14/06/25 - Saxon Shore Way - Stage 7 - Deal to Folkestone

Dover is Over

The longest day on the Saxon Shore Way (SSW). Yet, surprisingly little happens.

A circuitous exit from Deal, investigating the unexplored southern part of town via Adventure Lab Caches. The military history; ancient castles and the Royal Marines.

Beach launched fishing boats

Deal Castle...

... and Walmer Castle, a little further down the coast

The Zetland Arms is passed a little too early. I may have been tempted if it wasn't a Shepherd Neame pub. No one needs Master Brew for breakfast. It's Special or nothing.

Likewise, the Coastguard Pub at St Margeret's Bay. Double digit miles to go, I'll keep plodding.

St Margeret's Bay - the SSW forces you down and back up again

Then Dover comes into view. And stays in view for a long time. The sky has a weird haze - almost fog-like - a hangover from last night's storm probably. Photos of large passenger ferries moving in and out of the harbour walls are poor. I can't bring you the White Cliffs of Dover, as I am on them.

Dover Patrol on the headland

Then there is the town itself. Whoever Dover was designed for, it wasn't the pedestrian. Crossing roads is near impossible - they are practically motorways, with fast vehicles and central reservation barriers. The signage, when you need it most, disappears. The Good Beer Guide Pubs that are open are up on high in town and away from the SSW. I’m not about to turn this blog into a political rant, but the type of people loitering on street corners might explain why BOOKING.COM is suddenly demanding proof of my nationality at check-in.

Inspiration from Churchill comes to mind. If you are going through hell, keep going.

Crossing Dover on Foot is not for the faint hearted

The cliffs are gained via a precipitous staircase at Western Heights. Where there is a Young Offenders Institute marked on the OS Map. I suppose they have to go somewhere, so may as well be Dover.

A frequent series of Geocaches takes me towards Folkestone. Which is a huge, sprawling town. The odometer clicks onto 15 miles and the watch 3 o'clock. That's plenty, I say to myself. 

The bus can take the strain for the last few miles from the Royal Oak Pub.

This, at the cost of the Battle of Britain Museum, which I can resume my journey from tomorrow. 

Walk Details

Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6

Distance - 15 Miles

Geocaches - 27

13/06/25 - The Good Beer Guide Pubs of Deal, Kent

2 Micros, a Trad and a 'Spoons Tea

I've wanted to visit Deal. Famous for smuggling, naval history and the only pier in Kent open to the public. It was ITV crime series Liar, with its never ending drone footage, they really whetted my appetite.

A lengthy first day resuming the Saxon Shore Way and I am here for the pubs. Three in the Good Beer Guide but first I need feeding.

The Sir Norman Wisdom - a JDW offering chicken in a basket and cask Jaipur for just over a tenner. My budget planning in full swing.

Pint - a thing of beauty for the obscene price of £2.29

A modern 'Spoons

This is Kent. There are going to be a lot of micros and we have two over the road from each other.

Knowledge required for The Just Reproach. I am experienced enough with micros to know that I need to find the chalk board on entry but this outlet throws up confusion. There is no bar. You need to look around for a server, who will probably identify you before you identify them. You order, they disappear to back room and bring back a pint that has definitely been gravity dispensed. That easy to fall into conversation with strangers that I have failed to record what it was. Most likely a traditional Kentish Ale, offering the highest ABV per £. That is my modus operandi and I am sticking with it.

The bench to my right was my home

Architecturally impossible to tell the difference between this and Smugglers Records over the road. Less choice on the cask but (from what I noticed) a much bigger selection of international bottled beers and keg offerings. One single cask (Howling Hops Party Wave), on display in a fridge, with the tap the only thing added since delivery from the brewery. Not hard to get in the Good Beer Guide, is it?

Not the first record shop I had drunk in

A peruse of the records. Nirvana's Bleach going for £36. I vow to have a sort out of my garage when I get home to fund future adventures.

