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
October 2025. Brasov. Five days into our Romanian trip, and it’s time for bears. Mrs RM had decided we could do better than Bran Castle (“a bit Disney), but a visit to Libearty Bear Sanctuary to cuddle grizzlies was a must. What do you...
October 2025. Brasov. Romania. Following lard and brownies at Szimpa Mrs RM needed something more substantial before we left Sfantu Gheorge alone to the tourist rush these last posts will no doubt create. So, for the record (i.e. to jog...
October 2025. Sfântu Gheorghe. Romania. “Not ANOTHER Top 100 pub, Retired Martin !“. Yes, I know I promised that I’d maintain a one in, one out system, so let’s boot out Derby’s Ye Olde Dolphin, which I read has lost its Bass pump. It...
October 2025. Sfântu Gheorghe. Romania. A week in Romania seemed a bit of a risk with Dad and Mrs RM’s folks on the decline; most of our trips have been a 5 day blur. But you need the extra time to tackle Transylvania’s problematic...
October 2025. Brasov. Romania. Four nights in Transylvania, longer than we’d normally spend in one place but Pension Casa Timar was to prove the perfect base to explore the land of impalement and Pale ale*. Brasov is an odd place to...
October 2025. Brasov. Seven days, five cities, 3,568 calories worth of apple strudel. Romania is a gem, easy to negotiate, bar the painfully slow rail network. 2:34 hours on the train to Brasov (pop. 237k) in the centre of the country,...
October 2025. Bucharest. The last of the Bucharest posts, you’ll be delighted to know. If nothing else, Mrs RM will find them useful when she comes to her own more forensic blog and wonders “Where was that fancy meringue ?”. This was...
October 2025. Bucharest. We concluded the quartet of Bucharest taprooms at Hop Hooligans in the (relatively) genteel suburbs east of the University. Yes, a gorgeous looking home for Romania’s best known (more Vocation than Brew Dog)...
October 2025. Bucharest. More cultural and culinary highlights from our 3rd day in Bucharest, as we leave the unprepossessing surrounds of the Ironic Tap, and stumble upon this oddity; “Don’t go in there” I warn Mrs RM. Mrs RM goes in...
October 2025. Bucharest. The Young Boys of Bern had told us that Bucharest’s Ironic Taproom was an essential visit, and as Mrs RM wanted a blog post called “four essential craft bars” it was easy to drag her from the seedier part of the...
October 2025. Bucharest. Mrs RM had devised an ingenious plan to get me to trudge round Bucharest in the drizzle taking photos of Instagrammable sights on our 3rd day. Her blog posts will no doubt cover this stuff in fine detail. Simply...
October 2025. Bucharest. Friday was the Big Tourist Tick Day in Bucharest, and Mrs RM had targeted Caru’ cu Bere as the must visit Romania restaurant. And not just because it was close to Ground Zero and it was raining. Chat GPT had told...
October 2025. Bucharest. Six hours on the Bucharest tourist trail, time for a beer. Luckily for Mrs RM, a brand new bar awaited yards from our coach drop-off. Seven years on from our first trip, the capital has lost a couple of Old Town...
October 2025. Bucharest. “All I remember about that first Bucharest trip is your ****ing craft beer pubs” said Mrs RM angrily. Somewhat unfair, as I distinctly recall it was her making me go in places called “Beer O’Clock” and “100...
October 2025. Bucharest. Romania. Yes ! It’s those forrin muck posts you love ! It’s Mrs RM’s fault. With the old folk heading downhill she’s taking every opportunity to kill the planet fly to Eastern Europe for £20 while we can. A...