1st November 2022. As you’ll know from the obligatory map in the obligatory November stocktake we managed a bit of authentic tourism last month. I’d been eyeing a return to Germany for the first time since 2016 since the Covid restrictions eased, but it looked tricky to get away with a month of family duties… Continue reading IN SEARCH OF KOLSCH
I STILL KNOW NOTHING ABOUT BIBSTONE
30th October 2022. A first visit of the new GBG year to the area known as Greater Stroud. Anyone reading the Telegraph and attempting to recreate my travels may alternately know this as “Just below those posh Gloucester Services, near that nice vegan football club“. I’m rambling because it’s a struggle to really describe the… Continue reading I STILL KNOW NOTHING ABOUT BIBSTONE
INTO THE HOPE VALLEY – QUITTERS AND CRITTERS
The pursuit of GBG completion rather hampered our best laid plans to do the touristy bits of the Peak District that Mrs RM tells everyone we moved to Sheffield for two years ago (don’t tell Mrs RM, it was actually the suburbs of Rotherham that attracted me). The Guide is ticked, the CAMRA pub walk… Continue reading INTO THE HOPE VALLEY – QUITTERS AND CRITTERS
MAGGIE MAY BE CLOSED, CAN I CONQUER CHESTERFIELD ?
Enough of the Retired Martin love-in, let’s get back to the hard yards of Retired Martin travelling to unassuming Northern* towns and finding pubs unexpectedly closed. 27th October 2022. Proving Chesterfield‘s northerness, they don’t yet have parchment, and have maps painted on the side of the houses leading west towards Chatsworth House, which is where… Continue reading MAGGIE MAY BE CLOSED, CAN I CONQUER CHESTERFIELD ?
INFAMY AT LAST
As you’ll know I’m incredibly shy, I really am. But also incredibly stupid, and could never say “No” to anything, particularly if there was a pub at the end of it. Having to explain the inequities of NHS funding to Southend Council in 2011 was a particularly daft thing to volunteer for, but the shopping… Continue reading INFAMY AT LAST
SPIREITES
27th October 2022. The new Good Beer Guide (done it, mate) arrived. Alfie and Baa Baa wondered whether I’d be wasting my life ticking this one. We’ll see. On the tickers WhatsApp group, talk turned to the venue for the AGM to discuss weighty matters like whether a shot of whisky at a wake counted… Continue reading SPIREITES
“Courtesy of Mrs Harlow”
First things first. WHY does a random question pop up (top) when I start a new post ? 26th October 2022. Now I’m not going to claim the little corner of North Notts between the Dukeries and Lincoln are worth a detour from Sheffield or Sheppey, but I’ve always had admiration for a bleak area… Continue reading “Courtesy of Mrs Harlow”
THE JOLLY BOYS OF BARNSLEY
24th October 2022. Apart from being my diary and method of proving to Mrs RM that I’m not up to any mischief (wandering into that Maidenhead red light district while looking for the Conservative Club was a gruesome misunderstanding), the blog aims to get you to visit the unsung towns of the UK. Not much… Continue reading THE JOLLY BOYS OF BARNSLEY
THE BEST OF BARNSLEY
24th October 2022. I still didn’t have the new Beer Guide, but I knew that South Yorkshire only had four new entries (all of them micro bars and brewery taps, fact fans), and I’d just done two of them. And then the tickers discovered the new Maison du Biere had closed even before it’s GBG… Continue reading THE BEST OF BARNSLEY
STEPTOE’S FOR ONE
23rd October 2022. On the train back from Conisbrough the inspector checked my mobile ticket. “It’s OK to break my journey at Rotherham, yeah ?”. “Well, strictly, NO, it’s not. But you’ll be fine, I expect“. That’s the worst possible answer, isn’t it ? I should have asked Tom Irvin. My second South Yorkshire micro… Continue reading STEPTOE’S FOR ONE
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