29/10/22 - London Spiral Walk - Stage 8

Distance - 10 Miles

Start - Shepherd's Bush Market

Finish -  Clapham Common

Areas Walked - Hammersmith, Putney, Wandsworth

Geocaches - 2 and an Adventure Lab Cache

Pubs - 2 (Good Beer Guide #728-729)

Previous Walks - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7

The day the clocks change. The final days of October. No jacket required on Stage 8 of the London Spiral Walk. It's not normal.

Exceptional warmth in SE England today.

22.9°C, making it the warmest 29th October on record. Beating 20.5°C in 1999. pic.twitter.com/3Yz1ZSWZnz

— Dave Throup (@DaveThroup) October 29, 2022

It does of course, make for pleasant walking.  And this is a much improved stage over Stage 7.

Nondescript streets lead me to Hammersmith.  It's early, but a Good Beer Guide Tick, the William Morris,  is open and provides breakfast on a blue plate.  Oakham Green Devil with the hastily ordered traditional breakfast, without realising black pudding (2 slices) could be added for an extra £1.20.

The William Norris

One of the grimmer JDW's visited but service was swift, prices keen.

A cursory look around Hammersmith.  The "Bottom Bench", the flyover, the Damned playing at the Apollo. 60 year old punks turn up very early for their gigs.

Do you think the planning permission was challenged?

Hammersmith Bridge is still handsome and closed to traffic. Trivia point, the most bombed bridge in London. 

Hammersmith Bridge

A lengthy section of Thames Path walking - past the wetlands centre, the rowing clubs, under Putney Bridge and through Wandsworth Park. Discipline is maintained easily. It's still too early for the Bricklayers Arms, The Cat's Back and the Sam Brooks Brewery Tap.

Thames Path - always a pleasure

Lots of riverside activity at the many boat houses

Through King George's Park and onto Wandsworth Common. It's only after a post walk review of Bob Steel's London Pub Crawls book that I determine the magnificent Le Gothique building hosts a recommended bar amongst it's facilities. There's one for another day.

London's First Gastropub

And finally, into Clapham.  An adventure lab cache takes me on a bit of local psycho-geography.  Clapham looks worthy of more detailed investigation - a number of independent shops and with the unseasonal weather, outdoor diners providing a cosmopolitan feel.

With the sort of serendipity that I live for, it transpires that my Oxford based son is in the same part of London. We arrange to meet at one of the Good Beer Guide Ticks available, the Abbeville.  

And its a pub that has run out of Cask. On a Saturday. Round 1, I try and introduce my son to Harvey's Best Bitter - one of the greatest pints known to all humanity. They manage to squeeze one from the barrel before pronouncing it dead and flipping the pump clip. The alternative - a Landlord - which not wishing to mar a memory, I hand to my son. The Harveys is dismal vinegar, and after a longer than warranted argument, I manage to swap over.

The Pub where Cask goes to die - Harveys at half mast, about to be joined by Landlord

Round 2 and the Landlord is off.

Thank god for keg and hello to £12.40 rounds of Camden Hells. 

22/10/22 - Centenary Way - Stage 13 - Kenilworth for the Good Beer Guide Pubs

Distance - 9 Miles

Geocaches - 4 and an Adventure Lab Cache

Pubs - The Gauntlet, The Ales Rooms, The Old Bakery and the Virgins and Castle

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

The Centenary Way leaves from a major town. Might as well complete some advanced Public Transporting. 1xBus and 4xTrains goes better than expected, for a day when Avanti Staff are on strike.

Stage 13 is easily the best walk of the Centenary Way (so far). An exact replica of one the better stages of the Millennium Way.

A Warwickshire countyside ramble, with Kenilworth Castle the obvious highlight.

A Circuit of the Castle Wall - Looking for ALC clues

Kenilworth Castle from the main entrance

Through Gospel Oak Alpaca Farm

Where the same happy signs exist at Goodrest Cottages

Exercise completed - three Good Beer Guide Pubs to aim for.

The Gauntlet has a description in the bible as offering Good Home Made food... an obvious candidate for lunch.  Micro-pubs only have crisps.

A shiver of fear/excitement, on arrival at the first flat roof tick of 2022.  Points lost for lack of roof-mounted, patrol dogs.

1960's estate pub - the book has got them all.

