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. Somewhere near Tonbridge, Kent. In truth, I’d been looking forward to the usual “Meal for Three” from Southborough’s Meows for Michael’s birthday, Mrs Meow is my second favourite lady in the whole world and it’s not even...
June 2026. Royal Tunbridge Wells. I’d left Mrs RM in the cheap Tunbridge Wells Travelodge on Mount Ephraim at 3pm for my dash into West London, and as expected the call about tea came at 17:59 just as I was finishing that pint of Shere...
June 2026. Teddington. London. Two cracking London pubs; one edging the beer, the other the “pub”. Back on the train that does the loop from Waterloo and back via Wimbledon, failing to take the killer shot of the Thames due to being on...
June 2026. London. Another long drive last Wednesday; Sheffield to Waterbeach to see Dad (firmly asleep), then down to Tunbridge Wells ahead of Father-in-Law’s 88th birthday (firmly awake and raring to go). There’s some longevity genes...
June 2026. Sheffield. Let the record show that I spent last Tuesday afternoon with Mrs RM at Meadowhall Shopping Centre, and spent nothing. There is nothing I want to buy now I’ve bought my annual pair of Riekes, though I’ll happily...
June (finally !) 2026. Wetherby. Monday morning brings us to Wetherby, famed for the lack of a railway station, a Sam Smiths (without sign) seemingly closed longer than you’ve been alive, and a wonderful collection of cakes and pies to...
May 2026. Loftus. North Yorkshire. On the last day of Sunday I decided it could wait no longer. Ibo’s Bunker must be ticked before June. For a third time this year I took the campervan to the mining villages of the north coast, parked up...
May 2025. North Yorkshire. There’s been a lot of Yorkshire on this blog this year. I won’t apologise; Yorkshiremen never apologise (I assume, having listeded to Geoffrey Boycott on Test Match Special all those years). Am I a Yorkshireman...
May 2026. Sheffield. While I was in zen mode back in 2022, focused only on completing the Beer Guide before family disaster/pandemic/ash cloud struck again, I’d have got irritated with anyone wanting to pop over to Sheffield to spend a...
May 2026. Kirkstall. Leeds. We’d managed 2 1/4 miles from the start of our Cask Camino before we called it a day due to holes in Mrs RM’s shoes (Neil not Traffic version), but in fairness we clocked up a few steps that day; 972.9...
May 2026. Leeds. Well, you have to start somewhere, don’t you ? Our Cask Camino started on the footpath of the Leeds to Liverpool canal, where a protective Mother Duck had just attacked a cyclist. It would have been understandable if Mrs...
May 2026. Leeds. Just as we get back from Transylvania, Blackpool Jane rejoins the blogosphere with her own tales from the Balkans (here). Mrs RM is in full flow on her own blog, earning commission from the sale of bags that will fit in...
May 2026. Congleton. I’d walked east from Congleton station, along the canal, west along the disused railway line, and now after Bass in the Throstle’s Nest it was a walk past the cemetery into town. I must stop reading gravestones; to...
May 2026. Congleton. A first visit to Congleton in, ooh, four years. That was for a short-lived Brewhouse Tap north of town, and so is the Guide newbie. Excitingly, the Beer Guide describes an exciting “alternative” route to the...
May 2025. Stockport. All journeys lead to Stockport, or at least involve a change from Platform 1 to 3. As you’ll know, the timetables for Cross Country and Northern Rail are curated so that a fit #PubMan can fit in a pint before the...