February 2025. York. Mrs RM was following the “Secret York” guide generated By ChatGPT. I’m not sure “Walk the Walls” really qualifies as a local’s secret, even if you are starting from the southern side at Fishergate Bar. Five minutes of Mrs RM shouting “You’re too close to the edge !” as if I was… Continue reading A “MYSTERY” COACH TRIP FROM ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE TO THE PHOENIX IN YORK
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.
THE GOLDEN BALL, YORK. BAD KITTY, SHY CAT
February 2025. York. We said we’d get away straight after the funeral; Mrs RM hoped for Moldova, I wanted Maidenhead. It never happened, what with trips to banks and father-in-laws and such. But Sunday brought news of £33 Travelodges in big cities, and with its most famous resident 250 miles away in Neath, there would… Continue reading THE GOLDEN BALL, YORK. BAD KITTY, SHY CAT
TOP 100 PUBS – THE COMMERCIAL, CHAPELTOWN
February 2025. Chapeltown. Sheffield. A Saturday attempt to reach West Yorkshire foiled by overcrowded Cross Country carriages. If you learn only one (1) thing from this blog it should be “NEVER attempt to take a train from Sheffield on a weekend“. So, instead, a short hop to the Sheffield burbs, to S35, home of the… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE COMMERCIAL, CHAPELTOWN
PRIDE NOT DRINKING WELL IN CHAPELTOWN SPOONS
February 2025. Chapeltown. Sheffield. Back in Sheffield for 5 nights, the longest stretches at “home” in a year, Mrs RM did the fluffy jobs (boiler, painting, Instagram updates) while I manfully sought to bolster my waining vault of blog material. On the Saturday I joined a scrum at Sheffield Station to board a train to… Continue reading PRIDE NOT DRINKING WELL IN CHAPELTOWN SPOONS
22 MINUTES WAIT AT WORKSOP STATION ? IT CAN ONLY BE THE MALLARD, THEN
February 2025. Worksop. The last thing you want on the morning of your mum’s funeral is an e-mail deleting your social media account. “A Bluesky account you control has been assessed as a spammy, fake, or inauthentic account.“ Me, “inauthentic” !!! ChatGPT reckoned I’d broke their community guidelines by promoting Doom Bar or something, so… Continue reading 22 MINUTES WAIT AT WORKSOP STATION ? IT CAN ONLY BE THE MALLARD, THEN
“One Day Like This”. The Pavilion, Mansfield.
February 2025. Mansfield. I asked ChatGPT if anyone else before had felt emotional upon visiting Mansfield, and discovered that on her 1967 tour (shortly before her death) Jayne Mansfield had been overcome to find a northern town named after her. I was enraptured just by being able to be outside again after 6 months cooped… Continue reading “One Day Like This”. The Pavilion, Mansfield.
MANSFIELD DARK AT DUSK
February 2025. Mansfield. 3 pints into my Mega Mansfield March I suddenly felt alive, released from the burdens of recent months, and one of our most maligned market towns looked gorgeous looking down from the parks on the ridge to the south. My last Nottinghamshire GBG tick would be the Pavilion, a club house on… Continue reading MANSFIELD DARK AT DUSK
NO STELLA AT MANSFIELD’S STELLA TAPS
February 2025. Mansfield. What a great day walking round Mansfield’s suburbs in bitter cold. No, honestly, it’s exactly what I needed after months cooped up in Waterbeach. Gets the mind thinking, thinking, as much as the legs exercised. Mansfield can’t compete with (say) Halifax. more like a Grimsby, row after row of solid suburbia punctuated… Continue reading NO STELLA AT MANSFIELD’S STELLA TAPS
(PROJECT) WILLIAM, IT WAS REALLY NOTHING
February 2025. Mansfield. Right, culture ticked, time for a pint coffee. I was going to have one in the GBG Spoons, but the impressive looking Stag & Pheasant wanted £1.71 and Spoons coffee isn’t that good, so I paid a bargain £2.80 for a proper American in the gorgeous “Toffee Hut”, where a lady sticks… Continue reading (PROJECT) WILLIAM, IT WAS REALLY NOTHING
NOT MUCH MATCHES MANSFIELD
February 2025. Mansfield. 25,000 steps in Mansfield, but after just a lone pint and a pie I was already feeling knackered. As I left the Railway while an Old Boy told his amazed mates I was “a Sheffield lad, Hillsborough, come for a day out in Mansfield“. Should have had Day Out in capitals, obviously.… Continue reading NOT MUCH MATCHES MANSFIELD
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