My spider senses tell me that it's devoid of life. The weeds at the front door look a bit too high.  The signage suggests lunch time opening but the doors looked bolted. A quick check with the next door newsagents and it closed down last week.

For good?  He seemed to think so. I get the honour of informing the pubsgalore website, even if my stomach is rumbling.

Revised opening...... shut

The Ale Rooms and Gin Bar is a neat enough micro. Unsure if it is affiliated with the bar of the same name in Knowle.  Nothing unsual stocked (maybe in the Gin Section) and a choice of 5 hand-pulls. Which seems overkill when the other patrons (lads, lads, lads) are all on Euro-lager.  Will anyone, ever, choose the Bombardier? 

Ale Room Micro

Purity Mad Goose - always a handsome pint

The Old Bakery adds to the trio of Good Beer Guide Ticks.  This is the guide in a nutshell, three venues all quite different.

I'm not really sure what MO the Old Bakery are going for. It's a hotel. You would think it did food, but alas, the charcuterie board that the one other punter said used to be available is now discontinued. The barman did offer crisps.

Not your classic looking "pub"

Four handpulls on - and all unusual.  I was the 6th person in the world to check in Buckeye Brown from Derby Brewing Company. Looking at check-in number 5, it was in the same venue, in the same Wye Valley glass on the night before.

An rather odd experience, not helped by the lack of punters on a Saturday afternoon.

Posher than your average Micro

I'm not leaving for an epic 4 train journey home without sustenance.  When in doubt, head for the oldest pub in town.

Collective noun for Virgins?

Hoorah - they have fishfinger sarnies.. and Everards Tiger

15/10/22 - Skipton Pub Crawl

Call off the hunt - for I have found best bar in the world.

I'm in Yorkshire and have ticked off 2 of the 3 peaks. Settle, as pleasant as it was, has run out of evening entertainment options so I have relocated to the Gateway of the Yorkshire Dales, Skipton. A town dripping in history and a smattering of Good Beer Guide Ticks.

My digs are 2 miles from the action but the Dales 66 drops me off at the bus station and before I fire up Google Maps to get my bearings, I am seduced by the music and excitement coming from Sound Bar.  

A blue print for bars going forward.

By day, a record shop.

Vinyl delights

By night, possibly a live music venue.

Stage is set at Sound Bar

And there's more.... at the far end, thronged with people, a real ale bar.... expertly manned by enough staff to deal with the thirsty hordes. In next to no time, I am taking a first Dark Horse Brewery, Craven Bitter to the only place with space. The stage.  A perfect location to take in the atmosphere.

It's swinging

The DJ is creating a superb atmosphere with a selection of Mod Tunes. Small faces, runs into the Kinks and as you may have heard, Green Onions.

I've got some great ideas on what the superstar DJ can play next.

Which I will take to the grave

I've peaked far too early.... it's a filthy night in Skipton, but I have to drag myself out into the rain to see what else is on offer.  Alas, there is little chance of a pre-bus home night cap - Sound Bar is a 9pm closer.

To The Regiment!  It's on to Early Doors micro pub, on the quest for unusual beers, craft or foreign.  As with other Yorkshire Micro pubs, I only find top quality cask bitters. A Reedley Hallows Brewery Pendleside, taken in more sedate surroundings on the only comfy sofa. Strangely unoccupied in a packed out former shop, I thought it could only be a trap, that would surely collapse under the weight of an unaware pub ticker.

Early Doors - An 8pm Closer

Onto the Good Beer Guide Pubs....  The Narrow Boat provides the beer I have been searching for the last 48 hours.  A soft and juicy West Coast IPA brewed as a collab between Osset and Lakes Brew Co. I've not had a bad beer in Yorkshire but I needed some variety from the classic bitters found so far.

At last, murk

With Other Choices Available

A comfortable, multi roomed boozer with a mezzanine floor for pint-pot chucking, Begbie wannabes.

As much as I'd like to, I'm not going to award this IPA pint of the weekend. Almost next door is The Beer Engine who have a Thornbridge Tap Takeover. Jaipur on Cask. It's going to win every time.

To be fair, everyone's a winner.  But look at the colour!

Beer Engine People

A chance to try a Jaipur X on Keg was shunned.  I may regret missing out. Then again, 10% beer may have been regretted in situ... there's another mountain to climb tomorrow.