A view from a window sill, leaning on a plate glass window

A pretty walk along the terraced buildings of many architectural style that is Middle Street. I am looking for the Ship Inn. The name that is always a guarantee of pub quality.

Unlike pubs with "Railway" in the name

Everything I look for in a pub. Low ceilings, atmospheric low lighting from candles in old brandy bottles, nooks and indeed crannies around a central bar. A second Gadds of the day, Number 5, leaving me with two questions. Will I ever see lacings, least of all a head on my beer this week? Was it really £3 a pint.

Time to head home for nature's fire-work display that is a quite spectacular thunder and lightening storm. Locals told me it was the best/worst that they have ever seen. Dover, where I am heading tomorrow, has parked cars floating down residential streets.

13/06/25 - Saxon Shore Way - Stage 6 - Thanet Parkway to Deal

Journey Resumed

It's taken three years to resume the Saxon Shore Way (SSW). Naturally enough, I left it at a pub. The Oyster Pearl at Seasalter. A convenient bus stop proving too tempting to pass.

I mused about continuing, though it was never really in doubt. However bored of Shepherds Neame I became and uninspiring the walking of the first stage was, I am never one to leave something unfinished. Plot spoiler. I am glad I did. The second half is far superior.

The reason for the lengthy delay was more to do with the rail strikes. Impossible to plan a multi centre journey if they call a strike on travel days. Things have stabilised over the last 12 months and an incredible four train, five hour journey pulled into Thanet Parkway exactly on time.

Travel Itinerary 

The eagle-eyed may spot that I was meant to alight at Minster. Just a mile from the Saxon Shore Way, but close analysis of the map in later planning revealed that it runs on the opposite side of the River Stour. There is nowhere to cross the river until Sandwich - 5 miles down stream or Pluck's Gutter, 2 miles upstream and in the opposite direction needed. Annoying, but salvation comes in the form of Thanet Parkway. A station that is just 3 minutes from Minster and doesn't even exist on my elderly OS Map.

If only they made it easy to exit as a pedestrian. An instant first wrong turn and double back after finding non-existent paths.

The coast is reached quickly and although not on the banks of the Stour, I am walking more or less in parallel with the SSW. Gentle river paths replaced by skip hire businesses alongside a busy main road that thankfully has the newly formed English Coastal Path running alongside.

The White Cliffs of Ramsgate from the English Coast Path

It's a joy to pick up the SSW at Sandwich, the first of the Cinque Port Towns I will visit over the week.

The Cinque Ports are a historic confederation of coastal towns in southeastern England—originally Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover, and Sandwich—established before the Norman Conquest to provide ships and men for the crown in exchange for privileges like tax exemptions and self-governance.

A beautiful looking town, which I entered by crossing a fortified bridge.

At last, over the Stour.

I hit the New Inn — listed in the Good Beer Guide — with Gadds No. 3 to kick things off, chased with water.

Too hot to sit on orange chairs

Lots of wood.... typical Kentish Pint

The River Stour whisked me down to the seafront for the easiest walking possible all the way into Deal.

Cap flaps deployed on walking hat, but I will spare you that image

The pier marking the end of today's walking.

Plenty of Good Beer ticks to be had, for a separate blog. I vow to stop at the first pub seen. This is the Foresters. A single cask, community local packed with locals. Like most community locals, it has the oddest pub rules.

Just what happens on a Monday night at the Foresters?

I wasn't going to trust cask TT Landlord on a hot day in an unknown pub. Stella - like the locals - taken with a sea view before finding my digs for the night.

Time to consider whether I’ve overstretched that budget-conscious goal I set

What it lacked in en-suite, it made up for with free biscuits

Walk Details

Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5

Distance - 11 Miles

Geocaches - 7

05/06/25 - Goathland, for the Birch Hall Inn at Beck Hole

Heartbeat, with Nick Berry

If you ever need cheering up, check out the TripAdvisor reviews for the Goathland Hotel. 2.8 and falling. AI Summaries coming up with "Expensive" and "Rude". I have had the "treatment" during my North Yorkshire Moors Inn Way.

