30/01/2025 - Chaddesley Corbett and Nutnells Wood

Mud, Bathams and a Cob

Local walk from Chaddesley Corbett - home of a Bathams Tied House. 

Chaddesley Corbett home of the 2nd largest woodland in Worcestershire but definitely top of the league for mud. This is a walk that has been googling "Walking Wellies".

But the sun was out and the skies were blue. Not a ChemTrail to be seen.

Sunshine failing to pick out the black ice

Chaddesley Woods Info Sign

Out of the woods, heading for the village

Mrs M, tagging along, not in the best of moods. How to cheer her up?

A proper Black Country Lunch at the Swan.

Bathams at the Swan

Walk Details

Distance - 5.5 Miles

Geocaches - 0

Walk Inspiration - Alltrails

29/01/25 - The Slow Way - Highley to Bridgnorth

Bridgnorth - Pub Town

Back on the Slow Ways - which is a reference that could equally apply to Diamond Buses. How can a 12 mile journey take 2.5 hours? How can an hourly bus be 75 minutes late? Do bus companies have delay/repay?

Griping over, I do look forward to my Slow Way walks - one of the best route resources on the web. This is an easy navigation walk - follow the mud on the Jack Mytton Way to Hampton. Then it's the Severn Way right into Bridgnorth.

Horses above the Severn Valley

Faded Jack Mytton Way Marker

Camp Hill on the River Severn

Into Bridgnorth. One of those towns where there always seems to be a new Good Beer Guide Tick to be had. Shropshire CAMRA very fair, constantly circulating the recommendations. Today, I have two to tick and both a coloured Lion. But as I was passing, it would have been rude not to say hello to one of the best Railway Pubs in the land.

Bathams Tomorrow

The White Lion only reopened in 2023 but has made it into the bible already. A traditional pub, offering bed and breakfast. Number of punters - 3. Number of cask handpulls - 6. I am now the sort of annoying  customer that asks "what is freshest on?" and then uses CIA trained techniques to see if I am being lied to. The answer, was Fixed Wheel Wheely Pale. It was absolutely perfect. Unlike the toilets. Point deducted for comedy urinals from a barrel.

Traditional Coaching House

The Shakespeare over the road looked inviting. I'm not that familiar with Joules Houses, but if they are all like this, I need to get investigating. Wood Burner - temptingly just out of reach in a little snug on the opposite side of the bar. After ordering my drink, I asked for it to be delivered to the other side and out and back in I went.

Slumbering Monk from Joules chosen. Much debate with a knowledgeable bar lady about how to class this dark, fruity beer. She was reluctant to say mild. Untappd calls it a bitter. Whatever it was, it was far too cold. Thank the lord for the log burner to warm it up on.

Joules, Shakespeare - White Lion in the background

Never bitter

Two ticks for the price of one at The Golden Lion. I am working my way around all the Holdens Pubs. And this one is in the Good Beer Guide.

Choice of rooms on entry - should I go Lounge or Bar. Bar sounds most likely to have fellow drinkers. But I was wrong. All the laughter head over the counter. A party in flight that I wasn't invited to.

The Black Country Special was delightful but I can only hope Holdens use oversized glasses. A good 10% head served on mine and the old boy who came in to keep me company.

Golden Lion (gonna tell me where the light is)

A Rambler's Lunch

It will have to be the Low Town for my next Bridgnorth visit.

Slow Ways has taken me from Birmingham to Bridgnorth. Let's see where I can go from here!

Walk Details

Distance - 8 Miles

Geocaches - 0

Walk Inspiration - Slow Ways

Previous Slows Ways - Birmingham to Blackheath, Blackheath to Halesowen, Halesowen to Stourbridge, Stourbridge to Kinver, Kinver to Highley

24/01/25 - 5 Days in Edinburgh Pubs

Too Many to Blog, A Photo-Journal

New Good Beer Guide Tick - The Black Cat - Rose Street

First of two University Pubs - Cambridge Bar

Watching the detectives, at the Oxford Bar

Monday, a great day for photos at the Oxford Bar

A must visit classic - the Bow Bar

Where we watched a punter have a £62 Whisky.  You do get 35ml

The Blue Blazer - Laid Back Jazz.  A super place to drink

Now in the Good Beer Guide, Ryries Bar at the Haymarket

A rare seat at the Jolly Judge

Hidden gem, but once found, cannot be ignored. The Halfway House.

Mrs M Confused by the Guildford Arms revolving door....

.....Which has the best kept beer in Edinburgh

Dirty Dicks - a Grotto.  Particularly atmospheric at night 

Reinforcements arrive, with their own google maps saved pubs. Kays Bar it is!

Storm Eyowyn gets us a booth at the Cafe Royal....

.... for drinking in an art museum 

After a Burns Dinner, the final pub - the Doric

Entertained by folkies, whilst we drink ever more expensive whisky. But never £62 whisky

23/01/25 - Portobello - Edinburgh by the Sea

A Pub Crawl without the Pubs

Another walk from Bob Steel's CAMRA Pub Walks In Edinburgh.

Mrs M is never going to pass up the opportunity for a coastal walk. And Portobello offers this in spades. A promenade. Lapping Waves. Golden Sands. Beachside Volleyball nets. Sea Bathers. We could be in the Med. If it was about 20 degrees warmer.

