04/02/23 - The Good Beer Guide Pubs of Blackheath and Rowley Regis

The CAMRA Good Beer Guide delivers two Britannia's and a Micro

Good Beer Guide Ticks - #792 to #794

As a navigational aide, the Good Beer Guide is fairly hopeless. The two closest recommendations to Rowley Regis railway station are sectioned under Blackheath. The furthest away, Rowley.

The three pubs detailed within a short stagger, do show the bible's strength. All quite different, some unexpected surprises and I am not going to argue with their inclusion. Quality booze in each.

My first is an unexpected JDW - The Britannia. Unexpected? Well, its not an imposing former bingo hall, just a converted 1950's pub, formerly the Traveller's Rest.

Need to look closely for the JDW clues

Saturday afternoon and it's fun. All walks of life. Sartorial Pensioners in trilbies. Families having a mixed grill eating competition. Lads, lads, lads.

A battle to get served at a packed bar - I should have used the app - and an unexpected drink to enjoy.  LocALE, 6.5% and just £2.47.

Couldn't have enjoyed a rarely seen Enville Blizzard any more.

Will bring Mrs M back for the Valentines day offer.

From a community local to a micro. You knew it was coming. The Cyder and Cobb ticking all the classic micro boxes. A converted shop, next to a nail bar.

Classic Micro

My pub scoring system - for which I have given a lot of consideration - includes a category "Unexpected Surprises".

I think we can file bar mounted demijohns of 14% cider in that category. We can certainly file a bar mounted cake stand, with perspex dome cover. Especially when it is chock a block with a selection of pork pies. I chose well with my thick wedge with a boiled egg.  A trio of middle aged ladies commented they had "pork pie envy".  A true gentlemen would have returned to the bar, purchased the stand and seen how the afternoon progressed from there.

I felt the ciders may have been a mistake on a Saturday afternoon session that had already seen a (double) margarita. Hop Back Summer Lightening a sensible and fine choice.

Uphill to another Britannia - this time with the suffix, pub and brewery.

How I loved this place. Outdoor gaspers stopping my own photo, so one lifted from Google Maps.

Beer.  Food.  Music.

Looking at their facebook, they seem to be a massive success. Different entertainment options on each night. Photos of packed rooms for pub quizzes. Live music in the conservatory. Cheeseboards, in front of coal fires.

Once the blog is complete, I'm onto Rightmove.

Yet, I cannot help but think they could be even more successful if they advertised. No website. No Twitter. Even UnTappd has little information about their house brews, with no art work.

I used my usual experimentation technique of going for the strongest ale and this was a Working Mon's Dark. Untappd tasting notes..... "Yeasty".

Now I am having a fine day in the Black Country and I am known for hyperbole but it was the best pint in the world.

Worthy of a before and after photo to show you the lacings.

Going, Going.....

.... Gone

My untappd checkin ports to Twitter..... Mrs M's response had my friends texting me the number for Relate.

What a joy. This is better than my house. Real fire and Chesterfields 🤣 - Drinking a Working Mon's Dark by Britt Brewery @ Britannia Inn — https://t.co/a3sw4YPluR

— Mappiman (@Mappiman1) February 4, 2023

04/02/23 - The Slow Way to Blackheath

The best way to get to Birmingham's finest Mexican Restaurant?  The Slow Way.

When describing the motivation behind walking from Birmingham to the Rowley Regis, I doubt many blogfans would have expected the answer to be Mexico.

There's been some high twitter praise for Bearwood's "A La Mexicana" restaurant. To complete a holy trinity for my weekend needs - on the Sandwood Road crossroads, there is also a barbers and a Good Beer Guide Tick available.

You'd also be forgiven for thinking Snow Hill, Bearwood and Rowley Regis would not provide decent walking but the Slow Ways movement have provided an intriguing route. Their aim is provide a network grid of walking routes between all of Britain's towns. I could spend a lifetime just playing with their website, let alone putting the theory into practice.

The proposed route manages to mainly avoid road walking. Instead, it finds the hidden corridors available in urban locations.  A lengthy stretch of the Birmingham Canals leads to Summerfield Park, where it is possible to pick up one of the second cities lesser known paths. The disused Harborne railway line could only provide greater pleasure, if cyclists were banned from having little bells.

