28/12/23 - Chiltern Chain Walk - Stage 18 - Stoke Row

 Remote Brakspear Pubs in Oxfordshire

With just two stages of the Chiltern Chain Walk to go, I am reaching the far western extremities. I'm also revisiting the Ridgeway but remembering little. Did I really have to walk across a golf course on Nuffield Common? How is that the three miles of Grim's Ditch seems so unfamiliar?

Thank God I blog.

Today's walk starts at the hamlet of Stoke Row. The Cherry Tree Inn to be exact.  From there, its the usual Chilterns loveliness. The flint ground coping with the wet weather better than yesterday's Warwickshire mudfest. Fine tracks, woodland that makes for good walking but poor photos and a distinct lack of anything interesting to report.

Items of most interest.....  A potential refreshment stop at Nettlebed's Cheese Shed. Geocaching on the Ridgeway. An unexpected WWII Aircraft Crash site that has an interesting modern story of remembrance.

Enough Cheese was consumed on Xmas night.... no need for the Cheese Shed

Geocaches make happy homes for snails

Loss of all life, after clipping Ipsden Church on a test flight

Which leaves the pubs. I'm in the heart of Brakspear Country. Their website gives little away as to where they now brew following a Fullers move in the early 2000s. They sold the brewing business to concentrate on the pub real estate. It appears they do now have a small brewery in Henley on Thames, although no idea what is produced there. From their website, I learn more about the only English Pope (1154, Nicholas Brakspear) than the fact that they moved brewing to Wychwood (RIP), subsequently conglomerated into Marstons. 

Despite the only two cask beers on gravity pour at the King William IV in Hailey, I shall be forever grateful for getting me out of the rain. As if by design, the heavens open just as I reach the door.  The only way to stop this is for me to have a half and don full top and bottom hard shells. Not a drop fell for the rest of the walk, as I rustled my way back to Stoke row.

A pub in splendid isolation

My half of "Oh Be Joyful" and the gravity racked barrels it came from

In a world of change, Quinno's pubsgalore review from 2018 stills holds true;

A wonderfully located rural pub in the Chilterns with the front garden affording a lovely view of the rolling hills, fussing farmers and wandering wildlife. There are three distinct areas inside after entering through the porch, with most of it given over to dining though drinkers can imbibe on the left-hand side. Décor notes - red and black chequerboard tiled floor, exposed brick, inglenook fireplace, brasses. Having been forewarned that the beer quality was ‘variable’ I was prepared for the two Brakspear ales on gravity…and inevitably my Hooray was flat and not overly enjoyable (ever heard of a hard spile?). It's worth a visit for the location for sure, but it isn’t anywhere in the league of a true rural gem like the Bell at Aldworth.

Fortified for the final three miles and the Old Cherry Inn - a similarly grand country pub, trading mostly on dining.  Dating from the 1830s - a nice history write up here.... although they fail to mention it was once owned by Carol Decker from T'Pau.

Big Van with the Hobgoblin doing deliveries on my arrival

A comfy chair, in front of a wood burning open fire was just the ticket after 13 long miles.

Even with an Oxford Gold.  

Walk Information

Distance - 13 Miles

Geocaches - 10 

Walk Inspiration

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

23/07/21 - (Most of) The Pymmes Brook Trail

Distance - 10 Miles

Start - High Barnet Tube

Finish - Silver Street Overground

Geocaches - 1

Good Beer Guide Pubs - #563, The Alfred Herring

London does well in promoting walking....  here's another water-way based walk that follows a stream from source to a larger body of water.  The Pymmes Brook Trail can be added to the previously completed Celandine Route, Waterlinks Way, Dollis Greenway, Wandle Trail and Darent Valley Trail.  

Public Transport access is a little more tricky with this one - the start is meant to be at Beech Hill Lake, lying hidden in the middle of the wonderfully named Monken Hadley Common.  The end is at Pickett's Lock, where the brook runs into the River Lea.

The easiest place for me to start is High Barnett - the end of the Northern Line.  2 Miles of walking - sharing paths with the London Loop - before I determine that the signage has been improved since Londonist brought the route to my attention.