One last Good Beer Guide Tick to get - The Boat House - calling last orders at 10pm. I have no fear, the penultimate bus back is 10:20pm.

Rounding off the night back with another well respected pint.  Marble Brewery Lagonda.

People ask me where I get my walk inspiration from.  Everywhere, I reply.

There's a lot of early closing venues but I've got to say, Skipton has fast become one of my favourite beer towns.

Besides, these days, I like to be tucked up in bed before 11pm.

14/10/22 - The Pubs of Settle, North Yorkshire

An attempt to do the Yorkshire 3 peaks over a weekend saw me use Settle as my first nights base.

A pretty little Market Town, set in some glorious countryside.  2 Good Beer Guide ticks available but that's not quite enough for a man with a thirst.  Fortunately, others are available to make up a pub crawl (minimum of three required, them's the crawl rules).

I start the evening at a Micro Pub - Bar 13.  

Starting in day-light

The more I travel around the country, the more I am spotting the differences in the MO of micro pubs.  In the Midlands, they distinguish themselves in the market by offering drinks that you cannot get in the mainstream pubs.  Kidderminster has 3 micros and on my last crawl I went from a Deya Steady Rolling Man to a keg Schlenkerla Rauchbier to a bottle of St Bernardus 12 ABT.

In Yorkshire, the Micros stock nothing unusual and really are just small pubs. A full review of cask and keg and then the fridges (where a nod to Belgium is in the shape of Leffe) before settling on cask Moorhouses Witches Cauldren. Perfect condition, but I could have killed for a juice bomb West Coast IPA.

View from the far end of a Micro

Next door is the Golden Lion, the first of the Good Beer Guide Ticks.

The Golden Lion, by Night

This is my second visit to this 1670 Coaching Inn and with an identical order placed, I have probably identified my death row meal.

Thwaites Original in superlative condition, washing down a suet pudding, filled with steak, vegetables and more Thwaites Original. Accompanied by thick cut chips and an individual jug of gravy.

I need to keep my strength up for tomorrow's mountain assault.

Taking my coat for dinner.  2 minutes later, I could have brought you the Suet Pudding

A smart brightly lit hotel bar, setup for dining may not be everyone's cup of tea but there's no doubting the quality of their fayre.

For a drinking den, I'd have to recommend the next Good Beer Guide recommendation - The Talbot Arms.  A free house claiming to be the oldest pub in Settle.  Packed solid, with a queue of potential diners hovering for a table, I had to make my home at the bar, of sufficient length to avoid bar-blocker accusations.

Talbot Arms

Bar blockers may be a pain in the arse but its the best place for blogging material.  A first time granddad, toasting his new family member by ordering two pints, drinking them both in more or less one gulp and then leaving to pick up a curry.  Then, I was treated to a running commentary by the staff who were watching a drunk in the beer garden on the CCTV monitor overhead.  "He's going, he's going, he's gone" laugh the workers, as the star of the small screen eventually fell over.

You don't get this entertainment sat at the back of Micro pubs.

Started with a Settle, moved on to a Pennine Brewery Pacific.  Both excellent

Third high quality beer location and a tempting list of "coming on soon" clips, that would definitely make this place my local.

Finally, before heading back to my Gigglewick digs, I popped into the Royal Oak - the party place in town.  

Loud Music, Disco Lights, I'm going in

Only one person could save me from the twin evils of karaoke and halloween decorations.

The Landlord

11/10/22 - Torbay - Good Beer Guide Pubs (and others)

Off course the Good Beer Guide 2022 was checked before heading off to Torbay.

Torquay and Brixham get one each.  Paignton gets three but a mistake was made. I stopped reading once I got to the entry for the Conservative Members Club.  Miss-Truss abounds.

Knowing this woudn't be enough to last three nights, I went back through previous archives. Punts were taken on random pubs of interest spotted in the field.

Paignton - within minutes of working out that the Ringo parking app now requires you to activate on entry and exit, we are fighting the tourists down a slightly shabby street of tat shops, on the lookout for Henry's Bar.

The Decal had a look of a JDW

A quirky interior, that goes back a long way.  

Inside Henry's

Lots of good beer guide advertising, so they are committed to keeping the high standards that got them recommended in the first place.  Certainly nothing wrong with my 11:30am Dartmoor Jail Ale, that must have been the first pour of the day.  Not everyone is on holiday.

