26/01/18 - London Countryway Stage 11 - Windsor to Marlow

Distance - 15 Miles
Start - Windsor
Finish - Marlow
Geocaches - 12
Pubs - Kings Arms, Cookham and the Butchers Tap, Marlow
Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8, Stage 9, Stage 10


Stage 11 of the London Countryway, the longest walk and quite a different feel to the previous stages.   Starting at Windsor, I pick up the Thames Path and stick to it.   A whole day of river walking, with the only exception a short climb onto Winter Hill.

It's kind of a shame to leaving Windsor immediately after arriving.  Its a short hop from the Central station down to the river and over the pedestrian bridge to Eton, shedding a tear that 9am on a Saturday morning is too early for a Good Beer Guide tick at the George.

Still, the view from the opposite side of the river is impressive.

Windsor Castle from the North Bank

Route finding is not going to be an issue today.  Fortunately, I have a combination of plentiful geocaches and some magnificent architecture to admire.   The houses on the riverbank on the way to Maidenhead are stunning.   And if a new purchaser doesn't like the architecture, they simply pull the old house down and build one they do like.

Geocaching on the Thames Path

A hotel, next to Bray Studios (where they filmed all the Good Hammer Horrors)

Less Care spent on their boats

Coming into Maidenhead

Timings continue to be wrong as I cross the Bridge into Maidenhead.   It's 2.5 hours since I left Windsor and I am both ready for a break and have completed my research.   The Grenfell Arms is another potential Good Beer Guide tick that's a 1/2 mile detour from the route.   Alas, this opens at 12pm, so not wanting to wait 30 minutes, its a sad tale of washing my sarnies down with water.  At last it takes my mind off the only bit of road walking completed today.

The next stretch is described by the Geocache listings as the finest part of the whole of the Thames Path.   I'd only caveat that with the bit through the City but its probably correct.   There's a series of weirs, islands and the hanging gardens of Cliveden on the opposite side to marvel at.   I finished the walk with a burning desire to re-read Jerome K Jerome's "Three Men in a Boat".

Thames Path upstream of Maindenhead is a delight

The next town is Cookham.   I may not be able to afford to live there but I can just about afford to have a drink there.   Its a beautiful place with plenty of refreshment options that I narrow down to a choice between the Bel and Dragon and the Kings Arms.   Both ancient and handsome but the Kings Arms has better advertising.

Rebellion IPA sold in the Kings Arms.  £4.40 a Pint

But is was £4.40 well spent

A lovely old C17th Coaching house with a roaring fire and a friendly landlord who took an interest in my travels.   He also reminded me that Marlow is where the Rebellion Brewery is, although to be fair, there is a clue on the glass.   This could be added to the end of the trip, should I get bored of hunting Tom Kerridge.   He's much better at hide and seek these days.

Onwards and upwards for the final leg..... literally, as I have the only climb of the day to Winter Hill.  It promises more than it delivers.  The OS Map signifies a viewpoint but you can't see much through the trees.

Cock Marsh outside of Cookham

Winter Hill Views

I've not been to Marlow before and I'm pleased the route creator, Keith Chesterton, chose this place as the leaving point to enter the Chilterns.   Its a much bigger town than I expected and crossing the stunning suspension bridge next to the church raises the spirits when you are on weary legs, 14 miles into a trek.

Crossing into Marlow

View from the Bridge

Much as Rick Stein is synonymous with Padstow, Tom Kerridge appears to own Marlow.   I had a long conversation on the train in about whether the Hand and Flowers would be suitable for a man that is would only be interested in a Michelin starred restaurant if the beer is good.  Google maps showed it as Greene King, so this is unlikely.    My fellow passenger reeled off all the places in town that Tom owns and suggested that the Butcher's Tap might be more up my street.

This triggered memories from an article in the Times about how the butchers shop continues as a pub.  I had to investigate.

