October 2026. Rye. Dad’s death sent me into action mode on Monday morning. Meeting care home staff who’d come to love his smile over 2 years, contacting funeral directors, letting relatives know and urgently clearing out a rather spartan room and taking four bin bags of clothes to recycling, leaving one of photos to sort… Continue reading ON A DAY WHEN YOU REALLY NEED TO FEEL NORMAL, WE HEAD TO THE GLOBE
Tag: life
THE LAST OF THE 2026 SPOONS BEER FESTIVAL IN LITTLEHAMPTON
October 2026. Littlehampton. West Sussex. I see Simon is off ticking Cheshire via rail replacement buses due to Storm Boelo this morning. He really is a trooper, six pubs a day, whatever the weather. I walked to the Rye Harbour bus stop just now, asked ChatGPT the odds on a smooth trip to Hayward’s Heath,… Continue reading THE LAST OF THE 2026 SPOONS BEER FESTIVAL IN LITTLEHAMPTON
EPIC RAIL JOURNEYS OF THE WORLD. RYE TO FORD
October 2026. Rye (East Sussex) to Ford (West Sussex). Simon’s blog is always a great read, a tale of derring-do, parental love and indomitable livers, if not bladders. Such has been the ferocity of his pub ticking that the Chronicles of BRAPA are some way behind (I also got massively behind in my GBG completion… Continue reading EPIC RAIL JOURNEYS OF THE WORLD. RYE TO FORD
RETIRED MARTIN GOES SHOPPING IN HASTINGS
October 2026. Hastings. East Sussex. The six hour trek down from Sheffield to Rye Harbour continued on Monday with a check-in on Dad and his former next door neighbour (and cousin*) Mick, who’s just joined him in the care home. I was keen to see if they’d recognise each other after two years apart, but… Continue reading RETIRED MARTIN GOES SHOPPING IN HASTINGS
“PICKY BITS”. THE SWAN, THAXTED
October 2026. Thaxted. Essex. A Sunday night in a campervan in small-but-perfectly-formed Thaxted, staying yards from an actual GBG newbie in the Swan. I’d have ticked John Webb’s Windmill (where the Giddy Up Bar is marked) as well, but the current restoration project rather scuppered my view. Luckily, there’s a picture of what it did… Continue reading “PICKY BITS”. THE SWAN, THAXTED
CATS CALLED GRACIE AND CELLOS ON BIKES – BACK TO BUNTINGFORD
October 2026. Buntingford. Hertfordshire. The last time I wrote about Buntingford I got some right abuse for this line “One of the Scouse dads was burping loudly to impress his young daughter”. It wasn’t, in fact, his dad, it was his uncle, and he was, in fact, from North Wales, not Merseyside. These things matter.… Continue reading CATS CALLED GRACIE AND CELLOS ON BIKES – BACK TO BUNTINGFORD
SEPTEMBER ’26 STOCKTAKE + OCTOBER PREVIEW
Right, now I’ve reached the end of September I can bring you the highlights; none of this posting a summary two (2) days early nonsense. Nothing particularly startling about the travel map; but September 2026 was a notable month for good and bad reasons. Beginning with the privilege of taking James and Matt and Emma… Continue reading SEPTEMBER ’26 STOCKTAKE + OCTOBER PREVIEW
KILLING TIME IN DRONFIELD
September 2026. Dronfield. There’s a large number of new Beer Guide entries that only open at weekends, including one 10 minutes away on the train to Dronfield. Actually, 10 minutes on a train that’s delayed 19 minutes and then a 20 minute walk along the road to Unstone. where the Drone Valley tap awaits. Well,… Continue reading KILLING TIME IN DRONFIELD
A NEW SPOONS FOR NORTH HYKEHAM
September 2026. North Hykeham. Lincolnshire. You left me in Poachers Brewery Tap at North Hykeham in the suburbs of Lincoln, showing no ill effects from the handful of Devil’s nuts foisted on me by the locals after securing the “tricky” tick in GBG27. Parked up in my campervan in the industrial estate on the junction… Continue reading A NEW SPOONS FOR NORTH HYKEHAM
CHAT GPT KEEPS ME OUT OF THE CRIME STATISTICS IN LAKESIDE THURROCK
September 2026. Lakeside Thurrock. One of the few selling points for the Ibis in Thurrock, apart from being handing for Dartford Bridge, was proximity to Lakeside shopping centre and its attendant railway station with half-hourly trips to the East End. Just as well, as it’s about as well-pubbed as Carluke. I hadn’t quite clocked that… Continue reading CHAT GPT KEEPS ME OUT OF THE CRIME STATISTICS IN LAKESIDE THURROCK
