Essex ? Really ? Yep, even though I haven’t had to do visit it too much since the blog started, it was a cert for the Top 10 Counties. BRAPA was brought up there, for a start. I think he’s saving a return to The Walden for a special occasion. Down the road from his… Continue reading TOP 10 COUNTIES – No.6 – ESSEX
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.
A JOB DONE, IN CLEVEDON
October is always an exciting time for us hardy band of GBG tickers. New stuffed mascot embedded into the team, new year’s Guide in hand, cross-checking complete, inroads into the GBG with pink marker in hand. Not this year. The delayed release of GBG21, due to some spurious reason or other (probably a debate about… Continue reading A JOB DONE, IN CLEVEDON
ROCK OF AGES
As the Government’s inspirational advert says, “stop whining and get on with it” And spend money, I guess. We failed to spend money at Burrington Ham, our next chance to stretch calf muscles on on the Great Somerset GBG Overnighter. “The hilly bit south of Bristol” is my best description of the area. No, I… Continue reading ROCK OF AGES
EBBOR, EBBOR, (GORGE) HEY !
We’d come to walk, not tick pubs, so after a mammoth sleep we joined the dinosaurs in Wookey Hole. SPOILER: They’re not real. You can see the “attractions“ from the public footpath up to the cave entrance, and I’ll be honest it’s well worth the £16.50 on-line price. You can probably get 25% off by… Continue reading EBBOR, EBBOR, (GORGE) HEY !
IN A WOOKEY HOLE
Our Somerset Saunter reached Wookey (Hole). It always suprises me when I realise Wookey (Hole) is virtually a suburb of Wells, which never fails to disappoint for pubs (ZERO Guide entries this year). I seemed to have booked a £45 twin room (actually the disability accessible with wet room one) at the actual Wookey caves.… Continue reading IN A WOOKEY HOLE
UP TO THE TOR, DOWN TO THE 6X
Ooh, genuine tourist material for you. James and I, bonding on another Father-Son walking trip this week, agreed that THIS is Britain’s worst tourist attraction as we whizzed past it on the A303; Wouldn’t it be sensible if we moved those silly stones somewhere out of the way (South Dakota would be fine) so we… Continue reading UP TO THE TOR, DOWN TO THE 6X
A BATH HALF
I wanted to call it “A laugh, a barf and an OK half near Bath” but whipper-snapper BRAPA has copyrighted that title. And there were no laughs. Or barfs. Nearly no half either. I’d actually given up on the Inn at Freshford, tucked away in the posh valleys beneath Bath. You’ll remember this honey-coloured wonder,… Continue reading A BATH HALF
TOP 10 COUNTIES – No.7 – WEST MIDLANDS
Getting exciting now, isn’t it ? Where will Norfolk feature ? Or Fife ? Or Cambs ? You probably guessed West Midlands would be there, on account of Wolves alone. It’s the best place to live in the UK, after all. Besides being the best place to drink Banks’s, and the home of cheap, delicious… Continue reading TOP 10 COUNTIES – No.7 – WEST MIDLANDS
TABLE SERVICE TRAUMAS IN SPOONS
ANOTHER trip to Hitchin with the eldest son, before a couple of days walking in the Mendips. James left the town for the delights of Waterbeach and the A10 when he was one, and had no memory of our house, which has just sold for six times what we paid for it in 1993. And… Continue reading TABLE SERVICE TRAUMAS IN SPOONS
HITCHIN CRAFT UNION CONSPIRACY SPECIAL
My first post from Hitchin met with some kickback by other people who couldn’t get away from it quick enough. So I’m back, bringing you more reports from the cutting-edge of craft beer. In some towns (Stockport, probably) there’d be a hipster with a microbrewery under every one of those canvases in the market square.… Continue reading HITCHIN CRAFT UNION CONSPIRACY SPECIAL
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