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
July 2026. Keighley. I could paint you two very different pictures of Keighley. One one hand, one of the UK’s scruffiest towns, litter down every street, laundry hung up across side roads, a virtual absence of vibrant independent trade....
July 2026. Keighley. Well, a quiet night in Keighley Travelodge on Wednesday, quieter than the previous England World Cup Semi-Final, anyway. And then in the morning, as England celebrated qualifying for the Bronze medal match with their...
July 2026. Keighley. You left us at the Airedale Heifer, a mile short of our end point on Day 6 of the Cask Camino, with the prospect of an exciting night in Keighley on World Cup Semi-Final Day*. As we entered Riddlesden, the soles of...
July 2026. Sandbeds. Keighley. Two hours into Day 6 of the Cask Camino; time for a posh pub break on the very edge of Riddlesden, technically in Sandbeds though I can’t see that on the canal walk map. In fact, ChatGPT told me it was the...
July 2026. Bingley, Bradford. Yes, Day 6. Some folk would have finished the Leeds to Liverpool Canal walk by now, especially with a tailwind. Like me, Mrs RM knows it’s about the journey, not the destination (even if that is the Azvex...
July 2026. Kelham. Sheffield. I know jealousy is a terrible thing, but I really am jealous of Simon’s frenetic progress towards completion of the Beer Guide. It’s not always fun, and BRAPA has the really scary stuff still to come...
July 2026. Midhopestones. Sheffield. The Number 57 from the bottom of our hill (doesn’t really narrow it down) terminates at Unsliven Bridge 49 minutes later. I had no idea what Unsliven Bridge was, apart from a sense it was beyond the...
July 2026. Grantham. From Sheffield to Waterbeach to see Dad and back in the same day isn’t ideal. But I don’t really want to be hanging around in Cambridge when I could be back with Mrs RM, planning the next leg of our epic Cask Camino...
July 2026. Rotherham. Visiting Dad yesterday a long-term aquaintance said to me “You must enjoy sitting around relaxing at home“. I was speechless. I’m aware some folk do like spending time at home, but 4 years after completing the Beer...
July 2026. Sheffield. The only problem with keg beer is that you immediately wish you’d had cask, but I wouldn’t admit that on the cesspit that is CAMRA’s Discourse at the moment. Anyway, I found I couldn’t walk past the Gardeners Rest...
July 2026. Sheffield. When we moved to Sheffield during the second lockdown I thought there might be a protracted period of stabilisastion in the pub scene (ugh), but 2021-23 saw plenty of new openings to distract us from the Kelham...
July 2026. Sheffield. It’s that time of year again, when local newspapers, even the subscription ones without clickbait, send reporters out to find your city’s top beer gardens, and invite comments from folk who like to reminisce about...
July 2026. Manchester. I drove into Manchester on the hottest day of the year to help him clear his Piccadilly flat (mainly a guitar and early editions of Kerrang!), a month after his move to the Promised Land of Stockport. I could have...
July 2026. Bradford. Back from the Ginger Goose, Mrs RM said she didn’t want anything to eat, which I took as instruction to head out immediately and come back with a healthy tea. I headed out into Little Germany, a part of Bradford with...
July 2026. Bradford. Back from Bingley at half-five last Monday, Bradford looked a little too quiet. The 10 minutes walk from Forster Square Station to Holiday Inn Express is a row of “value” pubs, one of them offering sandwich, crisps...