All new signage

Pleasant enough walking in the common - sharing paths with professional dog walkers (more than 6, all on leads) and dealing with a GPS issue that means I miss the blue sign heading south from Beech Hill Lake.  Ignore the obvious spur on the map.  Unless you want to see a bit more of the London Loop.

Into the shade of the Common

Where I should have turned south

After a bit of urban walking through New and East Barnet, the path picks up a number of almost co-joined parks - Oak Hill, Arnos and Broomfield - where the waterway can be seen and easily followed.

Pymmes Brook in Oak Hill Park

Under the railway arches of Arnos Park

Broomfield Park

Palmers Green is the first and best place for a refreshment stop.  It had a village feel and there seemed to be plenty of independent shops/cafes along one of the more pleasant North London high streets.

Old School Road Signage

I am, of course, looking for a Good Beer Guide Tick.  I could have added a couple of miles off track and to the North for the Orange Tree or a micro called The Green Dragon but a solemn vow was broken, due to laziness.  The closest is a Wetherspoons - The Alfred Herring.

Apologies to Mrs M for spending money at Tims

It couldn't be any more identikit - shop conversion, named after a significant local, filthy tables, earthy clientele,  dirt cheap but excellent quality real ales and fetch your own condiments from a table that is slightly closer than the gents loos.

A First Dorset Brewing Company Durdle Door - £1.99 of Quality Ale

This would possibly make a good place to bail out the walk.  The rest becomes very urban and you have to work out how to cross the North Circular - twice.  

The brook disappears into a culvert, only to appear periodically to show how many shopping trolleys it has collected.

After the Arts Centre at Great Cambridge Junction the path disappears into some wasteground.  A gang of dope smoking asian lads sitting on a discarded sofa test my pleasantness by first saying "Hello Uncle".  When I say hello back they grow in confidence and start calling me "Uncle Noncey".

As a citizen of Worcestershire, I wonder whether I am going to become a statistic of London knife crime.  It goes through my mind as to how I can protect myself.  They have numbers on their side but will be slowed down by their herb of choice.  I am full of scampi, DBC Durdle Door and righteous anger at being compared to Rolf Harris just because I have a walking cap on.

In the end, I scuttle off in a tactical retreat, hoping their increased abuse I can hear does not turn into the sound of running feet.

Pymmes Park is a suitably named place to end the walk.

The Overground at Silver Street rushes be make to the safety of Archway Premier Inn.

22/07/21 - Dirtily Pleasant - A Soho Pub Crawl

Freedom Day (passports may be required) was announced on Monday.  By Thursday, I am off for a long weekend in London.  And for me, London means Soho.

I've done many pub crawls in Soho - but never before in shorts.  How not to look like a tourist, eh?

This crawl is from a 2003 Book - Ted Bruning's London by Pub - influenced by a quote from HG Wells.

The devious, vicious, dirtily pleasant exoticism of Soho.

So what's changed?  For a start - it's all pedestrianised which create a carnival feel, as people can safely spill out into the roads.  I mean, the "post work, lets pop out for a couple to let the tube die down" were always falling in front of rickshaws after nine.  Its now a little safer to do so.

The Pubs?  Well, they are nearly all there - and as the crawl includes the Coach and Horses - this will do as a guide to meet some old friends - not seen since before the plague.

De Hems, Macclesfield Street

Little Belgium, Soho

To save me writing about the history of the pub, a handy guide is included in the beer menu.

Most of what you need to know

The guide book adds that De Hems collected the oyster shells and used them to decorate the walls of the pub.  By the time they were removed, there were 300,000 of them.

The menu perused, I went big.

How to start a night

The French House, Dean Street - A Len Deighton Top 10 Pub

Before global events got in the way of hobbies, I had a plan to start visiting the 10 ten pubs detailed in Len Deighton's 1960's book - The London Dossier.  This crawl gave me the chance to resume - incorporating the French House.  Possibly one of London's most (in)famous.

