30/03/19 - The Elephant Stone on Bredon Hill

Distance - 7.5 Miles
Geocaches - 3
Walk Inspiration - Day Walks in the Cotswolds, Walk 8
Pub - Queen Elizabeth, Elmley Castle


If we had a list of 20 Top Walks, this one would certainly be on it.

We love Bredon Hill.  Gentle(ish) slopes for maximum rewards.  We love it that much, we even managed to convince a 20 year old student to borrow a pair of boots and leave the comfort of his bed.   Stunning views and a pub lunch were promised.   He eventually got both.

What happens when you start a walk early in March

The walk starts in Elmley Castle.   Black and White village where they have long, long memories.  We'll come back to the pub and the significance of a Summer's day nearly 450 years ago.

Black and White Village

Medieval Cross and the Church 

Through the mist, we pick up the Wychavon Way at Castle Hill, skirting around it to gain height into the plantations.   Nothing nicer than the sun making an appearance on a walk.

Through the Plantation

A gradual climb to a long hill top

Despite the fact that we've walked it so often, there's still new things to discover.   A virtual cache has been placed since our last visit and for once, we approach the Elephant Stone in a direction where we can understand it's name.

Can you tell what it is yet?

The tower makes a great place for rest, not that Guide Dog in Training Joy is showing anything other than enthusiasm for the trip.

Resting at the Tower

How to make a Labrador happy

Free running is over for Joy, as we drop down to Woolas Hall.  A handful of new born lambs, with the majority of the sheep absolutely huge.   Come in the next couple of weeks for maximum lamb cuteness.  These fields will be full of them.

Back into the mist

The dry village of Great Comberton is reached.  No refreshment opportunity, so we grab one of the unfound geocaches, rest in the church yard and prepare ourselves for the last couple of miles around the base of Bredon Hill.

Great Comberton Church

The reward?   The pub of course.   I've blogged about it previously.  A pub that was closed for a long time but taken over by the community and now listed in the Good Beer Guide.  They've had a new sign since our last visit 14 months ago, but the 20th of August 1575 is still celebrated.

The day Queen Elizabeth I came to town.

New Sign

In a break from the real ale norm, I was going to try a Lowenbrau.   Dispensing problems meant that one of Munich's finest was not available, even after three jugs worth of froth were extracted.

Never mind, the Wye Valley HPA was in tip top condition.   Free dog biscuits and the sandwiches were out quick enough that the 20 year old student had not realised he had blisters.

End of a Perfect Morning

26/03/19 - Paul Pry, Worcester - Handsome Pub but....

Good Beer Guide Tick - #377

Part of our responsibilities for training a Guide Dog are to expose her to new experiences.

Today, she gets a visit to the Pride of Worcester's Community, The Hive.   A council that has invested in libraries.   My quarterly annual visits are akin to a ram raid on Waterstones but I do demand value from my Council Tax.

Just up along a road called the Butts is the Paul Pry.   This is almost a new experience for me as well the guide dog.   It used to keep very odd opening hours, closing at 6pm.   Since its been in the Good Beer Guide it appears to be operating more conventional hours.

Worcester Loves The Mystery of a Speeding Car

Even from my dodgy night time snap, you can see this is a classic looking boozer.   Worcester is blessed with some truly historical pubs (have a pint where Charles II hid after losing the Battle of Worcester, history fans) but none are quite as well tiled as this Grade II listed beauty.

For more history and a much better photo from 1962, have a look here.

What an entrance

A choice of a packed bar or a more sedate back room.   Joy (the dog, not Mrs M) needs to be exposed to company, so we enter into the bustle.

Its a test of her patience.   There's a house dog that has the run of the place.   He looks like he has escaped from a Tin Tin novel.   He loves the smell of a Guide Dog's privates.

Joy ignores him totally.   The training is going well.

Handsome pub, thriving customers, cute pub dog - lets see how the beer stands up.

We have a choice of three.   A stout (winter's over), a house branded Pale Ale (later determined to be from the Teme Valley Brewery) and a Hobson's Best Bitter. 

Hobsons Best on the Right of the Picture

When its good, its a fine pint.   This was at best average, on cusp of lifelessness.   I'll be interested to see what the 2020 Guide Brings as I remember the blogs from other respected Pub Tickers having much the same opinion a couple of months ago.

So, average pint - best to just soak up the interior and read all about Worcester's Beer Festival.

Joy will be delighted - there are other places here still to be discovered.