Here are my comments from that fateful day.

And on to the Goathland Hotel, where the proprietor has changed the name to the Aidensfield Arms, to lure in the Nick Berry fanclub.

And talk about being careful what you wish for. The place is mentally busy with runaround kids, the indecisive elderly and the quite frankly insane and he is having to work like a trojan. I order my Black Sheep and he gives me the 1000 yard stare. I ask him if there is a problem. After a sigh and a pause he says "You haven't said if you want a pint or a half" in the most cheerless, morose Yorkshire accent imaginable.

That same day, I tried to visit the much more lauded Birch Hall Inn. Vague opening hours meant I was never going to be lucky when I couldn't control the time of arrival. No such issues this time. I have completed my homework and can strike from 11:30am on a Thursday.

Tourist bits in Goathland out of the way and we are on our way.

Aidensfield or Goathland

The route is rather good for walking dogs. A disused railway line where they can go off lead for a time. A quiet lane through remote moorland. More off lead walking through woodland as we try to find the Mallyan Spout Waterfall, but the recent drought has limited its impact.

Flat and straight

Stay on the paths

Wild Exploring

The first thing I notice about the Birch Hall Inn is that the door is ajar. Hallelujah! The second thing I notice is that a sign in the window says "Cash Only".

I dreamt about this last night. The only time I have significant cash is when getting my haircut at a Turkish Barbers by a barber that has never been to Turkey. Luckily, I have enough shrapnel in my rucksack to exactly afford a round of 1 pint, 1 half and a quarter of rhubarb and custard.

I am fairly confident in saying that this is the only pub in the land that is bisected by a sweet shop.

Let's bring you the photos.

Painting by the father of the actor that played Long John Silver in Treasure Island - Algernon Newton

The Hatch in the Big Bar - Sweets available

Not enough shrapnel to stretch to Buttered Beer Cake

Cash is King

Things I learned by talking to a faceless voice on the other side of the hatch;

• The current landlady has run the place for 44 years
• She took it on from a previous landlady who ran it for 54 years
• On the condition, she made no changes
• She did add a ladies loo, previously, they had to use the facilities in the upstairs lodging
• The most people in the small bar is 32.
• And 2 dogs
• They get a lot of regulars (quoits team), railway enthusiasts, walkers, pub aficionados and international tourists
• They don't open on Saturdays because of the hassle from pub crawlers completing the "Gallon Walk"
• Although I expect they do when it gets dark for the locals

A bucket list entry ticked off.

Can you tell I enjoyed my visit?

Walk Details

Distance - 5 Miles

Geocaches - 4

Walk Inspiration - Best Pub Walks on the North Yorkshire Moors and Coast, Walk 18

04/06/25 - Runswick Bay to Staithes for the Cod and Lobster

Civilised Opening Hours

As fine a coastal walk as you could hope for. Lung bursting ups and downs, dramatic (and crumbling) high cliffs and a lovely little village steeped in history to explore in Staithes.

Today, is mainly this.... the shanty town of Port Mulgrave below

There's a free museum at Staithes, which no doubt tells Captain Cook's story, with a mix of fishing history and alum rock mining.

We didn't get past the uniquely named Cod and Lobster Pub. 

Unless you count Mrs M's round at the bakery.

Not sure what more you could want from a pub. Outdoor seating, where all that separates you from an always changing sea view are some railings. A small, low ceiling bar inside for cozy chats with salty sea dogs - - or perhaps tourists from Cannock -  if the weather changes . Black Sheep and Timothy Taylor Landlord available from the very civilised 10am opening hours.

The dogs get a post pint hurrah on the beach and we head for cake.

Beach side views...

