August 2023. Cambridge. A Sunday in Waterbeach, with Mum saying “Don’t you want to go out for a walk with Christine ?” by teatime, which says a lot about how little there is to do when I “go home”. We took the train into Cambridge, a once seven minute journey that now routinely takes twice… Continue reading NO ENTRY
Author: retiredmartin
Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.
MANCHESTER – BALLOONS, DRY NOODLES AND PHIL FODEN
August 2023. Manchester. Odd post this, and not just because it’s a trip to Manchester without a beer or a curry. And that’s despite having to spend the night in Stockport due to the last train back to Sheffield leaving before an 8pm kick-off was likely to end given VAR reviews. At least (newly-washed) Baa… Continue reading MANCHESTER – BALLOONS, DRY NOODLES AND PHIL FODEN
CATS OF MIDDLEHAM, YOUR PUB NEEDS YOU
August 2023. Middleham. One last pub to leave North Yorkshire tantalisingly two ticks short of completion (both on the rail line to Scarborough). Perhaps I’ll finish the chapter, perhaps I won’t. Don’t sweat the small stuff. The road takes you through the Dales; we try to guess which ones but fail. We’d been to Middleham… Continue reading CATS OF MIDDLEHAM, YOUR PUB NEEDS YOU
GUNNERSIDE GETS ITS PUB BACK
August 2023. Gunnerside. One of Mum and Dad’s favoured TV programmes is “Our Yorkshire Farm”, a series where two folk just south of the Tan Hill Inn attempt to repopulate the Yorkshire Dales to provide custom for their local pub. Mum was amazed to hear we’d driven past the Owen family farm days earlier and… Continue reading GUNNERSIDE GETS ITS PUB BACK
FINALLY, THE TAN HILL INN !
August 2023. Tan Hill. Having completed the Beer Guide I wondered if I’d finally visited all the classic pubs in the UK, but then I realised that the Crooked House never made the GBG while I was ticking it, and there’s a few places like Defford’s Monkey House without cask, so who knows. And then… Continue reading FINALLY, THE TAN HILL INN !
“Can I HELP, you ?”
August 2023. Piercebridge. We’d finish our parmo and gammon tea in the George by 18:30, and Mrs RM wasn’t much interested in walking along a main road to Manfield in search of Bass (Boo ! Mrs RM), so we did the customary gentlefolk amble over the bridge and just admired Piercebridge. Which is small (pop.… Continue reading “Can I HELP, you ?”
PARMOS IN PIERCEBRIDGE
August 2023. Piercebridge. Never mind the George‘s status as one of our great coaching inns, or the clock, or the bedrooms (fine, a bargain at the price). You’ll be wanting to know about the bar. Well, when it re-opened last year the handpumps were gone. So with my CAMRA Gold Card hat on it was… Continue reading PARMOS IN PIERCEBRIDGE
THE CLOCK THAT STOPP’D, SHORT, NEVER TO GO AGAIN
August 2023. Piercebridge. You remember the George in Piercebridge, the star of Mr Protz’s wonderful guide to the Great North Road. I hate to disillusion aspiring bloggers like Mrs RM, but it’s not a passport to an early retirement spent eating Pipers. Far better to crowdfund a craft brewery, go bankrupt and sell it to… Continue reading THE CLOCK THAT STOPP’D, SHORT, NEVER TO GO AGAIN
GRUMPY OLD MENS CLUB, GILLING WEST
August 2023. Gilling West, North Yorkshire. In the middle of nowhere, between Richmond, Darlington and Barnard Castle, which can’t be bad. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d been to the Angel before and forgot, but it turns out that was the White Swan (RIP) across the road, home to sumptuous fish and chips and… Continue reading GRUMPY OLD MENS CLUB, GILLING WEST
THE SMUGGLERS DEN
August 2023. Marske-by-the-Sea. Beyond the exploration of Winkies Castle and St Germain’s Churchyard and the craft bar and the cobbled lane, the main reason for visiting “Marvellous Marske” was to belatedly tick the Smugglers Den, whose debut in the new GBG had been cruelly scuppered by a car smashing into the wall just before Christmas.… Continue reading THE SMUGGLERS DEN
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