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
November 2025. Mayfield. East Sussex. My penultimate East Sussex Beer Guide tick takes us deep into the Weald, but only half an hour from Mrs RM’s in-laws (and Kentish Paul, coincidentally). Mayfield lies deep in the teenage Miss Spencer...
Quite a lot of the essential (i.e. pubbed) Sussex and Kent is doable by train from Rye, but there’s a few new Guide entries, and lots of National Trust properties, miles from a station. I took Mrs RM on a “mystery trip” just before the...
November 2025. Rye, Odd to think we’ve had a caravan in Rye Harbour for 3 years and I hadn’t been to all the town pubs before this last week. Heading back to Landgate from the Globe, Mrs RM had stopped a few yards short, staring at the...
Your brief monthly highlights package. Only forty-five pubs, 21 new GBG entries, in a month of high quality and variety. I almost caught up on the blog, too, though with reading Russ’s comments (thanks Russ) occupying 35% of my time I...
November 2025. Rye. The usual routine. 2 days in Waterbeach, leave a bag of washing in the garage for pick up later, pack light for trip to Rye via London. I cannot believe how much luggage folk drag around the capital. 22 minutes...
November 2025. Norwich. We daren’t travel too far at the moment, with declining parents and unsold properties, so it’s lucky I can get so much joy from an afternoon in a big city walking suburban streets, gazing at street art and...
November 2025. Norwich. 10 minutes out from Norwich market along residential Unthank Road to my new GBG tick, a genuine new pub from the Fat Cat stable rather than an old one you’ve walked past a hundred times and thought “Wonder when...
November 2025. Norwich. I’ve taken more rail journeys these last 3 years than I had in all the previous 57, and despite the overcrowding on the Sheffield to Manchester routes and the unpredictable late cancellations I’m glad to get away...
November 2025. Sheffield. Back from Leeds on Monday morning, quick walk to RM Towers to take the brown bin in, check taps, put heating down, then return to Sheffield station for the train south to Waterbeach. Wash and repeat. The rain...
November 2025. Leeds. My last train back from Leeds to Sheffield would have been a ridiculously early 22:37, with a half hour walk from my gig out in Hyde Park’s student land. Could I possibly make it back ? I asked ChatGPT for my...
November 2025. Leeds. A few minutes at bucolic Bramley station, waiting for the train back to Leeds. It’s late, but is it late enough to Delay Repay ? In Leeds, which is one of the most confusing stations in the UK to escape from, I head...
November 2025. Pudsey. West Yorkshire. Back in Sheffield at the weekend for a couple of days to a) collect post (there isn’t any, except the Caravan Club glossy), b) put the bin out (it’s empty, but habit), c) make sure the heating is...
November 2025. Ely. Two hours to kill in a freezing Ely before the 3 hours back to Sheffield, with all the pubs that would have offered warmth and comfort packed with a Christmas market crowd. Celebrating Christmas ! On the Cathedral...
November 2025. Ely. A late lunch in Ely before the cheapest rail fare back to Sheffield (Again. And repeat). It’s a good job the trains are always late; Delay Repay is main source of income these days Ely is bustling on Saturday...
November 2025. North Walsham. Norfolk. Obviously if this were a beer blog I’d have followed my new North Walsham tick with a return to the excellent Hop, but ChatGPT tells me that 137.2% of my blog views are referrals from...