May 2026. Alba Iulia. A night in the fortress city of Alba Iulia, and in the citadel trenches the only craft beer in town. The fortress had received an expensive makeover (some Romanians we met were scathing about the cost) to make it look shiny for an expected flood of tourists that hadn’t quite happened yet, and...

May 2026. Alba Iulia. Romania. Seven days in Romania, five (5) different cities overnight, with the alarm going off at 6am far too frequently for one of us. An hour in Cluj before heading to the station, reminiscent of one of those heritage railways in Essex that host Thomas, Percy and the local CAMRA beer festival....

May 2026. Cluj. Romania. Unexpectedly, we seemed to have a week free between “hosting” (ugh) Americans and Pep Guardiola’s farewell (of which less later). As usual, Mrs RM was on the same wavelength as me. “Week in Cluj ?“. The flights to Romania’s second city cost less the large breakfast at Stansted Spoons, which...

May 2026. Blyth. Nottinghamshire. Off on our latest trip south to see Dad and source blog material from Transylvania. Sis gave me a book of lunch stops off the motorways a while ago, most of them at garden centres and alpaca farms. I missed the turn for the alpacas. A man cannot live on Greggs macaroni cheese and...

May 2026. Sheffield. Joan and Dave reached the end of their world tour of Yorkshire in Sheffield, stopping overnight in Retired Martin Towers to admire the beauty of our “natural” garden. The cultural tour for Americans takes in the cathedral, Millennium Galleries, Town Hall, the former newspaper HQ that now houses...

May 2026. Masham. North Yorkshire. Half a dozen pubs (well, two of them brewery taps) and a golf club bar for 1,205 residents of Masham; time to see if the GBG has picked the right two (the red Ps). It appears Dave and Joan joined me in not making it back to the Bay Horse and the Bruce in the town square, hopefully...

May 2026. Masham. North Yorkshire. From the Peak to the Dales. This year’s crop of new GBG entries in North Yorkshire had only one thing in common; they’re a sod to get to on public transport. And who wants to drive to Masham, one of the homes of “Proper Beer”, for a half ? So I booked a night at the Guide newbie...

May 2026. Stockport. Manchester. Sheffield. Big news in the RM household yesterday as Matt and Emma move from Piccadilly to Heaton Norris, SK4. If it was good enough for Old Mudgie… I met Matt and Emma’s lovely folks in Beermoth a fortnight ago* to talk campervan travel and Tame Impala and house moves. A small...

May 2026. Sheffield. Central Sheffield isn’t underpubbed, but apply the cask ale filter and the area around West Street looks a little different. I’ve lived here more than 5 years, I ought to have visited all the real ale pubs in Sheffield, but Cavell’s cafe bar had escaped me. A local institution, probably, across...

May 2026. Sheffield. Mrs RM has been hard at work on her blog this month, and it would be amiss of me not to congratulate her on beating my blog view count AND starting to make money by recommending a travel bag that will fit in that Ryanair sizer if you wear 3 pears of pants and 2 overcoats on the flight. Retired...

May 2026. Richmond. North Yorkshire. Every fourth year Richmond gets a new Beer Guide pub demanding my attention, and every fourth year I leave a Yorkshire tiwn considered one of the country’s best wondering what the fuss is about. This time, I have myself a whole two hours and asked ChatGPT for the essential...

May 2026. Whitby. A stunning walk along the Whitby coast, arriving back in town to discover Eddi hadn’t been yet. I can’t get my head round gigs 6 months in the future for artists and audience as old as we are. Planning 6 days ahead is my limit. The smart hotels on the cliff top include the Royal, whose bar is...