She almost knocked the Adventure Lab Geocaching on the head.

The Seaside in Winter

As we were here for breakfast (Haggis stacks needed to be photographed) - we were always going to be too early for the pubs. Bob recommended four - the Dlariada and Three Monkeys long closed. The Omelie Tavern and Espy remain for another day.

Maybe we will be back for a summer's day.

Civilisation returned to by heading inland along Brunstane Burn.

Walking along water

Walk Details

Distance - 3 Miles

Geocaches - 2 and 10 ALCs

Walk Inspiration - CAMRA Pub Walks in Edinburgh, Walk 17

22/01/25 - Over Calton Hill for three in Broughton Street, Edinburgh

Edinburgh's Lesser Heralded Pubs still punching

I'm a big fan of the Bob Steel (RIP) CAMRA books. I started his Edinburgh Pub Crawls book in 2011 and its still providing new adventures.

A visit would be incomplete if you didn't head up Calton Hill for the views in every direction. Arthurs Seat, the Castle, The North Side down to the sea.

Heading on up

For great views over the City....

... Arthur's Seat...

...And a cloud inversion forming over the Firth of Forth

Walk over and Bob has three new pub recommendations for me to try in Broughton Street.  And I will be forever thankful for that.

The Cask and Barrel is a super locals pub, with great beer. A fine central horseshoe bar, with bench seating all the way around. Walls festooned with brewery mirrors. Mrs M is made up when a Golden Retriever enters, goes hunting behind the bar for treats until he is shooed out and comes over for a big old fuss.

The Cask and Barrel - A corner local

Not often I choose against a Landlord but I need to be LocALE. Swannay Scarpa Special.

Winner of most beautiful pub of the night is the Barony Bar. Resistance is futile in this small but handsome tenement pub.

Barony Bar - A Scottish True Heritage Pub

Always good to get a booth to check in a Stewarts 80/-

Two pubs does not a crawl make but the route has a "Try Also" section. We are the only punters in W.M. Mathers. A two level, narrow pub with a Fyne Ales Jarl to finish up the drinking. A table booked at Mamma Roma for the best Italian food I have ever had.

And as I told the waiter, "I'be been to Italy".

Jarl at Mathers

Walk Details

Distance - 2 Miles

Geocaches - A couple of ALCs on the Hill

Walk Inspiration - CAMRA Edinburgh Pub Walks, Walk 3

22/01/25 - Arthur's Seat and the Sheep Heid, Duddingston

Return of the Mapp

Not many routes get blogged twice - even if it was 14 years since I last completed this walk.

But if you come to Edinburgh, and a named storm isn't in town, then you really have to do this.

Start at the bottom of the Royal Mile, check out the remains of St Anthony's Chapel and then its uphill, following your fellow tourists.

Incredibly, I appear to have improved my fitness. We did it in a "one-er" without stopping for breath.

St Margaret's Loch

St Antony's Chapel

Selfie - Edinburgh in the gloom

This lack of rest stops impact the plans for the day. Lunch was planned at Scotland's Oldest Pub - Duddingston's Sheep Heid dating from 1360 - but we are 45 minutes too early. We're also too early for the only cafe in the village - which opens in two day's time. We cannot stretch out the only geocache sufficiently.

Photo's only.....

At least we have been before

From 1360

Proving that we can adapt - an Adventure Lab Cache took us to Britain's Oldest Railway Tunnel - The Innocent Tunnel. A fast track route through St Leanards, the South Side and back into town.

A New Route

I'd always wanted to visit the Surgeons' Hall Museum. Fascinating the number of different ways the human body can go wrong. And you can see the specimens in formaldehyde to learn all about it. 

Just don't go before lunch. 

Walk Details

Distance - 4 Miles

Walk Inspiration - Edinburgh, 40 Town and City Walks, Walk 13 and Walk 14

Geocaches - 1 and a few ALCs

21/01/25 - The Kelpies from Falkirk Grahamston Station

Boosting Tourism in an Unloved Part of Town

Mrs M is keen to see some giant horse heads. Falkirk has them, but what Instagram doesn't tell you is where they reside. Next to Forth and Clyde Canal, but on a stretch of former industrial land, where the only part to not be reclaimed is the sewage works.

The mile and half walk from Falkirk Station is urban grittiness at its finest. Dying or dead pubs and Turkish Barbers where the advertising claims that both Beckham and Ronaldo get their hair done there.

Once road walking complete - take the Forth and Clyde Canal

Crazy Horses....

... The Kelpies.

But its fresh air and when you reach the 30m Horse Heads, you cannot remain unimpressed for long. Hats off to the Tourist Board for creating something out of nothing.

Photos, a visitor centre and another tick off the bucket list.

Should you look at the map below and wonder why the walk ends abruptly, a handy bus whisked us back into town.

Falkirk - a nice town centre, the country's smallest street and just the one Good Beer Guide Tick.  Hidden down an alley.

Mrs M Found the sign

1797 Dormer Bungalow

Alas, not opening till 1pm, despite us turning up at the pubby hour of 12:04.

Walk Details

Distance - 3.5 Miles

Walk Inspiration - Walk Highlands 

Geocaches - 1 and some Falkirk ALCs