Day 4 of the Hadrian’s Wall Hop, and despite racking up 50 miles and visiting EVERY open pub between Carlisle and Twice Brewed*, I’d yet to achieve a GBG tick. Meanwhile, in the South of England, BRAPA was amassing nearly as many likes as Guide pubs; Having just arrived in Hexham, head straight back to… Continue reading ALL WARK, NO BULL
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.
TAKE THE FIRST TRAIN TO HEXHAM
Still to come in this endless series of posts on our Hadrian’s Wall walk are a micro, a Spoons, a gastro and a Proper Pub, IN THE SAME TOWN, and two (2) posts from the Covid hotbed that is North Tyneside. At Bardon Mill’s spartan station I got chatting to a lovely young man off… Continue reading TAKE THE FIRST TRAIN TO HEXHAM
Woken up by Dido with those Twice Brewed Blues Again
The great Bob Dylan is 80, which is how I felt in the morning after the quadruple burger the night before. I’d finally left the dinner table, possibly without the requisite written permission, when No Socks Fitness Woman (a BRAPA character if ever I saw one) started singing along to “Yes” by McAlmont & Butler.… Continue reading Woken up by Dido with those Twice Brewed Blues Again
The pinnacle of polite society
I really didn’t want to have to write this post, but BRAPA would have, and sort of DID when he visited the Twice Brewed in September 2019. “A dining led tourist family spot” where Si receives scandalised looks, it was without doubt the scariest pub experience of Volume VII of my pub memoirs (2016-21). Now,… Continue reading The pinnacle of polite society
YOU’RE ONCE (BREWED), TWICE (BREWED), THREE PINTS OF HOMEBREW
First things first. I forgot to put a photo nicked off BRAPA on that last post on the Milecastle Inn. Here it is; Now, that is a beautiful shot out to Hadrian’s Wall (aka the Scottish Border) from pretty much the same spot I sat in 18 months later. His photos have become really good,… Continue reading YOU’RE ONCE (BREWED), TWICE (BREWED), THREE PINTS OF HOMEBREW
MORE MOANING ABOUT TAPS
You left your heroes at the spot marked “W” on the right hand edge of the map; “W” signifies wet, or potentially wet as the deluge was apparently expected, ooh, an hour ago. But with miles to the Twice Brewed, our signature stop for the night, we still felt obliged to peep in the isolated… Continue reading MORE MOANING ABOUT TAPS
BATTLING PEATSTEEL CRAGS
I’m probably wrong but I thought you’d want to see some pictures of the actual Hadrian’s Wall as well as photos of Northumberland homebrew in gastropubs. Thursday, Day 3 of our trek, provided the best scenery of the lot. Quite a short stretch, from Greenhead up to Walltown Crags and back down through the bogs… Continue reading BATTLING PEATSTEEL CRAGS
SORRY, WHAPWEASEL
Struggling with the blog titles now, as we reach the end of Day 2 of Hadrian’21 and arrive in Greenhead after 23 arduous miles under the Cumbrian sun. Sorry to those of you facing flash floods down south this week. We DID beat the rain, and arrived to find the new micropub at Thirlwall Castle… Continue reading SORRY, WHAPWEASEL
STRONGER THAN SAMSON
Ten miles into Day 2 on Hadrian’s Wall, and we finally reached something approximating life as we entered Northumberland at Gilsland. The accents were no less comprehensible (ours, not the Geordies). Gilsland (pop. c.400) had a posh spa hotel, a cafe and two pubs, one of which was daringly open at 3pm on a Wednesday.… Continue reading STRONGER THAN SAMSON
TWO CENTURIONS
Our first day on the Hadrian’s Wall Trail had been a triumph. Mrs RM had actually knocked off 2,000 calories as she had to exert much more effort, well done her. We enjoyed a NBedSS 4.5 and NBrkSS 3 stay at the Old Vicarage, and resisted the call of Walton’s Crosby, Stills & Nash Society.… Continue reading TWO CENTURIONS
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