31/08/24 - West Midlands Metro Pub Crawl - Part 1

Orange Chips

A Simple Plan - navigate the West Midlands Metro line to have a drink in the nearest pub to every station. Before setting off, I used AI to put together a list, including opening times. There's only one way to validate accuracy and that's to explore. As there are now 35 stations (and extensions planned), I expect this to take a couple of trips. I'll start at one end and introduce a three station gap, repeating until I have reached completion.

#	Station	Nearest AI Recommendation	Actual Nearest
1	Wolverhampton St Georges	The George Wallis	The Wheatsheaf

First things first, the trams dont actually run to Wolverhampton St Georges now, replaced by Wolverhampton Railway Station. It obviously costs too much to replace the branch lines on the map. Never mind, its an easy walk from Pipers Row, which does mean I have to set my first rule. No pub repetition.

The Wheatsheaf is an 11am opener - perfect for my needs on my first visit to the Hawthorns in the new season. A reminder that I am deep in enemy territory, with the ceiling festooned with Wolves flags.

A Marstons House, the Banks Bitter Amber was decent but chilled to the bone. A jukebox blaring out Elvis and his Suspicious Mind. Rather a nice front room, with a fire place and outside seating in a little courtyard. I am off to a decent start and the barstaff called me "Angel" for returning my glass.

The plan is off to a fine start ....

#	Station	Nearest AI Recommendation	Actual Nearest
2	The Crescent	The New Inn	The Horse and Jockey

If you find the "Anvil Headed Lady", you are there

Ha! The Trumpet in Bilston has been on my "to visit" list for an age. Yet the Horse and Jockey is 0.1m closer and I can't be breaking the rules so soon. Bravery required to enter the Horse and Jockey. A pub that is marked as closed on Pubsgalore (how nice to get to declare it open) and having next to no information on WhatPub.

A Guinness ordered and a seat taken to see how to enter the conversation. Of course, all the chat is about Oasis Tickets and it would seem everyone and his brother have been having a go. Hell, I even tried (for my kids) for at least 20 minutes before heading out with better things to do. There was no success for anyone here but my acceptance in their local was gained by recycling twitter jokes.

Don't be sad. You can create your own live Oasis experience at home.

Simply stand 2 immobile action figurines at the end of your garden, drink some warm beer, play any literally Slade single at 33rpm, and set fire to £150.

— Russ Jones (@RussInCheshire) August 31, 2024

Big laughs, but by this time of the day, the joke should have been £357.  

A possibility for the Trumpet when I stop at Bilston High Street.

An enjoyable Guinness

#	Station	Nearest AI Recommendation	Actual Nearest
3	Bradley Lane	The Bradley	The Fiery Grill

AI has got the nearest pub incorrect twice but it really pushes the boat out this time by recommending a pub that doesn't even exist. 

The Bradley: A community pub with a relaxed setting and affordable drinks. Opening hours: 12:00 PM - 11:00 PM 

Sounds lovely. I think I may draw a blank here but Google Maps shows a Fiery Grill not too far of a walk away. If the worst comes to pass, I need lunch anyway. Good news - its definitely a (desi) pub. Bad news, despite advertising all the football action - with a game in flight - it doesn't open until 1pm.

It could have been a spectacular lunch

A chipper around the corner and I lose my orange chips virginity. Honestly, once you have them, you cannot go back to regular. I am ruined for life. Once demolished, there are signs of life at the front and I am the first in for a half of Staropramen. They even turn the TV on for me. An Andi Wieman wonderstrike.

#	Station	Nearest AI Recommendation	Actual Nearest
4	Black Lake	The Queens Head	The Queens Head

AI actually gets one right!

A bit of a trek from Black Lake Station and then I need to convince the bouncer that I can come in.

In the foyer

I stand at the bar without service, until an old boy takes pity on me and says I need to ring the bell. Teenage bar staff appear in seconds to serve me a ropey half of Butty Bach. Looks a lively place on the evening, with an awful lot of karaoke equipment.