Doing what it says on the Tin

I'm not sure what this says about the other pubs in Marlow but it is packed.   And its exactly what you would expect.   A long refrigerated butchers display - with some outstanding looking joints - runs one length of the shop.  In the middle of the bar/fridge unit, are two hand pulls, alongside a chiller containing sausage rolls that even the hardiest #DryJanuary self denier would struggle to resist.   The shop's opposite side is a packed house of occupied traditional pub tables.

I was forced to share seating arrangement but there was only enough meat based pastry snacks for one.

Tightly packed punters meant I was closer to my Rebellion Gold than I would have liked

It looks like Tom has hit on a winning formula.

20/01/19 - Heart of England Way - Stage 22 - Into Bidford

Distance - 8 Miles
Geocaches - 17
Pub - Bulls Head, Bidford-on-Avon
Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8, Stage 9, Stage 10, Stage 11, Stage 12, Stage 13, Stage 14, Stage 15, Stage 16, Stage 17, Stage 18, Stage 19, Stage 20, Stage 21


A lengthy stretch for this month's leg on the Heart of England Way.   It's a simple walk from Bidford on Avon to Alcester - heading North along the River Arrow and following the Heart of England Way back.   Unfortunately, this is a stretch that I have walked relatively recently on the Cakes and Ales Trail but doing it the opposite way may present new views.

I'll do the new bit first.

Picking up the intriguingly named Marriage Hill to the west of the town, the route provides a good vista of the housing expansion taking place.  Plenty of unfound geocaches, as I pick up the Arrow to deliver me to the outskirts of Alcester.

Looking over Bidford from Marriage Hill

The interesting part of the River Arrow

By rights, I should head into Alcester now to pick up the Heart of England Way - but having walked it many times and relatively recently, I decide to take a previously unwalked bridleway below Oversley Hill and pick up the HOEW at Oversley farm.   Three previously unfound caches may have had something to do with this decision.

Onto the HOEW - an obstacle course of stiles through farmland and horse grazing fields.   Timed correctly, I could have revisited the Fish (wacky) or the more traditional and Good Beer Guide endorsed Broom Inn.   Today, I am too early but there is music coming from a potential new micro pub.

Nailed on for the 2020 Good Beer Guide

Soon back in Bidford on Avon, emerging from the back lanes at the Church and the previously unvisited Bulls Head.  It's 11:55am and hanging around a pub for lunch time opening is never a great look, so I head down to the river for a final cache.

Bidford on Avon

Sun past the Yard Arm, or whatever the saying is, I add the Bulls Head to the list of pubs visited, having previously frequented the Frog and the Bridge.   The Royal is now closed down and the Falcon Inn is the stuff of Shakespearean lore.

Bills Head, Bidford on Avon

I'm still the first punter through the door.  Two real ales on - Doom Bar and Tribute and I was pleased to see the landlord pull through the first couple of glasses worth before handing over a reasonable example.



A sneak peek at Stage 23 and this looks a familiar walk too.   I'll have to find a way of getting a unique experience from it.

13/01/19 - Holmes Chapel Bottle Bank

Distance - 4.5 Miles
Geocaches - 24
Good Beer Guide Tick - #359


Today's walk could have left me in no position to gain Good Beer Guide Tick #359.   I have a feeling that even after a small amount of rain, this would be a quagmire.  We've had very little recent rainfall and I still feel like I have half of Cheshire stuck on my boots.

Holmes Chapel has a place in my heart.   I spent over a year working at Radbrook Hall for Barclays and even after testing all local hotels, Cranage Hall was the place of choice.   For restaurants and entertainment, we used to head north to Knutsford.  Holmes Chapel itself remained relatively undiscovered but noticing they have an Entry in the GBG, I set it as today's walking base.

A 24 Geocache trail had something to do with this.   I need to get 2019's numbers kicked off, only having found 2 last week. 

