retiredmartin
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.
Latest Posts
June 2026. Yerevan. Armenia. After three years of delving ever further into eastern Europe and onto the Caucasus, you learn not to have too many preconceptions about countries you only know from Eurovision and the preliminary rounds of...
June 2026. Yereven. This is Mrs RM’s tick list for essential sites in the Armenian capital, denoted by camels. Reader, I saw zero camels in Armenia. These mini-posts are mainly to jog Mrs RM’s memory of an epic Yerevan mop-up day last...
June 2026. Yerevan. Armenia. Breakfast at our “Boutique” hotel was certainly colourful; it was the only free breakfast we managed that week, with no food till 9am and those early tour starts. Tucked just outside the ring road, next to...
June 2026. Yerevan. Armenia. Just the hour late, our tour bus returned to its slot opposite the Yerevan Opera House just past 7, and we turned down tickets for Sleeping Beauty just to bring you reports on the craft bar scene. We’ve found...
June 2026. Armenia. Back in bed from the Southern Armenia 16 hour slog, a 6am alarm on Saturday morning for another early tour was as welcome as a Maidenhead micro closure. But this northern exploration, centred on the lakes and forests,...
June 2026. Armenia. I’ll be honest, by the 5th day of our Armenia trip last week I was knackered. Or specifically, my legs were. Sunday afternoon – 4 hours drive down to Waterbeach then Luton Airport. Monday – 5 hours in window seat on...
June 2026. Yerevan. A second night in Gyumri, exploring a Soviet amusement park, but deciding against the wheel, before heading back to the wonderful station on Thursday morning. I don’t think it actually sells tickets or anything, but...
June 2026. Armenia. Churches, beer, statues, mountains, lakes. But what about Armenian food ? Well, there’s no obvious Chinese takeaway scene, but loads of pastries, and particularly good salads, notably at the smart Yaghli family diner...
June 2026. Gyumri. Armenia. Pubs, art, weird food, churches….what else is there ? Armenia certainly has the churches, and a fair few folk (FFF) have questioned whether what there is to do if you don’t like touring monasteries. Gyumri’s...
June 2026. Gyumri. Armenia. Too hot to blog last night, a week ago in northern Armenia it was too hot to go trudging round back streets and scrubland in 33 degrees, but I always accept a challenge from my mate ChatGPT. “Given your track...
June 2026. Gyumri. Armenia. As so often, the demographic chart for Gyumri tells you quite a lot. A five-fold increase in 60 years, followed by a halving of the population after natural disaster and the demise of the Soviet empire in...
June 2026. Gyumri. Armenia. Well, over the border in Armenia, actually, but we need to recognise the genius of Tony Joe White at every opportunity. Mrs RM had really wanted to take that midnight train to Georgia from Yerevan, but on...
June 2026. Gyumri. Armenia. Stepping outside the Alexandrapol Palace at 8pm you see the length of the rebuilt main square up to St Saviours Church, but our thoughts are only on Untappd check-ins and healthy food, so it’s good that the...
June 2026. Gyumri. Armenia. Unexpectedly, the two carriage “commuter” train left Yerevan bang on time, and arrived in Gyumri bang on time, 3:05 hours later. With that sort of reliability Armenian Rail should take over Northern Rail; it’d...
June 2026. Yerevan. Armenia. Mrs RM had curated (ugh) an exhaustive, and exhausting, itinerary for our seven nights in Armenia, on the basis we probably wouldn’t be back unless Manchester City play FC Noah in a qualifier for the...