File under "Fun Pub".

Or Adult Creche

So, two trads, a desi and a back from the dead, semi-secret community local. A promising start.

The tram whisks me off to the Hawthorns for the annual "I'll give it one more season" game. We're looking good!

30/08/24 - The Crown at Kemerton

Penultimate Worcestershire GBG Tick

The one pub ticking goal I have is to ensure that Worcestershire, my home county, remains "greened".

Three new entries in the 2024 edition and with mere days before 2025 lands, I still have 2 to get.

I best find out exactly where Kemerton is.

Well, it's in the Cotswolds. A good start. Its also in the foothills of one of my favourite places, Bredon Hill. But that is for another day, we are walking on the flat today.

An easy circuit of Westmancote and Overbury, where apart from the pub, churches are the only source of interest.

The surprisingly large for the village size, Kemerton Church

Inside Kemerton Church

The Norman Font at Overbury Church

Enough religion, refreshment. Most of Kemerton prefer the coffee shop. Whereas the pub is empty, the outside tables at the coffee shop are packed. Its not outdoor smoking ban that will kill pubs, but hot drinks.

Traditional Country Pub

Which makes the Crown's choice of having 4 cask on even more perplexing. A Wye Valley tied house but is there any need for Butty Bach and Bitter? Is there any need for HPA and Gold Rush?

Two is plenty.

The Line Up

The bad news - the Gold Rush was tired, cloudy and fairly lifeless. The good news, the sandwiches were good value. For an indication of pricing, chips are only £1.50 extra. And the service was friendly.

Hopefully I get to Bromsgrove before Amazon deliver next year's edition.

I went for the Coronation Street cover.

Walk Details

Distance - 4.5 Miles

Walk Inspiration - Cotswolds Walks Book 1 North: Walk 7

Geocaches - 1 

27/08/24 - Footman Way for the Coach and Horses, Weatheroak Hill

Volunteering

The first new name added to my mobile phone since retirement belongs to 82 year old John.

John leads walks for the Ramblers and having provided a tiny bit of navigational assistance during a previous walk, I was asked to join him on a reconnoitre of one of his future planned walks. I can confirm that John is ex-military.

The Footman Way did not need any navigational assistance.

One of these at every junction decision point

The route has been devised in memory of a Wythall Councillor, Ken Footman. In a bizarre set of circumstances, on my next Ramblers Walk, Jimmy knew both John (unsurprising, both Ramblers) and Ken (next door neighbour). Odd how small the world can be.

The walking was a decent as South Birmingham can offer. Some agricultural field edges and a lengthy section across Kings Norton Gold Course. John will need to use all of his military training to get 15+ ramblers safely across without being hit by flying golf balls.

My reward for assistance - a half mile diversion to the Good Beer Guide Regular Coach and Horses at Weatheroak Hill.

Always a pleasure to return. I'll do anything for a Landlord.

A day late for the Hog Roast

The Coach and Horses

Walk Details

Distance - 6.5 Miles

Walk Inspiration

24/08/24 - The Altrincham Drinking Scene

The Sunday Times Best Place to Live?

This is a blueprint for the dying high street. Simply re-invigorate a Market Hall, fill it with drinking and dining options and the punters will come flocking. Saturday lunch-time and there is a real buzz to the place. Outdoor tables and chairs fully taken everywhere. 

Table Service and Sofas in the Cinema

With two types of guide - Good Beer and knowledgeable would be locals (they are saving up) - we head out on an August Saturday to see what the bars are like. 

Costello's Bar - GBG #976

Micro Bar Number 1

I appreciate that the above image conflicts with my earlier "bustling Altrincham" comment but the rain had just started to hammer and it was early.

A showcase for the Dunham Massey Brewery hosted in the Goose Green area of Town. I've walked in the Dunham Massey estate but the beers have eluded me. A Stamford Best Bitter a perfect introduction.

