retiredmartin

May 2024. Stoke Lyne. Oxfordshire. A slightly risky clamber over barbed wire, Great Escape style, from the M40 service station at Cherwell into a spooky (and chilly) Stoke Wood, and then to one of the UK’s last surviving Classic, Basic, Unspoilt pubs. This paper version of the list is even older than some of the… Continue reading CLASSIC, BASIC, UNSPOILT PUBS – THE PEYTON ARMS, STOKE LYNE, OXON

May 2024. Bicester. Last day of May, one pub down, surely an evening of Oxford ticking ahead, time to pick a hotel; Not at those prices ! I tried Travelodge, and came up with a double room for £30.99 on the M40 services at Bicester. Oooh, futuristic food court with Greggs, KFC and those inedible… Continue reading GREAT PUB WALKS FROM MOTORWAY SERVICE STATIONS – BICESTER CHERWELL VALLEY M40

May 2024. Deddington. Banbury. As so often these days, two days after a night out in Warwick and I’m back trudging down the M1 to Middle England, a stop-off on the way to entertain both sets of parents for a few days. UK highways, improving for a few years, have hit a rough patch of… Continue reading “DRUNKEN DEDDINGTON”

The contractually-required Highlights post. Simon does his before May’s ended, which is tempting fate. Here’s the Retired Martin Travel Map for May; Oh, and this bit of Europe as well; Albania was a joy; Tirana, Berat and Gjirokaster three very different cities, essential in their own way. You’re going there for cobbled streets and views… Continue reading MAY ’24 STOCKTAKE AND JUNE PREVIEW

May 2024. Warwick. The morning after the five pub (and a craft bar) crawl. I slept in (the campervan), undisturbed by a squirrel throwing acorns at the roof and a parking warden trying to read my ticket through the steamed up glass. And then I gave the town a second look. In truth, you’d pick… Continue reading WHY WARWICK ?

May 2024. Warwick. One more GBG entry to complete the nap hand of Warwick Guide pubs in a night. From the Wild Boar a long, drab walk past rambling hospital buildings and factories brings you to the Grand Union Canal, and the obligatory canalside pub. Obviously, I arrived here on the wrong side of the… Continue reading “AN ISSUE” AT THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

May 2024. Warwick. It’s always good to walk the bounds, and I reckon I got more of a sense of Warwick last Tuesday than in half a dozen previous visits. It’s no Bewdley, or Buxton; more a Bromsgrove with a castle, perhaps, but approaching the Wild Boar I felt unusual excitement at a revisit of… Continue reading MORE PLAIN, EXCELLENT, WARWICK PUBS

May 2024. Warwick. A bit of moderation, moving on to halves on pub 3, then a slight relapse as I realise you’ll expect me to do the craft bar. No, you probably will. It gives me a chance to make a full circuit of a town that looks more interesting on paper than reality, though… Continue reading A CRAFT DIVERSION IN WARWICK

May 2022. Warwick. Pub three on the “curated Warwick pub exploration trail”, though my notes suggest “most of Warwick is completely p****d”, which just shows that in middle class middle England there’s still parts of society who value pubgoing over a bottle of Malbec at home. Warwick really surprised me, nowhere more so than the… Continue reading THE OLD FOURPENNY SHOP

May 2024. Warwick. You left me in the Eagle discussing leg fractures and Newton Abbot cider houses with a lovely couple of Mo-Homers who I tried to persuade to do the Warwick Pub Crawl. I never saw them in the next four pubs, so either they did it in reverse or they (more likely) took… Continue reading ACCEPTING A TASTER (SORRY)