.

I know you’re supposed to have the Rudgate or Rooster or whatever but no-one else does, do they ? And Theakston Bitter is rarely seen below Masham these days.

And it was “alright” (3), it really was, particularly given the heat, just a bit “oh”.

Which is pretty much what I wondered about the stickers on the lamp post 5 minutes later.

Sadly, the One Eyed Rat didn’t open till 4. Why do the best pubs in a town always open so late ?