You'd expect it to be perfect on its home ground.

The Market

Run by the people who bring you Mackie Mayor in the Northern Quarter. Thankfully, we had Gen Zedders to do the heavy lifting. Ordering three types of meal from phone apps and leaving me to navigate Jack in the Box old-school by walking up to the bar, like some sort of dinosaur.

Bringing punters to the Yard

Black Jack Pub Ale Best Bitter and people watching.

Rustic - GBG #977

The micro pub that didn't impress. 2pm opening time on a Saturday, when Google says midday.

Of course I was the first punter but I didn't really warm to the bar man telling me my Marble Pint had not been pulled through, even if he did offer to change it if I wasn't satisfied. Dirty glass. I'll watch with interest if its in the imminent 2025 or did I catch them on a bad day.

The view at 1:58pm

Belgian Bar

Our local guides told of a micro that does exactly what it says on the tin. Confirmation that Kwak is dispensed in the appropriate glass and bemusement when I offered my shoe as a deposit.

A fully continental drinking experience in Greater Manchester.

Kwakers

The Beacon - GBG #978

Slight confusion between the online GBG website and the book which details this place as PI. Presumably the same owners, as 18 Shaws Road remains recommended.

A fine blueprint for a micro, where a window seat provides street theatre viewing.

Red Willow Feckless in such good condition that we stayed for two.

AI representation of a perfect afternoon

I could have stayed for longer - but we had a pop music rendezvous with an artist that I had last seen in the flesh 39 years ago.

There is no need to guess which of us has changed the most.

Johnny Marr has a picture in his attic.

Just before another Wythensaw Boy, Billy Duffy, came on stage

 

23/08/24 - Greater Manchester Ringway - Stage 11

GM Ringway Brewery Adoption

All my long distance paths eventually adopt a brewery. I kept finding Rebellion on the Chiltern Chain Walk. Purity became the de-facto pint on the Millennium Way. 

For the Greater Manchester Ringway, it will have to be Brid's Cross.

A few social media interactions have recommended the best pubs in Rochdale. A comment on the last leg mentioned that I missed out at the Red Lion, where there is a permanent line. Today, through a little bit of serendipity, I stalk their entire vehicle fleet and gatecrash their 1st Birthday Party.

Its as if Storm Lillian wanted me to make their acquaintance. A change of travel plans, as trees on lines broke the rail network. 

This wasn't going to stop me from getting to Littleborough, where I had completed research to show the canal route out to the hills was blocked. Going through town allowed a lunch purchase at the bakery.

Today's route is similar to last couple - Geocache laden moorland, the Pennine Way and a couple of reservoirs. Watergrove at the start and Greenbooth at the end.

Wonderful, but samey walking. The Manchester skyline in view for long periods.

Long Sections of the Pennine Way

Manchester in the distance

Storm Lillian blows herself out

A navigational mistake at Healey Dell, where I should have been down on the valley floor, rather than on precipitous cliff paths above. But this led to the first indication that I was deep in Brid county. Sat on a bridge rampart, enjoying my very out of region Cornish Pasty, a 4x4 passes by. The spare wheel cover having the brewery logo to remind me what beer to look out for at walk conclusion. Who says that advertising doesn't pay?

The view I should have had, instead of car spotting

Not content with spotting one vehicle, I make to Broadly Fold and find another. If this is where Sean and Ruth live, you've got a geocache at each end of the road. At the Eastern end, look under a rock between the stumpy lamppost and footpath marker.

I appreciate I am getting close to stalking territory now

A drop down past Greenbooth Reservoir and into Norden, thankful for google maps helping me understand the Bee Bus Network.

I am looking for Baum - a Good Beer Guide 2024 recommendation and right up my Strasse. A shop conversion, that they have made to feel very pubby.

Baum - Toad Lane Conservation Area

Up to the bar, and I thought this was the regular cask line up. Transpires I had picked the breweries 1st anniversary birthday party tap takeover.