Heading west along the Birmingham Canal

The disused Harborne railway providing fine walking

Only 10:30am and I have reached Bearwood. A spruce up from a Turk who has trimmed all my visible hair above my shoulders but worryingly still asks if I would like anything else clippered and I am taking advantage of the Bear Tavern's civilised opening hours. A lesser spotted 9am-er.

The fading glory of the Bear Tavern

Plenty of I-Spy potential from the exterior. Count the bears. Translate the Latin.

Photo doesn't quite capture how green it was

Tempus Fugit when counting bear heads - at least 5 more on the clock tower

Its a Greene King pub and the only deviation from their usual range appeared to be Wye Valley Butty Bach. A 10% discount, if I could have produced a CAMRA membership card. A very typical inner city chain pub, with the type of clientele you would expect, with an additional Mexican food loving rambler with a smart new haircut.

At the ding of 12pm, I am the first punter into A La Mexicana. Two firsts, a mid ramble margarita and the first time offered one as a double.

Make a change from my usual pint pots

The place soon fills up and I delighted to report that I am not the only one on cocktails. The owner, Jose, was lovely. Doesn't take much to make customers feel welcome but a few simple questions and interest in how your day is panning out goes  a long way. I will back, not least to check out the dinner menu, which is available later in the day.  A classic brunch of huevos rancheros fortifying me for the remainder of the walk.

Slightly more street walking in the second half, as I move through Brandhall. There's still Green Spaces provided by Warley Woods and Brandhall Golf Course.

Open Spaces

The walk finishes at Rowley Regis station but for those that have completed their research, three Good Beer Guide pubs are available, should you incorporate near-by Blackheath.

Post walk entertainment, worthy of a separate blog.

Walk Information

Distance - 10 miles

Geocaches - 4

Walk Inspiration - Slow Ways Network

Good Beer Guide Tick - #791

22/01/23 - January Man: January at the Severn Estuary in Gloucestershire

Walking the chapters of Christopher Somerville's The January Man, Month by Month

Christopher Somerville is the Times journalist responsible for the "weekly walks" in the Saturday weekend section. He is also a published author and his book, "January Man:  A Year of Walking Britain" looked a suitable contender to carry me through 2023. Each chapter represents a walk in a different part of Britain and I am always looking for more psychogeophary inspiration. 

Can I follow the monthly routes, as I read each chapter in the appropriate month?  

January is a nice easy start. The location is relatively local to me, just south of Tewkesbury. The Leigh, Gloucestershire, was Christopher's childhood home. 

I most enjoyed the 20 minute read, as he muses on his childhood friendship with Roo, his relationship with his WWII scarred father and growing up in a tiny farming community on the banks of the River Severn. There's a lengthy extract and some photos of Christopher and Roo at Frontier Magazine.

Fittingly, his revisit and walk sometime in the mid 2010s was blighted by floods. I found a suitable route but completing the basics of pre-trip research, I was able to see that the Red Lion, Wainlode, had been unable to re-open after Christmas.

I won't be visiting Christopher's Local

The flooding was worse than expected. I started my walk from The Leigh's Church, where Christopher spends time reminiscing on the surnames of childhood neighbours, now populating the graveyard. I get about half a mile into the walk before hitting the floodwaters, at least half a mile from the river. The fact the waters are frozen does not help me much. I have not brought ice-skates and the ice is not thick enough to support a grown man.

Looking back over The Leigh's Church

Hitting the flood waters

The red line shows my planned walk. The blue line shows the reality.

Planned 7m becomes 3m

Still, I was able to complete the loop of the Leigh. The Cyder Press (Roo's childhood home) and Hoefield House (Christopher's) were found, the latter Grade II listed and the most impressive building in the village. It now hides behind a gated wall, with no indication of the name.

The journey continued by vehicle, as I was keen to see the first crossing north of Gloucester and see what pub archaeology could be completed. The Hawbridge Inn painting a desolate picture of the lot of a publican all the way back in 2017.  A Gloucester news article detailing the following;

In a post on its Facebook page, it said: “It is with deep regret that we have to inform you that we will be closing the doors to the Haw Bridge Inn after this evening’s service. We had a good run in the little bit of summer we traded in, but, sadly, we were plunged into one of the quietest quarters we have experienced in the 12 years of our pub experience.

Last week, the snow at the start, theft of all our heating oil, and no water at the end, was the week that sealed the deal, and unfortunately we had no other choice but to close down trading.