The trail is well thought out and the hides are simple enough, with a few variations - inlcuding a great one that involves a dog lead and a tool.   Non caching blog readers - use your imagination :-)

The walk passes a variety of terrain - the boggy hams of the River Dene, dairy fields, some woodland, Jodrell Bank and Twemlow Viaduct.    All Cheshire Gentle.

I managed to find 24 but not all on the trail.   Thanks to Johnboy-A1 for the first round of the year.

Walk is a loop - starting alongside the River Dene

What I am here for

Jodrell Bank from a Dairy Field

Twemlow Viaduct

A quick bang of the boots and I am off to look for refreshment.

The Bottle Bank is a about as unpubby a building that you could hope to find.   In fact, it took me a while on Google Maps Street View to even identify the former Natwest Building as my target.   The Barrels should have given it away.   Divine inspiration provided outside.

Not so lonely

My initial thoughts were "Oh No, another micro pub".   It rubs it in when there's a proper pub building over the road.

Gazing at an Ember from a Micro - How very 2019

But there is more to the bottle shop than meets the eye.   The front room is as expected - a half off licence, half bar but the casks are proper hand pulls, rather than gravity fed barrels and the chalk board identifies 4 cask and around 8 keg.   I had neglected to bring my glasses with me so hastily made a keg decision of a North Brewing Co. Small Stout.

An interesting beer - very fizzy and very cold.

A look around to see what to report on...  plenty of fridges, music (hurrah!  Courtney Barnett taking away the fridge hum), a little table mounted pot to pop in crisp packets and a rack of (expensive) gins that you could purchase on premise and have safely stored in the ex-banks vaults for future consumption.

Gin Palace - £12.50 corkage charge

So this prompted further exploration to find the vaults and low and behold, a whole new and very pubby room around the back.

Safe Keeping

The hand pulled cask, Courtney and pubby back room have left me to declare that this indeed the finest Micro found on my travels.

06/01/19 - Stroud's Good Beer Guide Pubs

Pubs - 4
Good Beer Guide Ticks - #356-358


A first time visit to the centre of Stroud.  We were impressed by the town centre's size and sense of independence.   With the exception of the McDonalds and Vue Cinema, it in no way felt like an identikit of the usual chain shops and coffee houses.

If only it wasn't so hilly.   We didn't quite make it all four of the Bible's recommendations.  The Prince Albert remains to be discovered another day.

The Little George, George Street, Stroud Brewery Tom Long

Mrs M's first experience of a micro pub.   Look at how keen she is to get in.   She nearly sent the bins flying.

First in buys

Probably correct that it should mirror all of my previous experiences in micro pubs.   Mismatched furniture, enthusiastic host, gravity fed ales, no music and no punters.   The atmosphere, as we listened to the hum of the beer coolers, was just too oppressive.

Maybe the first Sunday in January was not the best time to come.  I wish them all the best.

Just Add Punters

Crown and Sceptre, Horns Road, All of the Uley Range

A back street boozer that you need to show some dedication to reach.  It's all uphill from town, walking through narrowing terraced streets until the lights hail the oasis that is the hat and stick (as they are known on Twitter).

Exactly my sort of pub.   Full of nick nacks, interesting beers and people.   Mrs M, not used to provincial pubs on a Sunday is quite incredulous that all the punters are drunk.   Of course, she's correct, but its exactly the same at 7pm in our local.  She's just too busy watching corrie.

An Oasis in an unlit street of terraced houses

We'll start with said punters.   At least three are perched at the bar attempting the crossword.  In terms of potential answer negotiation, its up there with Brexit.   There's a goth girl who alternates between the crossword solving to have a gentle sway in the middle of the room to some decidedly non goth music.

The most sartorial punter is a gentleman of around 50 who has come dressed as an early 80's American student.  He has bright red bumper boots and a red/white baseball coat with an interesting motif.  Not wishing to cause attention, I send a FB message to Mrs M detailing what I think it could be.

Of course she waits for a gap between goth enjoyed disco to bellow out all confused "Sonic the Hedgehog holding a bottle of Coke".