Love the Art

30 minutes to learn more about the brewery. Each of the beers has a folk story attached. I'm a bit of a folklore fan myself, often linking walks with folk tale locations. My chosen West Coast IPA, Under the Eildon Tree, telling the tale of Thomas the Rhymer.

It is a fine beer, with beautiful and distinctive artwork.

View from the comfy seats at the Baum

Want to know more about Brid's Cross Brewery?..... in another twist of fate, they are the subject of latest episode (94) on the Beer Prime Podcast. Discount code taken advantage of for export to Worcestershire.

Stage 12 will land me in Bury and I am open for recommendations :-)

Walk Information

Start - Littleborough

Finish - Norden

Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8, Stage 9, Stage 10

Distance - 12 Miles

Geocaches - 14

Walk Inspiration

21/08/24 - Harborne and Edgbaston for Part of Birmingham Pub Trail

Birmingham's Poshest Suburbs Delivers its finest City Walk

A "village feel" to today's walk. Harborne and Edgbaston feel suitably different to Birmingham and each other to make you feel you are not in a city.

Harborne has a fine collection of pubs and restaurants and indeed its own pub run. CAMRA do a fine alternative, with an equally high number of pubs. 11 too many for all people other than those called Alan.

Edgbaston is the more secretive and exclusive of the two. The grand houses hidden behind walls that contain more bricks than my house. All down to the Calthorpe Family, who wanted development but with none of light industrial units we get everywhere else in Brum.

For centuries, Edgbaston was a rural manor owned by the wealthy Calthorpe family, who played a significant role in its development. The Calthorpe Estate, under the family's control, was instrumental in shaping Edgbaston, carefully managing its growth to become a residential district for the wealthy, characterized by large, elegant homes and extensive gardens. The 19th century marked a period of significant growth for Edgbaston, especially with Birmingham's expansion as an industrial city. Unlike other areas that became industrialized, Edgbaston remained a leafy, affluent suburb, attracting Birmingham's elite.

4 Miles from the City Centre, I am dropped off by the 23 bus in bustling Harborne. Buskers on steel drums. More than one group trying to convert me to a new faith or other. A short walk to pick up the disused Harborne Railway line. A hidden walking gem, as you pass high through housing estates and low under the Hagley road.

Birmingham Rambling

The walkway delivers me to Summerfield Park, where it doesn't take long to arrive at Edgbaston Reservoir. A complete circuit for the Adventure Lab Cache.

All around the water

As usual, the AZ Hidden Walks does a fine job of pointing out the unusual. Who knew lawn tennis was invented in Edgbaston? Tolkien, as usual, gets a mention. His school, the Oratory. The Peace Pagoda new to me.

Peace

Egbaston and we can start the pubs. I feel that the Physician deserves a revisit. I was last here during the height of Covid Hospitality Vagueness. App usage and a long wait for a pint is going to pee off any boozehound.

Today, a far more sedate experience. Access to the bar and wondering what shape the five handpulls are going to be in when cocktails are the order of the lunch. The Timothy Taylor Boltmaker was in perfect condition and where better to enjoy it on a one of the gaggle of Chesterfields centred around the (unlit) fire.

Typical of Edgbaston Architecture

Always aim for the comfy seats

Would I come again. Date night or an interview, which lets face it, are exactly the same thing.

Birmingham CAMRA take me utterly leftfield next, to High Field. Can there be a pub in Birmingham that I have not heard of? Maybe not, this is a restaurant but WhatPub explains its inclusion.

Modern bar and restaurant in the heart of Edgbaston. While the focus is on food, at the front is a separate bar serving up to three cask-conditioned beers.

Two GastroPubs on a Wednesday Lunch. This from a man who ate his ham sandwiches on a wall outside. 