The journey down through a bleak landscape, with the B4123 raised just high enough above the icy floodwaters. Enough to bring the drone enthusiasts out to get some interesting footage.

The road to Red Lion at Hawbridge, not faring so well

There were actually two pubs at Hawbridge, on either side of the road. The Riverside Inn falling into dilapidation but I can bring good news from the Hawbridge Inn. New owners in the garden confirmed that it was re-opening but no time frames given. I hope they took my advice of putting a lock on the oil tank.

Hawbridge Inn - Phoenix from the Flames - notice floodwaters behind

The view from Hawbridge

Refreshment was found further up the road at Apperley.  The Farmer's Arms trading on the strength of their food, offering what looked a pleasant dining experience in an ancient farmhouse.  Concessions made for the drinker, with three Chesterfields surrounding a log fire.

Farmers Arms, Apperley

Wadworth 6X from Wiltshire.  Scratchings from the Black Country

Walk Information

Distance - 7 miles planned, 3 miles achieved

Walk Inspiration - Pub Walks for Motorists:  Bristol, Bath, Somerset and Gloucestershire 

Pub - The Farmers Arms, Lower Apperley

Geocaches - 1

21/03/22 - The Good Beer Guide Pubs of Warwick

Are these the best pubs in Warwick?  CAMRA think so.

Good Beer Guide Ticks - #786 to 789

Enough Good Beer Guide Pubs in Warwick to justify letting the train take the strain for the latest leg of the Centenary Way. 10 miles walked in sub zero temperatures and I am ready for refreshment.

The Old Post Office just outside the West Gate City walls is the first port of call.

Micro Pub Ahoy!

It's a micro, where they haven't spared a penny in trawling bric a brac shops for furnishings. The theme? Mounted heads. The quirky - comedy false legs breaking through ceilings.

Boars, Rabbits, WWI German Fighter planes.  A leg.

All these nick nacks are designed to take your mind off the pricing structure. Have I really just paid £6 for a 4.2% Keg Salt brewery Jute? 

It would appear so and this seems expensive when compared with the higher ABV and not insignificantly cheaper cask.

Keep it simple.  All keg - even Irish Stout - is a whopping £6

Just around the corner lies the Four Penny Pub, a Georgian building with an unusual name.  It comes from the cost of a coffee and tot of rum charged to the C19th Navvies building the Grand Union Canal, undercutting the competition by 50%.

Source of the name determined

A pleasant enough pub, with a front drinking room, an elevated narrow bar and a back room setup for dining. The customers in front of me asked for a menu, so it seemed a good place for lunch. If the competitive pricing cut still extends, other Warwickshire restaurants charge £35 for steak and chips. With exploding tomatoes on the vine.

A rarely seen Hobson's Postman's Plum Porter inoffensively not offering the challenge I usually find imbing a Titanic.

There's usually a joker in the pack of any CAMRA Pub Crawl and Warwickshire's entry is The Oak. The only new addition in the last couple of editions.  I didn't check, pre-plague.

What to make of a rough around the edges pub that you need to keep your eyes peeled to spot.

Brave advertising.  Its -2 and foggy.

If it wasn't for the recommendation, I wouldn't have considered it a source of comfort and quality real ale. Through the door and met with bright lights and a cacophony of noise, where a jukebox is vying with BT Sport to scramble your brains.

To a man - and they are all men - everyone is on Carling.  A St Austell Tribute was hardly likely to get the pulse racing but it was in decent condition. Enough to convince the Warwickshire Beards to add some variety to Warwickshire County town. 

Carling A-Plenty

File under outlier.

The pick of the bunch - and handiest for the railway station - to either make your escape or herald your arrival - is the Wild Boar.  A tap room for the previously unknown (to me) Slaughterhouse brewery.

End of Terrace Boozer

At last, some comfort. Proper pub seating next to a coal fire. I was able to remove my mittens.

Friendly owner, asking after my day, friendly punters also engaging and a pub dog that sits on the windowsill, keeping guard over the Warwickshire cats.  Like Daily Mail Royal observers, he hates the gingers.

The craft (and ABV) has gone up to £6.50 and 6% but I also tried Poking the Bear, a decent in-house brewed Blonde.

Heat.  Northern Monk New World IPA.... Bliss.

The next leg of the Centenary Way takes me to Leamington Spa.

They too have enough boozers to warrant another train trip.

Tune in next month for a comparison.