Also a good place to get food between midnight and 9pm.

And make sure you sit down!

Torquay surprised us by having just the one current entry.  But don't go on a Monday.  The Buccaneer is closed, despite the hours detailed on Google and Whatspub. Mrs M says a businesses FB page is the best source of information.

Torquay is where we are based, and I had to get imaginative. The council helped out. Off the main drag by the marina is a brown tourist sign simply saying "Inns".

Here you will find a former GBG entry - The Hole in the Wall and its rougher brother, the Devon's Arms.  Both laying claim to being the oldest in town.

Hole in the Wall

Low Ceilings

Quirky Interior - including indoor shed

The Hole proved to be a typical seaside pub - full of quirky knick knacks and a comprehensive menu.  Timothy Taylor was on - and I shared a smile with the landlady who had demands for a top up from a elderly gent, only to watch him spill his bonus booze all over the flagged floor, as he wobbled back to his table.  A pyrrhic victory, if I ever saw one.

The Devon's Arms looked slightly intimidating from the outside and the only way I could convince Mrs M to come in was by referring her to previous patrons.

A Roll Call..... 

... of people who may have attended just the harbour

It was rough.  If you gauge roughness by middle aged couples who cannot have been married eating each other's faces off.  Difficult to know where to look, when they are sat at the bar and all tables face the bar.

Two ales on - Banks and Bays Brewery Topsail.  I didn't hold out much hope but you've guessed it - the Topsail was easily pint of the week.  A perfectly kept and delicious session bitter.

And help is at hand for pub tourists looking for the facilities.

I had a look.  It wasn't a toilet

Brixham provided a fine community pub for those prepared to do a bit of mountaineering from where the bus drops you off.

Oxygen required to reach the Queens Arms but well worth it.

Inside the Queens Arms

And will be handsome outside too..

The beer was good - I found a never seen before, out of production (according to Untappd) St Austell Belgian IPA named "Hybrid".  The cider was also worth experimentation - with at least 6 different ones available.

A snake-bite GBG Tick.  With sound advice from the beer garden.

Support All Locals.

10/10/22 - Torquay to Babbacombe

Distance - 5 Miles

Geocaches - 2 and a 6 Adventure Lab Caches

Pubs - 3

The Torbay area is not blessed with too many 2022 Good Beer Guide Pubs.  Going through the archives since 2017, I've managed to identify two additional pubs of interest that no longer make the grade, along with the sole survivor on route. Opening times are checked in Google. And WhatPub. 

It is Monday. The worst day for pub ticking.

The route combines two walks from Laurence Main's Pub Walks in South Devon. To give you an indication of when this was published, he spends an awful long time dissing Maggie Thatcher.

We can even start from the front door of our digs. Road walking leading to Kent's Cavern - a chargeable attraction of prehistoric caves - with a hidden green corridor called the Lincombe Slopes. This drops us nicely at the coast at Meadfoot Beach.

Meadfoot Beach

This was getting Laurence Angsty - Thatcher's Rock

The South West Coast Path.....

.....And a bit more of it

Into Babbacombe - a Torquay suburb. 

It transpires that the Good Beer Guide Tick - The Buccaneer - is closed on Monday. This, despite my meticulous research. Still, their loss in custom is our gain. There is nothing wrong with the steak baguette and Dartmoor Legend in the Babbacombe Inn next door. Similar architecture and the same views, as well.

Babbacombe in the Sunshine

Legend

We've decided that the walk back along a main road - that's also the bus route - is pointless. 

With time on our hands, we check out two former Good Beer Guide Ticks.

The Crown and Sceptre is to the far north of town. A handful of regulars, who all disappear to smoke in unison and a couple of pensioners who seize their moment of glory and get to explain to lost brummies how the Torbay buses work.  Honest enough boozer.

Crown and Sceptre, Babbacombe

Which leaves the Dolphin. And with hindsight, something I should have done myself.  No punters and the barmaid's child running wild does not make a great atmosphere. Positives -  The Otter Head was better condition than I had any real right to expect. Negatives - Halloween decorations up.  

Far too early for that sort of spooky nonsense.

But a taste of what's to come for the pub tickers, as the night's draw in.

Cobwebs in the Windows.  Must be October.