Fish Night Wednesday.... Pig awaits its turn

Posh streets and the university grounds take me back to Harborne. Decision time - which two to revisit? The Hop Garden would have been my default choice but not with 4pm mid week opening. Many love the Plough and even if I did get a social media apology, I have never got over the well short measure I received on my first visit. Harborne Stores would have been a good choice to see if the cheapest non-JDW pint in town is still available. But I came up York Street and couldn't walk past the White Swan.

May have been a mistake - yes its a proper pub, with proper pub punters but the smell in the bar (chemical cleaning products?) was enough to make my eyes water. And who stuffs Three Tuns into an Abbott pot?

Nice Pint, honest

No debate on my last choice. I love the Junction. In a nice bit of symmetry, a Timothy Taylor on a leather studied seat. This time Lanlord and a booth. 

Absolutely first class. With the 23/24 bus stop opposite.

Harborne's Finest

Bliss in comfort

Walk Details

Distance - 8 Miles

Walk Inspiration - AZ - Hidden Walks in Birmingham Walk 7 and BRM CAMRA Pub Trail

Previous Birmingham AZ Walks - Walk 1 & 2, Walk 3, Walk 4, Walk 5, Walk 6

Pubs - 4

Geocaches - 5 and an ALC

16/08/24 - A Stourport to Bewdley River Walk

Covid Memories and New Discoveries

This route appeared in Country Walking Magazine by perennial favourite walk designer, Julie Royal.

Its more of less an exact copy of the first lock-down walk completed, back in March 2020. The paranoia doesn't seem real now, but lunching at the same spot on Blackstone Rock brought the memories flooding back.

This is an easy river walk - starting in Stourport on the West side and heading up onto the Worcestershire way for some perfect, summer shady-woodland walking.

Stourport Bridge Start Point

Along the river and up into Ribbesford Woods

Despite a recent walk to Ribbesford Church - and notes to myself that I needed to explore more - I once again failed to investigate the C12th carvings. This blog really needs pictures of carvings showing archers shooting duck billed platypuses and pigs playing the bagpipes. 

This is a walk I will do again, and I promise to myself a more thorough investigation. 

The Mysteries of Ribbesford Church remain uninvestigated

It must have been the desire for refreshment in Bewdley that proved a barrier to religious effigies. Too early to check out the newest renovation, The White Swan, where rather rudely, I have been offered a job. JDW always open before midday and Ghost Ship at £2.38 is a steal.

Things learned in retirement - less than 2% of JDW chairs can be filed under comfy

Onto the Covid traditional lunchstop at Blackstone Rock. Facebook advertising bringing to my attention a book called "The Mystery of Mercia". The author details a folktale that means I will surely be forking out for yet more walking inspiration.

  

Something to ponder over an ham sandwich.

The carvings on the gap through Blackstone Rock

Walk Details

Distance - 9 Miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, March 24, Walk 12

12/08/24 - Sand Point and Middle Hope, Somerset

Surprisingly, A Proper Coastal Walk

I don't associate Weston-Super-Mare with the coast. Usually, its just wide open mud you can see. Yet here we are, at the far Northern Extremities for a really fine walk. The tide was in, so this short walk compared with many coastal walks completed in Devon and Cornwall.

Parking at the National Trust Car Park. £15 in credit, 6 weeks in to membership. A climb to the trig point at Middle Hope.

Striding up to Sand Point

Looking down over Sand Bay

And inland to the tail end of a storm

The grassy banks of Middle Hope

St Thomas's Head - where the Severn Estuary becomes the Bristol Channel - is littered with stone walls. Built by Napoleonic Prisoners of War, history fans. A drop through crop fields before an agricultural walk across the flat lands. 

Woodspring Priory on the right hand side

Sand Dunes taking us back to the car park, where the ice cream van doesn't make an entry on a Monday lunchtime. The only disappointment of a delightful little loop.

Walk Details

Distance - 4 Miles

Walk Inspiration - Somerset, 40 Town and Country Walks

Geocaches - 1