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
December 2025. Ashford. Kent. The journey from Sheffield (Home 1) to Rye (Home 3) ticked into an 8th hour as we pulled into Ashford International, which I’ve seen far too much of these last two months. 36 minutes between trains, too long...
December 2025. Sheffield. Ely. King’s Cross. London. Not actually a road trip but it took longer than 7hr 41 by rail You’ll be wondering by now what’s happened to my birthday (22nd December, make a note on your new Retired Martin...
December 2025. Manchester. Walking back from the City v Hammers match I got a text from Matthew; “Fancy a beer ?“, which is exactly the sort of thing you hope a child will grow up to ask you. Quosh had recommended a new brewery tap under...
December 2025. Manchester. Normally I meet Matt in Manchester near Piccadilly before a City game, but last Saturday I just fancied getting to the Etihad early and jumped off at Ashbury’s. Note, map above, the astonishing number of sports...
December 2025. Bredbury. Stockport. A flying visit back Home (No. 1) at least gives me chance to do the laundry, discuss viscosity with Will, and get to the final game of the year. The last Saturday before Christmas was always going to...
December 2025. Sheffield. I’ve not much to say about our final stop on Black Eye Friday, but it’s a gorgeous stop, and a favourite of Mrs RM (as long as they don’t say she can’t have a pint of the strong one). She has now told this tale...
December 2025. Sheffield. Leg 4 (of 5) of my attempt to get to the heart of Black Eye Friday in my own city. But first ! I nip into Marks & Spencer’s, ignoring the lure of Alpine Bar, a Top 100 pub as recently as 2021 but which may lose...
December 2025. Sheffield. Will had curated an itinerary for our mini-Sheffield Black Eye Friday crawl. As a southerner, he’d never actually ever heard of Black Eye Friday, but then unlike me he’s not slave to biblically-inspired...
December 2025. Sheffield. Back in Sheffield on Black Eye Friday with just enough time to put the laundry on, open the Christmas cards that will never be reciprocated, and make the sort of arrangements that on Mumsnet would take 3 months....
December 2025. Sheffield. I’d left Mrs RM in Rye (Home 3) to keep an eye on her parents while I popped back on the train to check on Dad and Sunnyside (Home 2). But I also needed to make sure our actual home in Sheffield (Home 1) was...
December 2025. Waterbeach. First off, more pics from our artisanal family Christmas Day, “hosted” (ugh) by Mrs RM in a largely empty Sunnyside with the use of a few pots and pans brought back from Rye. That’s a bit like “cuckoo” brewing...
December 2025.Hollowshore. Faversham. You’ll be wanting to know what Christmas traditions we’ve upheld today, so here’s a photo of our traditional 25th December lunch, houmous, Sensations crisps, mango chutney, baguette and some stew Mrs...
December 2025. Hollowshore, Faversham. Just for Dave, a Christmas Eve post even though I’ve just had 4 pints and a Nepalese curry with my boys. Oddly, there’ll probably be less spelling mistakes than normal. Mrs RM’s actual birthday...
December 2025. Faversham. Just below the station, red P Walking back from the Sun to Faversham Premier Inn on the eve of Mrs RM’s birthday I suddenly realised we’d taken a different route into town that afternoon and missed its most...
December 2025. Faversham. Back in Faversham from Herne, and an early tea on Mrs RM’s eve of birthday. The Sun isn’t in the GBG, but it had the most convincing menu, and it pays to treat a girl to somewhere nice, once or twice....