January 2024. Stockton-on-Tees. A pint of banked Bass in the Sun, then straight back on the train to Seaton for a Parmo Platter and an early night. That would have been the sensible thing. But I’m afraid I bullied Mrs RM into a second Stockton revisit, though to be fair it would have been a… Continue reading AFTER THE SUN, THE GOLDEN SMOG
Tag: Durham
“Why do you need a Flake ?”
January 2024. Stockton-on-Tees. Big mistake, huge. Having arrived in Seaton Carew and completed Durham’s Guide entries we could have had a quiet night watching the new Emma Stone movie (Emma is slated to play Mrs RM in the film of my 2022 GBG completion). But no, I had to drag her (Mrs RM, not Emma)… Continue reading “Why do you need a Flake ?”
DURHAM HAS FALLEN
January 2024. Seaton Carew. Hartlepool. I do like a town with a postcard painted on the wall, but it’s rather impractical to stick in the post box. Mrs RM and I had dumped our bags in the Durham Hotel (more on that later), and with some alarm realised it was only a quarter to four,… Continue reading DURHAM HAS FALLEN
THE TICKER, HIS WIFE AND THE CANOE
January 2024. Seaton Carew. Hartlepool. Not gonna lie, I was a bit disappointed that my birthday (22 December, pre-marked on all good calendars) wasn’t spent in Seaton Carew on the Durham coast, due to what we call “plumbing issues” because they involved a plumber coming out. Last Thursday, after watching the first few episodes of… Continue reading THE TICKER, HIS WIFE AND THE CANOE
HALF A DOZEN PUBS IN EVERY GBG COUNTY. No. 11 – DURHAM.
Another blog to upset you all due to inexplicable omissions in Durham and Stockton, while I make my usual excuse about geographical spread. CAMRA branches make the same justifications for forcing you to visit all the ropey pubs outside the county town all the time. One of my favourite counties, with wonderful coastline, great walking… Continue reading HALF A DOZEN PUBS IN EVERY GBG COUNTY. No. 11 – DURHAM.
HOW DID I MISS THE PICKLED PARSON ?
October 2023. Sedgefield. Another weekend, another trip down to Waterbeach (Covid and flu jabs this time) then straight back up the A1. Didn’t even get a Crispy Beef; the chicken kebab (“with all the trimmings“) seems the parents favourite now. On brief stop on the way to Gateshead/Newcastle, an unexpected return to Sedgefield, meeting place… Continue reading HOW DID I MISS THE PICKLED PARSON ?
A CULTURAL AND CRAFTY INTERLUDE IN THE NORTH-EAST
June 2023. Gateshead to Durham. We’d exhausted the in-laws in Beamish and Newcastle so had a leisurely cultural day to start June before the 2 hour trip home. Obviously Newcastle-Gateshead had the Bigg Market and the Tuxedo Royale before the millennium saw the Baltic bring culture to Tyneside, but it’s the old flour mills (and… Continue reading A CULTURAL AND CRAFTY INTERLUDE IN THE NORTH-EAST
ALL ROADS LEAD TO BEAMISH
May 2023. The in-laws had always wanted to visit Beamish, the living history museum just outside Newcastle, and to be honest I’d been keen to see how it’s changed since we used to take the boys a decade ago when it was possible to entertain a pre-teen with a trip down a mine, a tram… Continue reading ALL ROADS LEAD TO BEAMISH
A STOCKTON FLYER
19th February 2023. Two Sunday ticks, sort of, but I was more interested in persuading Mrs RM of the charms of Stockton before we headed home. She hadn’t warmed to a town centre whose main drag was in the middle of being demolished, but you should never judge a town on its indoor shopping centre,… Continue reading A STOCKTON FLYER
MRS RM TAKES THE BEER BACK. EXPERTLY.
19th February 2023. It had been nearly 20 years since we last visited Sedgefield, a County Durham town the size of Waterbeach acting as the “posh” bit for a famous parliamentary constituency you may have heard of, if only because of a famous visit to this unassuming pub just before my own arrival. The Dun… Continue reading MRS RM TAKES THE BEER BACK. EXPERTLY.
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