... of a perfectly positioned pub

As if the walk couldn't get better, we had a change of terrain for the return leg. Shun the bus back (unless the C&L keeps you longer than expected), cross the road and drop down into the deserted dingly dell of Oakbridge Woods.

Perfect off lead walking for dogs that had previously avoided fatigue.

The next day, they slept in. To 6.10am.

Contrasting Walk

Walk Details

Distance - 7.5 Miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration - 40 Walks in North Yorkshire

03/06/25 - The River Esk Walk - Sleights to Whitby

Good Beer Guide Ticking

The River Esk Walk is a new medium distance path. 

The Esk Valley Walk is a scenic long-distance footpath in North Yorkshire, England, stretching approximately 35 miles from the village of Castleton to the historic coastal town of Whitby. This route offers a diverse walking experience, combining upland moorland, river valleys, and picturesque villages.

From our base in Sleights, it takes us exactly where we want to be. The tourist and pubby highlights of Whitby. The walking is functional, following sheep fields and railway lines. What is surprising is the lack of views of the river. If it wasn't for crossing at Ruswarp, we wouldn't have seen it at all until the estuary.

Where's the Esk?

Good signage

Usual tourist photos, alongside sail boats, up 199 steps and next to ruined abbeys that inspired fictional pointy toothed monsters. 

Time to add to the Good Beer Guide Ticks, from a previous visit to the area when we could only sit outside the few pubs that had chosen to open in Spring 2021.

The Black Horse would not have coped with covid. A squeeze through the front door to a tiny front room where you have to make friends with everyone. A couple of springer spaniels will aid that process significantly. 

Peaking Early - Today's Best Pub

This is one of those places that will improve through experience. A first visitor could be forgiven for thinking the front room is all there is - where two beers are available. Oddly, from Suffolk and Cornwall. However, there is another room around the back with some more LocALE offerings.

Conversations flowed with the landlord, the locals and the tourists until we reached the point when we had bored everyone and we were the last couple standing. Things we learnt? The landlord has never seen a ghost here but he had at his previous pub, the Hole in the Wall, York. Tapas in Yorkshire is Yapas. Obviously.

My type of gaff

Cultural Appropriation

We did head up the steps and have a revisit of the previously blogged Whitby Brewery.  A must visit on a sunny day.

Strategically positioning ourselves for public transport home, we head towards the station for one of the three trains a day. Not steam, regular Northern.

The Station Inn does nothing to dispel my suspicion that any pub named after railway infrastructure is likely to be a bit rubbish. It doesn't look great from the outside.

Ordinary Pub

Inside, it fares better. Multi roomed and apart from the stifling temperature, the little lounge, with its green leather bench seating, is a nice place to drink.

The drink? A poor example of Timothy Taylor Landlord in a dirty glass.  We move on.

Where better to wait for a train than The Waiting Room? Sister pub to the Saturday visited Arch and Abbey but unless you like cider, not quite as interesting.

Its the tiniest of micros. WhatPub listing it as 6 yards squared. Not sure it has more than four tables.

For me a micro needs to offer more than a regular pub to work. Four Cask, no Keg at all and a small collection of International bottles. Nine ciders could have been that unique offering, but not quite up my street. I like cider, but wouldn't know how to choose from a list of names and producers. There are all £4.95, so I would probably apply the same high ABV as I do to beer. 7% seems a bargain.

The cask - Abbeydale Absolution - was perfect. So it definitely warrants its place in the bible.

Last Train to Sleights leaves at 4pm

Amusingly, if you wish to use the facilities, you are forced to ask for the key, which is connected to a giant fob. Instructions say you must lock the door and return the key to the bar.

The place is that small that no one could sneak in for a crafty tinkle without the staff noticing.

Obviously, there was an incident that forced this policy to be implemented.

In other news, Northern Trains were ready for us at the allotted time. £7.80 for two for nine minutes.