Its Narrow

The stories of this place are legendary.  You can google the details, but can be summarised;

• 1840s pub - losing its frontage to a doodlebug
• Charles de Gaulle formed the French Free Government from upstairs
• Dylan Thomas got pissed here and left the only typescript for Under Milk Wood under a bench
• One of the unholy trinity of three pre all day opening drinking dens - including the Coach and Horses and the Colony Room

For the tourist there's only one fact that you need to know.  They never sold pints.  You could get wine. You could get halves.  There used to be one exception - April 1st - when the first pint of the day is pulled by Suggs.

I battle my way to the bar in full knowledge of this from previous visits.  Even in shorts, I don't want to look a tourist.  However, most other blokes are drinking pints.  

Post pandemic, the staff wanted to try and limit the amount of times people were coming to the bar.  Covid.... not all bad, eh?

And the pint?  A decidedly un-French Theakston's Best Bitter. 

Keeping with tradition, fags are compulsory

Its a fine place for eavesdropping, getting into conversations and looking at the last of the bohemians.  You can tell them by the hats they wear.

The pictures inside provide plenty of distraction to while away the time too

Coach and Horses, Greek Street

So much written about this place - including my previous blogs.  I was never coming to London and not visiting.  As always in the last few years, I was also keen to make sure that Fullers had not made any changes.  I am delighted to report the only changes have been to the toilets, where even the gents trap is safe to use.  It never had an attached toilet seat before.

Oh - and the beer quality has improved exponentially.  Who says things only get worse?

The same outside

The same inside

The Three Greyhounds, Greek Street

Unassuming pub a little further up the road.  It's in the guide, so I pop in and it was memorable for a very tiny bar.  This wasn't a problem, as the fun had spilled out onto the street.  The music was very loud.  When Depeche Mode came on, people started dancing.

It was time for me to scan the Cask Marque certificate and make my excuses.

Lively Three Greyhounds

Pillars of Hercules, Greek Street

A literary pub that was the regular haunt of Ian McEwan, Martin Amis and Julian Barnes.

No more - its now called Jimi loves Gloria (or some such nonsense) and was closed up.

My only dead pub from a 20 year old guide.  

Sad Sight

Dog and Duck Frith, Street and the Crown and Two Chairmen, Dean Street

Two that I will lump together.  They were both ornate and served good beer (Dog and Duck is in the good beer guide and previously blogged).

The Smaller Dog and Duck

Beautifully ornate within

The larger Crown and Three Chairman provided the first TT Landlord of the week

The Lyric, Great Windmill Street

Another Good Beer Guide Entry previously blogged and once again, it comes at the end of a crawl.

Things I noticed this time?  Well, it was more a case of what was missed.  13 Cask Lines on - I missed out on Harvey's Best Bitter - not sampled since before you know when.   Its seemingly unavailable in the Midlands but is a lovely pint.  

I'll re-blog so that you (or me) don't make that mistake again.

The Lyric at closing

13!  and I missed Harvey's

13 lines provides ever changing decor options

Time to call it a night but what a delight to be back in the Smoke.

And to find it almost exactly as how I last enjoyed it.   No masks.  No checking in.  Ordering at the Bar.  Blaming yourself for whatever you missed.

28/07/19 - The Great Orme and Llandudno's Oldest Pub

Distance - 5 Miles
Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, July 2019, Walk 22
Geocaches - 1
Pub - The King's Head, Llandudno



This is one of those routes that we will have to repeat.

Weather conspired against us, with a sea mist coming in and obliterating the fine views over Snowdonia.   We couldn't even see the tops of the cable cars, which of course were not running and it was very nearly the first walk abandoned through the taking of a tram.

Pray for better conditions should you come to do it.

We start from our AirBnB in the town and head up to the west coast path of Great Orme.  This headland is very nearly an island and in a time of uncertain weather conditions, where last week, the UK recorded it's highest ever temperature, it may well be soon.    That would be the end of Llandudno.

At this point, the views are nearly there and we can see the sweep of West Beach and the blue cafe, where we took advantage of their "Full Welsh" only a couple of hours before.