I may have to go back to solo based pub ticking expeditions.

Stroud, Proud and Sonic

Of course we stay for a long time.  Far more entertaining than the Micro.   This provides the chance to try the range of Uley beers - having only previously had the bitter.    The Pigs Ear really needs to be tasted to believed.   I've never before had a beer that smelled and tasted of apples.   Unique.

Perfect pub and reinforcement of the reason why I seek out the non obvious pubs of the land.

Golden Fleece, Nelson Street, Stoud Brewery Tom Long

Not on the Good Beer Guide but we needed a break from the walk, even if downhill.   The smart internal appearance and bright lights, illuminating a couple sharing a bottle of red and playing board games could not be ignored.

Punters - plenty and you wait your whole like to see a man in a pub with a Mohican and you find a pair.   Not even sat together.

Just the one real ale on but the hand pulled Tom Long knocked the previous gravity fed into a cocked hat.

Very beautiful on the insde

Ale House, John Street, Siren Craft Brewery Broken Dream Breakfast Stout

Back into the town and we seek out the Ale House.   It's huge and obviously converted from an important building.   Think independent JDW.   We spend an age arguing about what the building used to be and my argument on "Bank" was debunked by reading the bible on our home return.

A grade II listed, built in 1837 and used by the Poor Law Guardians.

Needed a photo that showed off its magnificence better

The perils of pub crawling in unknown towns is not knowing the best time to visit.   Mid way in the pub quiz can be filed under "not optimum".   Firstly, we had to stop ourselves from going "shhhh" as the concentration levels were palpable.  Secondly, we would have like to join in, if we had been on time.

Not that we would have done any good.   We listened with intent, with no danger of blarting out any answers.   I mean, here's a sample - "The Angel Falls in Venezuela are the highest waterfall in the world, but what is their height in feet?"

The pub quiz in my local would confuse the punters with "Think of a country that begins with V"

We have the perfect place to contemplate our stupidity - wonderful leather Chesterfields in front of a roaring open fire. 

I could have stayed for hours watching the flames dance, embracing #tryanuary with my first ever "Breakfast Stout".  6.5% really is the only way to kick off the day.

The fiendish Quiz Master and the Ale House Wares

2019 Good Beer Guide ticking starts with a bang and sets the standard for other towns and cities to match.

06/01/19 - Woodchester and Selsley Common

Distance - 4 Miles
Geocaches - 1
Walk Inspiration - 100 Walks in Gloucestershire, Walk 59
Pubs - 2


The Romans certainly knew how to pick their spots.   The OS Map shows that there was a roman villa here.   Nothing visible from the ground but some Internet based research reveals the Orpheus Pavement - the largest Roman mosaic floor north of the Alps.   It's been kept undercover since 1973, so I have no photos to bring you but feel free to click on the link.

We're in Stroud for the night, primarily to pick off the Good Beer Guide Pubs in the evening but first, work up a thirst.   Planning was a little complicated.... Mrs M wants a good post walk Sunday Lunch and my first attempt at a route, the Star Inn at Whiteshill, met with disaster when a telephone booking revealed "we've given the Chef January off".

Instead, we start from The Old Fleece in Woodchester - 4.5 stars on TripAdvisor.

Into Woodchester proper, where there is a stunning church.  Sunday morning, so we get the works - peeling bells and a congregation exiting in their finery.

Woodchester Church

Stroud is famous for its five valleys, so we know we have stiff climbs today.   Its a lung buster up to Lagger Lane to pick up Dingle Wood.

Stroud Up and Downs

Our aim is Selsley Common.   I am amazed that I have not been here before - its a wide open space, with super views overlooking the Severn Estuary.   I've walked extensively in the Cotswolds  - which causes maximum confusion when I see a sign for the Cotswold Way.   Mrs M no longer believes me when I say I walked this route in 2007, my first Long Distance Path.   She thinks I spent 6 days in the pub, which is not beyond the realms of possibility.

