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.
July 2026
August 2026
September 2026
Top Words
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- pint
- sheffield
- spoons
- cask
- bass
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- stocktake
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All posts (720)
December 2025. Bolsover. From folk debating the Beast of Bolsover in Wakefield to the actual town where Dennis Skinner was MP for 49 years. Sometimes this blog doesn’t feel completely random A last tick in Derbyshire for GBG26. Eagle-eyed readers will note I haven’t pinked in the whole map, just put a ring round the...
December 2025. Wakefield. I mean, who waits patiently at a station between connections ? 20 minutes, or 45 in Wakefield Kirgate on the way back from Todmorden, is the ideal time for stretching your legs to explore regal street art, deciding which heritage acts to avoid next year, and wondering how a fast growing...
“Man cannot live by The Word alone“. He also needs pints of Bass and a balanced diet, like the one in Wigan’s Swan and Railway (above). Rushing between 3 homes, Mrs RM has done miracles with a slow cooker, but rarely spending 3 days in a row in the same house means there’s barely time to shop, let alone batch cook....
Almost forgot ! I wrote the annual awards edition so promptly I missed the monthly round-up that’s part of your contractual entitlement. And who can forget December ? A month of magic and Martin’s birthday, if short on trips to Merthyr and Motherwell Maidenhead. Sixty (60) different pubs; those points on the travel...
December 2025. Todmorden. “Look after yourself” says the Old Boy in the Fox with whom I’ve bonded over 5 minutes of dissing trad media, which says a lot about the joy of pubs. My state of mind will depend largely on whether Nan Moor’s is open. Unexpectedly closed half an hour ago, I search Instagram for clues. Aha !...
December 2025. Todmorden. I’d really needed to get away, anywhere, after the boredom of the Christmas visits, and Todmorden (via Mirfield) provided the perfect day trip. Two hours, two changes of train, perfect winter Calderdale scenery, and two (2) new GBG ticks in a town I hadn’t visited since 2018, when I...
December 2025. Mirfield. Enough of this “Christmas” nonsense scuppering rail plans, the 27th brings a chance to escape Sheffield and gets some steps in. My route skips Leeds for a change, with a stop in Wakefield Kirkgate’s artistic tunnel, and another in Mirfield. Something to do with Star Wars, I guess. I...
You’ve had the pub awards, now it’s time for Retired Martin’s highlights in travel, food and music. And possibly fashion. Though possibly not. Two maps for you, domestic, and international, with a heavy emphasis on countries nervously looking over the Ukraine and Russian borders. Talking of Soviets, Tirasapol in...
December 26th 2025. Tonbridge. Our boys were keen to get the grandparent visits done early on Boxing Day and head back North, and with no Christmas night entertainment in Waterbeach (they play charades and whist in Histon) we found ourselves on the M11 by 8 sharp. Mrs RM was suddenly alarmed at being at her parents...
December 25th 2025. Cambridge. Up until COVID we’d try to be away every Christmas, as far from turkey dinners as possible. 10 years ago it was Cuba, one year we were in a Travelodge in Workington. This year, duty calls. As you’ve already seen, Dad had the approved roast in Waterbeach, while we feasted on crisps,...
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