Lovely Mahogany Bar Surround

23/03/19 - Drinking in Macclesfield

Bars / Pubs - 5
Good Beer Guide Ticks - #375, 376


Regular blog fans will know that if I am alone and in a strange place, I will be ticking off all the Good Beer Guide Pubs in that strange place.   Tonight, I am with two friends, who as much as they like their beer, are not as obsessed by lists.   It will be interesting to see if they agree with the bible.

First off, our accommodation.   Meticulous research (and budgets) has us in the Travelodge.   Google Maps shows that parking is directly opposite the hotel.   Normally.

The Carny have come to town

Its carny carnage.   Gangs of teenage kids, vaping the middle of the road.   Incoherent PA announcer presumably saying things like "Scream if you want to go faster".   Over a Craig David back beat.   I have to take the photo from inside the foyer, in case a youth screams paedo at me.   Paul and Gav do the honours.

We need a drink.

The Treacle Tap, Sutherland Street, Pentrick Brewing Soma

I'm fairly sure that Paul and Gav have not been to a Micro Pub before.   It's kind of nice to see how they handle it.   A stare at the bar pumps, provides no inspiration.   A longer stare at the chalkboard to read the kegs.   Paul buckles first and says "I'll have what your having".   Gav goes off piste and orders a German Wheat Beer and then has his confidence shattered by being asked if he wants a half, a 2/3rd or a pint.   He settles for a half, as the 2/3rd is the same as the pint - due to till error.

We enjoyed the complementary nuts.

Inside a former Saddlery Shop

George and Dragon, Sutherland Street, Robinsons Unicorn

These two visits were on the way from where we eventually parked to the hotel.   Tiled flooring led us to a standard pub experience.   Robinsons is never the most exciting of beer ranges, but the Unicorn was in perfect condition and the chat was centered about the collective noun for three of them.

A blessing of Unicorns.

Waters Green Tavern, Waters Green, Barnsley Bitter

All 5 Macclesfield Good Beer Guide entries are loaded into Google Maps.  We've ticked off one at the Treacle Tap and this is the 2nd. 

A traditional boozer, with traditional punters offering a wide range of ales.   No chalkboards offering descriptions but little jam jars showing the colour.

In the Midlands we have a range of pubs under the stewardship of Black Country Ales.   This no nonsense approach to pubbing reminded me very much of them.

Last of tonight's photos.

Voodoo Cocktail Bar, Mill Street, Brooklyn Lager

This is where things get a little odd.   We stopped at a functional but instantly forgettable locals pub (White Lion?) and then, having googled best Indian in Macclesfield, had our tea at the Gurkha Dining Rooms.

Embolden by hot spices and replacing the sweat lost from a 12 mile walk with real ale, my companions demand that I do not drag them another mile to the Park Tavern for what they suggest might be another "old mans pub"

Ever keen to maintain morale, I put myself in their hands.

This is the first time I have been to a bar that bases its decor on a hybrid between the Mexican Day of the Dead and Voodoo.   To make sure all religious bases are covered, a number of the walls have upside down crucifixes.

Black magic is indeed at work.   My lager was brown.

Mash Guru, Black Wallgate, Marble Arch Brewery Bitter

It's good to open yourself up to new experiences.   This is an absolute cracking little cellar bar, where the promise of live music seduced us.

And who would have thought it would also have Pint of the Night.    Most respectable beer fans have Manchester's Marble Arch as a destination visit.   It was a surprise to find one of their brews in a club setting, kept in such great condition.

The band came on at 10:30.   They did not disappoint.  An eclectic and appreciative crowd covering a broad age range made for a cracking atmosphere.

We stayed long enough to ensure they had turned the waltzers off back at home.

23/03/19 - Shining Tor, Cat and Fiddle No More

Distance - 12 Miles
Walk Inspiration - Trail Magazine, April 2005, Walk 3
Geocaches - 6
Pub - None

In normal conditions, this would be the best walk in an occasional series "Adventurous Pub Walks in the Peak District".   You can guess what's coming.   The only pub on route has been closed for four years.

A real shame.   The Cat and Fiddle is that iconic, its even named on the OS Map.   It was the 2nd highest pub in England.  Who knows where that accolade is held now?   I'm glad to have visited it in my early blogging days.

The scenery and walking remain as timelessly excellent as ever.

Due to Sat Nav confusion, where I mistook my cars directions at a hair pin bend near Derbyshire Bridge for "drive along a public footpath", we don't make the suggested parking at Errwood Reservoir.   With the C&F dominating the view on its high ridge, we make for a lay-by there instead.   Its adds maybe a mile and a half to the overall walk.   At the end of the day, not all members of my party are entirely happy with this.