Further analysis of the map shows that the Cotswold Way must have been re-routed.  Its marked further west, coming through King's Stanley and gaining the escarpment at Pen Hill.

Selsley Common - A wide open space

Severn Estuary Views

Cotswold Way Confusion - Have I been here before?

With the table not booked for another 90 minutes and only 1 mile left to walk, we have time to stop off at the Bell, Selsley.   A pub that welcomes walkers, provided they remove their muddy boots.   In our socks, we take high stools at the bar, passing the time by not being seduced by a Wickwar Wessex Brewery Loyalty Card (I only come across their wares once a year) and counting the gins.

Wickwar Bob (drink, not person) was in fine condition.

Its a two pub walk

Downhill all the way now on sunken paths, where you can use your imagination to consider if they were once walked by Italian legionnaires in sandals.

Now owned by ramblers in Goretex

Back at the the Old Fleece, Woodchester.  Still 30 minutes before our estimated arrival time.   It's some sort of Pub of the Year, but we're not sure who provided the accolade.

SNJ - Stroud News and Journal?

Its a Grade II Listed building and been running as a coaching house for 250 years.  It's still popular and booking is advised.   The Sunday lunch was spot on.  Otter Amber not quite so praise worthy.

Two courses and the promise of an afternoon nap in a Premier Inn is a perfect way to end any ramble.

The Old Fleece, Woodchester

05/01/19 - The Lock at Wolverley and Kingsford Country Park

Distance - 5.5 Miles
Geocaches - 1
Walk Inspiration - AA 1001 Family Walks, Walk 453


Conclusive proof that there is no need to travel all day to find a good walk.   This is just perfect and only 15 minutes from home.

We start at the Lock in Wolverley, a Pub that gets things just right.   We'll come back to that.

Early walking is easy, along the Staffordshire/Worcestershire canal as it follows the course of the River Stour, often through dramatic sandstone cut-throughs.

Mrs M, Child #2 and Joy the Guide Dog in Training

The only downside of walking so close to home is that I have nearly found all the caches.  There is just one unfound for my first smiley of 2019.   And if you are only going to find one geocache, then it ought to be a classic ammo can.

1 Down, 999 to get in 2019

The canal is left behind at Cookley's steel works, where we join the North Worcestershire Path into the National Trust's Kingsford Country Park.  Sandy paths through the trees.

Kingsford Country Park

We emerge out the woods at Blakeshall, a collection of two farms and nothing else.  Farmland takes us to Debdale farm - one of those farms where all they seem to do is burn rubbish and leave scattered farm machinery lying around.

Looking away from Debdale farm

Soon back into Wolverley - a place rich in architectural interest and recorded in the Domesday book.

I could have brought you photos of the former law courts, the church on the hill or even the hollowed out animal pound, carved into the sandstone to store lost animals.   Instead, I'll bring the one of the two more fascinating buildings.   The Queens had a poorer review on Tripadvisor for their chips.

The Lock

This former cottage became a pub purely as a result of the canals - with a former owner selling liquid refreshment to the passing bargers.

Fortunately, its all tiled floors - so three sets of slight muddy boots and one quite dirty dog can come in and not make a permanent mess.  We enter into the bar area, the second customers of the day.  The first sat as far from the log burning fire as possible but kept it well fed for us, with frequent top ups.

Perfection - Log Burner, Pint

This is a Marstons pub and has not bothered the Good Beer Guide.  However, it is a Cask Marque accredited pub.   Memorable, as I have earnt my 250th Scan, using the app to scan in the barcode on the certificate just above the bar.   Mrs M is delighted I have another branded pint glass winging its way to me from CM HQ.

The Ringwood Forty Niner was as good as its ever been but the highlight was the food.   How can you make a steak baguette even better?  By being offered either mushrooms or onions.   How can you make a steak and onion baguette even better?   By being offered a choice of three different cheeses.

And TripAdvisor was bang on about the chips.

Guide Dog Joy Enjoyed it too.