Walk Details

Distance - 4 Miles

Geocaches - 5

Walk Inspiration - The Esk Valley Walk

02/06/25 - Roseberry Topping for the Kings Head, Newton Under Roseberry

Yorkshire Matterhorn

Roseberry Topping has been on the wish list for a long time. Isolated and distinctively shaped due to a mining collapse, it has quite the profile.

View from the valley floor

My guidebook suggested parking at the Kings Head. Although we were going to use the facilities post-walk, I was warned about their car park spy cameras and automatic fining system for non patrons. The first reason to dislike the place, before I have even got there.

Instead, we are on the public car park for a short but very steep climb up the Western Flanks. The views are tremendous. There are many photos. For both the views and a breather.

Stairway to aching knees Heaven

Whooo, we're halfway there

Captains Cooks Monument can be seen at the end of a what looks a long flat ridge across on Easby Moor. Of course, there are descents and climbs to undertake but it is fine walking across the moorland.

Onwards on flagstones

I know I am in trouble when Mrs M argues that we could have googled that. If there were roads, I would have attempted an uber. Yet the walking through shaded woodland will hopefully leave positive memories once she has been watered.

Topping is peaking through Cliff Ridge Wood

Onto the Kings Head. Built in 1796, with an early owner who went by the name of Old Gag Mally Wright. I am wondering if she was nick-named after the quality of the beer.

The Kings Head

My spider senses were tingling from the get-go. An expired Cask Marque sign outside. Disinteresting staff barely out of their teens. There were a couple of cask ales, one eponymously named after the peak we had just climbed. Thank the lord I asked for a sample. Bog water.

Staropramen on keg can always be trusted.

Walk Details

Distance - 7 Miles

Geocaches - 2

Walk Inspiration - Best Pub Walks on the North Yorkshire Moors and Coast

 

01/06/25 - Robin Hood's Bay to Ravenscar

Sunday Lunch or Parmo?

Last time we walked these parts, we headed North on the Cleveland Way. It seems prudent to venture in the opposite direction on our revisit.

Mrs M, having studied Tripadvisor for hours, decides that the uniquely named Fylingdales Inn, just outside of Robin Hood's Bay, has one of the better Sunday lunches around. We remember the steepness of the road when dropping down to the bay, but no time to hang around, we are up and away on the Cleveland Way.

Team Photo

Regular Blogfans will notice two new members. A pair of Springer Spaniels who are my type of dog. Yesterday, they tried to drag me in the Little Angel in Whitby. When that failed, they tried again at the Grandby. I shall not forsake them a third time.

The Coast Path is grand, high and seemingly made of mud. Much is crumbling into the sea. With fences only on the inland side, the dogs remain on leads until whenever we drop down to a cove. The first, the Boggle Hole, does not pass the Mrs M sniff test. Having let them off for a splash, she quickly re-clips them saying it stinks. Of what I ask, only for another couple to answer "Shit". Northeners telling it like it is. 

I think I have deduced how the remote YHA plumbing works.

Looking backwards on the Cleveland Way to RHB

And forwards

There appears to be only a hotel at Ravenscar, so as soon as we can we pick up the Cinder Track, a wonderful disused railway that if we wanted, could take us all the way back. A mile can be saved by heading through sheep fields and picking it back up later. Dogs off leads, and great views of the coastal path we have just walked. Unlike Padstow, significantly less people on bikes dinging bells at us.

The Dog's Favourite Stretch

Finish at the pub, where I think the four of us deserve our refreshments. 

The Fylingdales is a solid Theakston house, doing a good trade in food. It is Sunday - the roasts are beef, pork or turkey - but a full menu is also available.

With six different types of Parmo on offer, I should have probably eaten a little more local.

But I don't regret the turkey - delivered quickly enough that most of the XB was still available to wash it down.

Parmo shunned

Walk Details

Distance - 8 Miles

Geocaches - 7

Walk Inspiration - 100 Walks in East Yorkshire, Walk 9