Short posts, I’m not in the mood. Grrrr. Moving to Sheffield puts the gems of the Peak District in easy reach. Let’s go to Matlock, with its annual new GBG pub and improbable hills. Underrated industrial buildings too, though scarred by the occasional micropub (can you spot it ?). The obligatory non-pub cat looked a… Continue reading IT’S HILLY IN MATLOCK, ISN’T IT ?
Category: Uncategorized
ODDIES
My second Halifax tick opened at 16:00, despite not being a micropub. So I had time to squeeze in a quick curry in Dean Clough, via one of the UK’s great urban walks. Babar Khan is a recommendation of Curry Heute (the Pubmeister of curry), and although Covid has put paid to the famous lunchtime… Continue reading ODDIES
NEW ‘FAX EMERGE
Just before we left for Scotland I managed a trip to Halifax, the beer capital of the world. But I couldn’t find my notes, till this morning when I realised that Mrs RM had bought me a new phone for Scotland and my ‘fax facts were on the now abandoned Huawei. But here they are,… Continue reading NEW ‘FAX EMERGE
RUMINATING ON SCOTTISH BEER QUALITY
“Of all the beer you had in Scotland, what proportion of it came up to the standard you would expect in the Good Beer Guide? And how does that compare with south of the Border ? ” asks Pub Curmudgeon. What a good question. Let’s see the evidence; BEER SCORING I scored 28 beers (a… Continue reading RUMINATING ON SCOTTISH BEER QUALITY
BUYING A HOE IN LONGTOWN
On the way back from Wishaw we had to divert off the M6 at Gretna to avoid a hold-up, probably a spill of peanut butter stout, and stopped for 20 minutes just over the border in Longtown. It’s only a couple of months since we were walking this part of the world. Some weird stuff… Continue reading BUYING A HOE IN LONGTOWN
When you Wishaw upon a star
And so our Scottish sojourn come to an end at Wonderful Wishaw. Or “AnyWhere but Wishaw” as it’s affectionately known. Only the Good Beer Guide brings English people to post-industrial steel towns like Motherwell and Wishaw, and we should thank it for that. Mrs RM was less convinced as we drove through the challenging streets… Continue reading When you Wishaw upon a star
FORGETTING THE WEDDING ANNIVERSARY AGAIN
I expect you imagine that Mrs RM and I share a glamorous lifestyle punctuated by glitzy celebration of life events. Well, we spent our 29th wedding anniversary in a campervan parked in the far corner of Blairgowrie’s unglitzy car park, whose sign I checked seven times to ensure it didn’t prohibit overnight parking. We left… Continue reading FORGETTING THE WEDDING ANNIVERSARY AGAIN
TWO OUT OF THREE (NBSS >3 SCORES IN SCOTLAND) AIN’T BAD
I just went through the Blairgowrie photos with a fine toothcomb and there’s eighteen I want to use, so I’m afraid it’s two posts, but the second one features a Peanut Butter stout so that’s something to look forward to, I guess. Back to Sunday night, when I left Mrs RM with her second mini… Continue reading TWO OUT OF THREE (NBSS >3 SCORES IN SCOTLAND) AIN’T BAD
BLAIRGOWRIE – PICKING THE LOW HANGING FRUIT
Fear not, dear reader, I near the end of my A Scottish Life diary; epic landscapes, exotic dishes and unfathomably bad beer. Our last overnighter, back in the campervan, came in bucolic Blairgowrie. If you’d never heard of Blairgowrie, you’re not alone. Type “Tell me something interesting about Blairgowrie” into your search engine, and you… Continue reading BLAIRGOWRIE – PICKING THE LOW HANGING FRUIT
KEEP THE ENGINE RUNNING
After Cromarty we headed south, powered by the fumes of a fuming Mrs RM. For a while it looked like we’d run out of fuel before reaching Aviemore, having failed to spot a single service station on the A9 from Inverness down. But Mrs RM’s spotless directions led me to the BP garage just past… Continue reading KEEP THE ENGINE RUNNING
