August 2025. Burnley. Two Burnley ticks on a Sunday in opposite end of town meant another bus, from Briercliffe to what I guess is Rose Grove to the east. I pay my quid (“Wow !“), the bus pulls into Platform 7 at central station, I realise I need to stay on this bus, even though… Continue reading A SYMPHONY IN BROWN. LANE ENDS HOTEL, BURNLEY
Month: August 2025
LACINGS DON’T LIE. THE COMMERCIAL, BURNLEY
August 2025. Burnley. My feeble attempts to visit GBG pubs since Guide completion seem limited by a) having to spend the weekends ploughing up and down the A1 between Sheffield and Cambridge, b) only drinking pints and c) using public transport. Just as well none of the other tickers would do b) and c)…. Shockingly,… Continue reading LACINGS DON’T LIE. THE COMMERCIAL, BURNLEY
OH RICKY YOU’RE SO FINE…
August 2025. Rickmansworth. Yes, actually in August! Straight home from our lodge in Richmond (by the by congrats to the Stable Yard for a dozen coffee sachets and NO decaf 👍), then 2 nights in Waterbeach, where the Brakspear Gravity is superb, and then a day at Pembury Hospital A & E with the father-in-law,… Continue reading OH RICKY YOU’RE SO FINE…
TASTES LIKE SHERBERT. SEMER WATER AT THE BAY HORSE, RAVENSWORTH
July 2025. Ravensworth. North Yorkshire. “Do you have a booking ?”. Ah, the North-Yorkshire-not-quite-touristy gastropub run by enthusiastic young couple in a village with castle ruins. “Um, just a drink please”. “Super, great idea, we have a loverly garden out back”. Yes, they definitely want the indoors for the diners at the Bay Horse, with… Continue reading TASTES LIKE SHERBERT. SEMER WATER AT THE BAY HORSE, RAVENSWORTH
A SENSE OF COMMUNITY IN SKEEBY
July 2025. Skeeby. North Yorkshire. It doesn’t look like I’ll complete the North Yorkshire chapter of the GBG this year but such is life. The newbies tend to be rural pubs or brewery taps only open Fri-Sat (Guisborough), and I’ve still not found a way to get to the Crown in Middlemoor and back in… Continue reading A SENSE OF COMMUNITY IN SKEEBY
A REETH GOOD TIME
July 2025. Reeth. Back from Edinburgh at that night Mrs RM somehow got an Uber to take us back to the Darlington car park that had been our room for four (4) nights in July, That’s longer than I spent at “home” in Sheffield; perhaps I’ll get a Durham Council Tax demand. Two nights in… Continue reading A REETH GOOD TIME
COCTEAU TWINS DEEP CUTS IN EDINBURGH’S BLACK CAT
July 2025. Edinburgh. Last Edinburgh post, promise. I left the Argyle Bar just after 4pm, almost five hours till the train back to Darlington, but was already approaching 30,000 steps, and worried I’d just get distracted by Bow Bar, Halfway House, Oxford and the rest and undo all those calories walked off. So I slowed… Continue reading COCTEAU TWINS DEEP CUTS IN EDINBURGH’S BLACK CAT
THE MARCH OF THE TALL FOUNTS. ARGYLE BAR, EDINBURGH
July 2025. Edinburgh. It’s approaching 4pm on our Big Edinburgh Day Out and time to head Southside. This year’s collection of GBG ticks take you to New Town, Leith and the east, and down through the Meadows to the “Miss Jean Brodie” residential suburb of Marchmont, with its artisanal hardware and giant fish. We’ve got… Continue reading THE MARCH OF THE TALL FOUNTS. ARGYLE BAR, EDINBURGH
BASS SPOTTED IN EDINBURGH
July 2025. Edinburgh. Halfway through the Big Day Out In Edinburgh. It’s only just gone 2pm and I’ve already clocked up 22,000 steps and 3 GBG ticks (and half of Mrs RM badly chosen lunch). This is the stage in a long day where you think “Hmm, I could just about catch a train to… Continue reading BASS SPOTTED IN EDINBURGH
THE ARTISAN. SUNSHINE NEAR LEITH
July 2025. Edinburgh. Lunchtime in Edinburgh. Mrs RM had left me alone to walk at my own pace, so perversely I bought a tram day ticket I didn’t need and then felt obliged to hop down to the Port of Leith to justify it. The blue plaque commemorating Kentish Paul’s recent luxury cruise stop was… Continue reading THE ARTISAN. SUNSHINE NEAR LEITH
retiredmartin 