Good Paths

The West Beach of Llandudno

The path turns into a military road and then eventually a sheep track.   The rain comes in.  We shelter in a gun emplacement that had a roof but no bench.   Its not going to lift, so onto exposed cliffs and a careful ascent between a gully to reach the road at the top.

Normally, Snowdonia

Path gets a little hairy, as we climb up a gully between the cliffs.

From this point, I have to paint pictures with words.   We are walking through sea mist and there's no point taking photos.

There's a limestone pavement, similar to Malham Cove, picnic areas (Ha!), sheepfolds and somewhere on the top at the Cable Car Station, with a pub.   We do no find it.   Mrs M proclaims we need to "have a rethink and get down as soon as possible".

Hope is provided at the Tramway Half Way Station - but only when you understand how it works.  Punters disembark one tram here and join another to take them to the pub summit.   We ask the one man working there if we can buy a ticket to town.   The answer is no - you can only buy at the top, or the bottom.   After careful negotiation - won more by the pity he takes in Mrs M's dodgy PacAMac, he says he will let us on if there is room. 

There is no room.

It's a vertiginous drop along the roadway and just as we reach the terminus, we see what we could have won.

At least its all down hill

No Room for a very damp Mrs Mappiman

Soaked to the skin, I'm surprised Mrs M wants to take refreshment but the lure of Llandudno's oldest pub is too strong.   Who knows, there may be a roaring fire to dry off next to.   Even in July.

Cask Marque and Oldest - We shunted with care

Right at the Tram Terminus

It's all very standard.   The beer was mainly Greene King but there was an aptly named Sea Fury from Sharps, the home of doom bar.    It ranged from quiet to packed solid, when the tram had just arrived and this fluctuation in customer numbers may have explained their fierce protection of lavatory access.

Who knows what previous crimes had been committed.

We did the walk.   We missed the views and there, deep in the sea mist, is a pub waiting to be ticked.

One to be repeated.

27/07/19 - Good Beer Guide Pubs of Llandudno

Pubs - 3
Good Beer Guide Ticks - 403 - 405


Basking in the heat of the hottest July day ever recorded, Mrs M books us a weekend away.   Weather reports are evaluated and North Wales promises "Wall to Wall Sunshine".

Here's the Albert, the First of three Good Beer Guide Pubs visited in Llandudno.

You cannot see the Great Orme, tomorrow's walk, for drizzle

The Albert is a functional Gastro Pub, which the bible states "has the beers on offer clearly marked on a Chalkboard".

Good job, as you cannot get near the pumps for the bar hangers - who are very protective of their front row seats.

I tried to put my head between the conversation, but this was met with disapproval

I found the chalk board - above the bar and with lettering that rendered it unreadable with or without my glasses.

There was nothing for it, I went to the end of the bar with space and where the serve the kegs. 

The man next to me had a lovely looking pint - dark, malty colour with a pefect 1/2 inch of creamy head.   I'll ask him what he's on.

How do you back away from John Smiths  :-) ?

Instead, I went LocALE for a Conwy brewery Beachcomber.   A refreshing Pale Ale that lived up to the Untappd review of "grapefruity notes".

Functional.... and we move over the road to Tapps - a Micropub.   I'm having to think which word before pub makes my heart sink the fastest.... Micro or Gastro.

To be fair, when they are done right, micros work well.   They either need a lot of variety of interesting Continental Bottles (a la the Beer Emporium, Kidderminster) or good music, played at a comfortable volume masking the hum of refrigerators in silent Micros (sadly lacking in the Bull Baiters, Worcester or  Little George, Stroud).

This fell into the good music category and with a healthy representation of clientele,  we were hard pressed to differentiate this from a regular pub.

And the Welsh Pride by Conwy Brewery was perfect.

No external shots of Tapps - Smokers in the Rain

After a lengthy walk along the prom and a couple of false starts finding restaurants that are both high on Tripadvisor and with Saturday night availability, we find ourselves walking past some horror shows of karaoke pubs, a Wetherspoons that surprisingly isn't in the bible (they usually are, I can only wonder what crime the Palladium has committed), arriving at the night's third tick and easily the best of the lot.

