retiredmartin
Martin
Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.
August 2026
September 2026
October 2026
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All posts (783)
June 2026. Shipley. West Yorkshire. Well, I know two (2) readers who’ll want to see pictures of Bradford curry. We called it a day at Gallows Bridge, a memorable place from which to restart the Cask Camino, and headed to the £29.99 Travelodge next to the Noble Comb. You’ll be expecting that we’d then hit the town...
June 2026. Bradford. You left us outside the George & Dragon in Apperley Bridge, where a couple of pedestrians had just used the horsey crossing rather than the human one in contravention of some ancient by-law or other, which was possibly the most exciting part of the next 3 hours along the Leeds-Liverpool canal....
June 2026. Apperley Bridge. West Yorkshire. Back on the Cask Camino last Sunday, which seems to be the regular date solely on account of the Travelodges on the way being £30 rather than £189 that day, at least till we get to Skipton. We park at Shipley, take a 5 minute train back to where we left off at Apperley...
June 2026. Sheffield. An actual day at home in Sheffield last Saturday. It was torture. I was so sleepy I needed a cool drink, so why I ended up drinking cider at the New Barrack is a mystery. This was of the the famous ale houses a couple of decades ago, helped by being the closest GBG pub to Hillsborough. Edged...
June 2026. Sheffield. Thursday morning saw a bit of tension in the dining room at Tunbridge Wells’s Russell Hotel, which had kindly found Mrs RM a fan while I was out melting in London. You’ll remember Mrs RM had ordered the Full English so I could have her artisanal sausage and black pudding (“You DO like black...
June 2026. London. A bit hot for a gig last Wednesday, but after a week in Armenia I really needed a night of cask and chaos in central London, and you won’t easily beat that Harp/Cock combo for a reintroduction to the joys of the English pub. I’d popped in the Sam Smiths last time I came to the 200 capacity Social...
June 2026. London. In central London on the hottest day of the year, I had that joy of an aimless pre-gig wander through the capital, now so freed of traffic you can cross roads without looking and stand in the middle of busy streets taking pictures. It’s a city spoilt only by the presence of Arsenal, and Spurs, and...
June 2026. London. A day at the in-laws, bearing up in the Tunbridge Wells heat better than me, and then the 17:10 into Charing Cross for a gig. The rail advice was not to travel unless absolutely necessary. I asked ChatGPT for guidance. Well, there you go. It was like a fridge on the Southeastern service, though...
June 2026. Royal Tunbridge Wells. We arrived back from Armenia at 1:30 in the morning, delighted to have won the Wizz seat roulette and secured aisle seats. A quick snooze in the campervan before a whizz down the A505 to see Dad in Waterbeach, and then a tortuous 3 hour slog on the hottest day of the year (so far)...
June 2026. Armenia. Our week in Armenia comes to an end with a late flight home to Luton, and who doesn’t dream of arriving home at Luton Airport at 2am in the morning ? But first, Mrs RM has got a “short” tour planned before a dash to the airport. Quite a lot packed into a “short” £15 tour, I thought. “You SURE...
June 2026. Kond. Yerevan. One more bar that last night in Yerevan, and a 20 minute uphill slog to Kond. We had no idea why Kond was a recommended detour, beyond it being inaccessible. This pic from We Did It Our Way hardly draws you in, and about all I can tell you about Kond is that it had a kebab takeaway, the...
June 2026. Yerevan. Our final night in Armenia, Sunday proved the busiest of the lot, the streets around Republic Square heaving with families. Pavstos Buzand Street in particular seemed as classy a dining street as anywhere in London W1. Despite the sign opposite Dors Brewpub, it was all notably sober despite Mrs...
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