The bit of bonus path on top of Stake Side

We head down Stake Side, across moorland and then through woods to reach a minor road at Goyt's Moss.   Acting the good Samaritans, three of us help push a camper van that has got trapped in mud.  It contained the most laid back antipodeans you could hope to meet.   I am not 100% sure they even wanted assistance, but once Paul had decided we were helping, that was that.

More Moorland walking up the other side of the valley, where we take advantage of the open access rules to head dead North along Burbage Edge.   Stunning views to the right over Buxton.

Views over Buxton

Wildmoorstone Brook provides more superb walking to Errwood Reservoir.   Bleak, lonely and blissfully quiet.

2/3rds of the Camper Van Rescuers

Errwood Reservoir

A near complete Circuit of Errwood reservoir and we're up into the grounds of Errwood Hall - a collection of Victorian ruins.   We don't get to see the main ruins of the hall but on the way to Pym Chair, the footpath does take us to a little curio.

The Shrine

Entry can be gained.   There's some religious iconography and a little book to record your visit, where we learn that someone has got engaged there today.   I'm more interested in the little book in the nearby geocache.

Pym Chair provides endless views over the moorland and a long, straight and often flagstoned footpath past Cat's Tor to Shining Tor - the highest point in Cheshire.

Shining Tor, with the more handsome Shutlingsloe in the background

There's not much to mark the flat summit of Shining Tor - a trig point the otherside of a wall and a much needed bench to finish lunch off and to toast a county top with Paul's single malt.

We'll say nothing of the grumbling once we exceed the 10 miles that I said the walk would be.

Back at the Cat and Fiddle to record it for posterity.   There may be a chance it will reopen.  The fixtures and fittings are all there - a peer through the windows revealed the furniture and a pool table, rendering the pub with a feel of abandonment similar to the Marie Celeste. 

2nd Highest (former) pub in England

Stone Inlay

Gav, feeling fiddled on this particular Real Ale Pub Walk

17/03/19 - Heart of England Way - Stage 24 - Pebworth

Distance - 7.5 Miles
Pub - The Masons Arms, Pebworth
Geocaches - 8
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, Stage 22, Stage 23


Stage 24, so I must to be two years into my monthly circular walks on the Heart of England Way.

I am now in the hinterland between the Forest of Arden and the Cotswolds, the ridge of which I can see in the far distance.   Unfortunately, this means that I am in Evesham Vale - where the walking earns its title, pedestrian.

There are mysteries though - and we will come onto the Masons Arms at Pebworth, following a brief summary of the walk.

The landscape is as flat as a pancake, as I head North East from Pebworth to Long Marston.   A few unfound geocaches and for the 2nd day running, new born sheep to remind me that Spring is here.  Two weeks until my favourite day of the year - marked on every calendar as "British Summer Time Begins".

Shy New Borns at Court Farm

Long Marston is one of Shakespeare's drinking towns but I don't get as far as the 2nd Masons Arms of the day.   A long high street and some thatched houses but it's nowhere near as pretty as Dorsington, with a moated manor house and a more gentle feel.

Dorsington - Chocolate Box Little England

An uneventful journey back to Pebworth - more signs of new woodland being created with the plantings at Becks Woods but little worthy of description.

A walk that can only be described as functional.  Nothing of interest until the Church.

Daffs are out at Pebworth

So back to Pebworth's Masons Arms.

If you type Pebworth Pubs into Google Maps, it reveals nothing.   However, if you know its name, it will be revealed - without a Google Review or additional information.   Pubsgalore, Beerintheevening and even Tripadvisor have no information.   Camra's Whatpub has a single line - Pub Reopened in 2018, after being closed for two years.   We await further information.

My job to inform them about the pub that doesn't want to be found.

Mystery Pub

First thing - don't enter through that white porch at the front.  I ended up in someones front room - no sign of any pubby paraphernalia.   Like a bar.

A quick exit, feeling like a cat burglar, and in through a door to the side.  Hurrah - a bar, but unmanned with no customers.

Is it still a pub?   A bar man comes and it looks like we are in action. 

Three real ales on - Spitfire, Butty Bach and the selected Butcombe Rare Breed - which was in fine condition.

The barman disappears and leaves me to alone for a unique experience.   Alone, in someone's house, wondering when the last punter came in.

Marie Celeste of Pubs

Butcombe Rare Breed - under a map of Africa

I'd finish by saying "use it or use, people of Pebworth"  but I fear they may have already made up their minds.

16/03/19 - Geocaching the Rocks

Distance - 11.5 Miles
Geocaches - 40/42
First Cache
Good Beer Guide Tick # 374 - The Harewood End Inn


The good news is that the weather was not as bad as expected.   There was a smattering of heavy rain, that naturally stopped the minute I had struggled into my Berghaus Deluge over-trousers but little could protect me from the wind.   It blew a right old hooley.