The Snowdon hotel has a lovely open covered terrace at the front, so the gentle noise of conversation filling the night air tempts the ardent pub tickers in.

But unfortunately makes for a poor photograph

A lovely looking bar, with plenty of choice that is not evaluated in the slightest when I see the Red Triangle.

I would be drummed out the pub tickers society, had I refused a Bass.

Mrs M's limb, checking in her diet coke into UnTappd.

A fine pub.   We walked past it again in the rain-light on Sunday's walk.  The only reasons not to revisit was to check into Llandudno's oldest and see how Tim's vision for turning a theatre into a boozer from the inside had worked out.

Snowdon in the Rain.

27/07/19 - Conwy - An Adventurous Pub Walk

Distance - 7.5 Miles
Walk Inspiration - Walk 36, AA Walks through Britain's History
Geocaches - 3
Pubs - 4 Good Beer Guide 2019 Entries - Liverpool Arms, Albion, Bank of Conwy, Erskine Arms



A lot to love on this walk - not least the fact that it heads past the front door of four Good Beer Guide 2019 Pubs.  In addition to quality beer, we can throw in a postcard perfect castle, a lovely stretch along an estuary, an optimistically labelled mountain and some wild moor land.

This ramble has it all - and the only thing we regret is parking in the 4 hour maximum stay Short Stay Car Park beneath the castle walls.   There's so much more we could have done.

The first 20 minutes of the 4 hours are spent taking photos.   Conwy is that sort of place.

All Walks should start at a Castle

Too Early for the GBG Liverpool Arms

Welsh lady hurrying up the tourists.  20 Japanese Tourists booked in.

We've gained a delightful walkaway along the estuary, passing what is marked on the OS map as a "Butterfly Jungle" before cutting inland on the Wales Coast Path.

Views back to the castle, along the estuary

The Coast Path is going to take us over Conwy Mountain.   At 800ft, its a stretch to give it such a serious name but its a joy to climb through the purple heather, along remote paths and with views to the proper Snowdonia mountain ranges.

Mrs M, not sure if she signed up for Mountain Walks

Gorgeous paths, views and colours

The rest of the walk is gorgeous but with similar views to those presented.   Wild moorland, views either to mountains or over Anglesey.  Many photos but they are mostly the same.

Rest of the Walk is either this, or the sea

A drop down back to the town, the only drama of the day navigating a field of bulls.   Mrs M sends me first but after I make it successfully across, refuses to come, heading off in a direction that won't get her to the three remaining pubs of the day.   If she want's lunch she's going to have to man up.

Of course, the bovines bellow to greet her bravery.

Into the town and entering through the town walls is suitably epic.

How to end a walk

In December, there will be a look back and a review of my adventures.   Here we have 2019 "Walk of the Year".

Onto Refreshment.

With three remaining pubs and only an hour left on the Parking ticket - its going to have to be whittled down to 2.

As a Baggies fan, the Albion Ale House, was always likely to be a winner.   From the outside, its doesn't look much - a slightly down at heel old mans pub that Mrs M needs all of North Wales Camra's recommendation to enter.

We're the Albion

Advertising from 2016

Any concerns dissipate on entry.   The decorating budget has been spent inside this two roomed boozer.  All soft wooden hues and lighting more suited to a 1920's ballroom or the lounge on an ocean cruiser.

Home of the Lovely Lamp Shades

Two friendly and knowledgeable bar ladies explained their wares and pointed me to a Purple Moose Lifeboat - which a beer that I couldn't find on UnTappd and must have been a renamed pale from their range - presumably with contributions to the appeal.

Successful first stop and we have 30 minutes for lunch.

The Bank of Conwy looked like it was doing a roaring trade but we bypassed for the more traditional Erskine Arms.

Bank of Conwy

The Erskine Arms is a huge, smart hotel.   With tourists, families and a wedding party in the main lounge, a touch of exploring was required to find tranquility in "the study"

Good Beer Guide Goes Posh

My sort of space

Timothy Taylor Bolt Maker and a top quality fish finger sandwich rounded off a superb walk.

And we were back to the car two minutes before trouble.