I'm here because the cache count for March stood at 6.   Which meant that I had ticked more Good Beer Guide entries than found tupperware.  An imbalance that had to be addressed.

So I find myself in Little Dewchurch for the closest unworked major trail to home.   Parking at the Village Hall and thinking long and hard about whether I was brave enough to venture out.

The geocaches are named after films of Dwayne Johnson, AKA The Rock.   If it had come up in a pub quiz, I would never have guessed he had made so many films.   The walking is all along quiet lanes - so I was pleased to be out the mud.  I should have guessed the cache containers before heading out.   I can only assume that Wilko's offer multi purchase discount.

The Terrain

The Prizes

The lanes take us close to the River Wye on a couple of occasions.  Its in flood and has claimed Cache 33, which now resides at the bottom of Davy Jones Locker.   I was that desperate for the smiley, I immersed by arm into the water but alas, it has floated away.

River Wye is not meant to be this broad.

The route twice takes us into a hamlet called Carey.   On my OS Map, there is the Big Blue Cup of Joy but I never thought for a moment that the pub would still be a going concern.   I arrived at the Cottage of Content at 11:50am and could have waited ten minutes for the opening.   Looked a lovely little place and stickers on the door showed that it was a 2017 Good Beer Guide Entry.

Cottage of Content - surprisingly a going concern

Midday Opening and plenty of trophies

I'd completed my research for post walking refreshments - not noticing that Little Dewchurch has a pub, the Plough.   It made me chuckle that the new estate next to it has been called the Furrows.

Instead, I used lanes similar to those walked to get to the Harewood End Inn, an ancient coaching house on A49 Ross on Wye to Hereford Road.

After adding 40 caches to March's total, I can add another Good Beer Guide Tick.

Good Beer Guide Pub Tick #374

Functional

It's past is probably more interesting than its present - a two real ale pub, catering for the dining crowd and a couple of locals, camped at the bar and no doubt there for the day.

On the walls, you can read bills of sale, showing the pub was first documented in 1627, where the rent was a pair of capons at Christmas time.

In the present, you can choose between Tribute and Swan Gold, dine on tuna sandwiches served on a chopping board (We Want Plates!) and watch Palace lose to Watford in the FA Cup.

Thanks to GrumpyAlan getting my numbers up!

9/03/19 - Canterbury Ales - Ticking off the Good Beer Guide Pubs

Pubs - 4
Good Beer Guide Ticks #370 - 373

Two nights in Canterbury, a previously unvisited City.   Two nights to drag Mrs M from pillar to post to get as many of the 6 Good Beer Guide ticks available, before she files for divorce.

New Inn, Havelock Street, Ghost Ship

Friday, and the weather is grim.   It's a battle against the wind and rain to arrive at the this back street free house, outside the protection of the City Walls.

New Inn, Freehouse

One thing that Kent can export to other counties is the friendly greeting that we received in several of the pubs visited.   The land lady sits at the end of the bar and makes a real fuss of two wind swept strangers.   And this makes it all worth while.

Once we've got our bearings, we settle down in this traditional terrace boozer.   The pump clips are examined and I go for a fruity Adnams Ghost Ship.    One letter out from the viz profanisaurus entry that always made me laugh.  You can guess the letter that needs changing from the description.

.......of which there is no trace when one stands up and turns around to admire one's work.

A functional local's pub.

Ghost Ship Below the Hops

The Thomas Tallis Alehouse

Now, I've been to a few micropubs and converted hair salons in Bromsgrove don't really cut it with me for the whole pub experience.

Put one in a C15th Timber Framed black and white building and it very nearly works.

Looking authentic for a Micro

Whenever I am faced by the amazing or the confusing in pubs, I always google Retired Martin's blog to see if there is an experience to compare.  The last time, it was to see if there was a reason for the smell in Luton's Great Northern (the only pub I've been where the Gents smelt nicer than the bar).

Today's query, was to find the bar.

For this three room pub is unique in my pub experience in that it has none.   We entered, went through one room, found the delightful backroom snug and came back on ourselves to where we started.  After two circuits, the locals took pity on us and told us to find a seat and someone would come to take our order.

Which they duly did.

Now here's the problem.   The beers are all listed on a chalk board but there's no tasting notes or description to help with choice.   On one board, the Angels and Demons brewery beer that I eventually chose was labelled Folkestone Best Bitter.   Couldn't find it on Untapp'd but looking at the other board it was labelled Second Coming.

Which is what I think I had, although I will never know with certainty.

Can't add much that Martin hasn't covered but I did find Canterbury's only Gender Neutral toilet.

For Gender Neutral Customers Only

Worth it for the experience.

The Unicorn, St Dunstans Street, Harvey's Sussex Best

Night two.   We have slept well at Lenny Henry's favourite hotel.   We have walked the North Downs Way.   We have been entertained by War Horse at the Marlowe Theatre.

We emerge into the early evening sunshine to find out the Albion have nearly sacked their manager and to find a Skin Head convention at the Lady Luck Pub.   I wish I had had the nerve to have brought your photos.   I don't know if this a Kentish thing, or whether the Skin Heads have been migrating from cities to where the land runs out.   I haven't seen so many since the 70s.

We head on up to the West Gate and find another vintage pub, this one standing since 1604.

More Vintage Boozing

It's all pretty standard stuff inside.   A central island bar, with high stools blocking access to thirsty punters.  But if they're the only two free, we will take them.   It provides a high vantage point for the drama provided by youth challenged for ID.  They all passed.

The beer was bang average.  I'm a big fan of Harvey's Sussex but this wasn't a great example.

The Dolphin, St Radigun's Street, Timothy Taylor Landlord

Just when I think I've had nothing better than average, the best pint in Canterbury is located.

Mrs M is still with me but she makes it clear that this is the last walk she is prepared to take.   The Eight Bells and Foundry Brew Pub will sadly have to wait till our next visit.

Getting dark, anyway

Another friendly greeting from the bar staff, although slightly tempered by the "are we after food or drinks" questioning.   Space appears to be an issue, but although we could do with a snack, we have a table booked at a middle eastern restaurant in 90 minutes time.

So drinks it is and what a perfect example of Timothy Taylor it was.   Might not have been LocALE but when its this well kept, there's few beers finer.

Mrs M, negotiates the desire not to walk again by suggesting that we can have another provided I come back with crisps.

This was my plan until I saw the box of Tunnocks Tea Cakes.   Which apparently don't go as well with Stowford Press as I first thought.  Who knew?

The drinks and "chocolate covered cloud of puff" are enjoyed as the diner's begin to thin out and we can admire the Dolphin's quirkiness more.

Old Motorbike signs, and out of sight, a lot of Michelin Men

09/03/19 - Canterbury City Walk

Distance - 4 Miles
Geocaches - 6
Pub - The City Arms
Walk Inspiration - AA 1001 Family Walks - Walk 306


For a City that's synonymous with Pilgrims, my extensive library of walking routes had only a handful of entries for Canterbury.

A gentle 4 miler from the Premier Inn, via breakfast ate Saffron Cafe, should provide the necessary fresh air before a matinee performance of War Horse and maybe allow us to identify the best of the pubs for the evening.

This is a gentle walk that heads West, via the castle to the flood lands of the Stour Valley Walk.

We'll get closer to the Cathedral on the Return

Castle - closed due to falling masonry

Stour Valley - After the Rain

The Geocaches are along the Stour Valley, providing a distraction from the puddles and passing under the railway to climb Golden Hill.   No views back to the City but we do get an indication of what Kent is famous for - hop fields.

Could be Runner Beans - but this is a Real Ale Walking Blog

As well as the theatre, the dining and the walking, we are of course here to check out the Good Beer Guide Pubs.   The route back into town walks past one of the outliers, the Eight Bells.   Can't tell you much about it, as it's not an early riser, and a back street boozer is never going to convince Mrs M to totter back across the city for a time when it is open.

Like an unfound Geocache, I'll leave it for a another day.

 Mrs M unprepared to come back at night and ask what the sign is all about

We're back within the Town walls.  So much to look for, at and in.   How refreshing to see independent shops and a non uniform high street.   Plenty of fine medieval buildings but the star of the show is both covered in scaffold and charging £13 to get close to.   It remains photographed from afar.

Here's some of the photo highlights.

West Gate - which you can squeeze a Nissan Cross trail through

1500 Building and Boat Trips on the Stour

Gateway to the Cathedral - where they demand money

Butchery Lane - home of the City Arms

Mrs M takes me by surprise by announcing she has a pre-midday thirst and we should go to the pub.  I must be on my holidays.  Google suggests the City Arms is one of the rare non JDW pubs that is open from 10am.   C15th building in the delightful narrow lane shown above. 

A Closer Look at the City Arms

Inside, it's a quirky enough affair, covered in metal advertising.   Beer wise, there's just the two on.  Hobgoblin and Sharps Atlantic, which contrary to popular belief, is not the main ingredient.

Open from 10am but punters have not cottoned on

A functional stop off point.   We'll be back for the Good Beer Guide Ticking after a frankly wonderful experience at the Marlow Theatre.