retiredmartin
retiredmartin
Martin
Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.
Latest Posts
December 2025. Sheffield. Will had curated an itinerary for our mini-Sheffield Black Eye Friday crawl. As a southerner, he’d never actually ever heard of Black Eye Friday, but then unlike me he’s not slave to biblically-inspired...
December 2025. Sheffield. Back in Sheffield on Black Eye Friday with just enough time to put the laundry on, open the Christmas cards that will never be reciprocated, and make the sort of arrangements that on Mumsnet would take 3 months....
December 2025. Sheffield. I’d left Mrs RM in Rye (Home 3) to keep an eye on her parents while I popped back on the train to check on Dad and Sunnyside (Home 2). But I also needed to make sure our actual home in Sheffield (Home 1) was...
December 2025. Waterbeach. First off, more pics from our artisanal family Christmas Day, “hosted” (ugh) by Mrs RM in a largely empty Sunnyside with the use of a few pots and pans brought back from Rye. That’s a bit like “cuckoo” brewing...
December 2025.Hollowshore. Faversham. You’ll be wanting to know what Christmas traditions we’ve upheld today, so here’s a photo of our traditional 25th December lunch, houmous, Sensations crisps, mango chutney, baguette and some stew Mrs...
December 2025. Hollowshore, Faversham. Just for Dave, a Christmas Eve post even though I’ve just had 4 pints and a Nepalese curry with my boys. Oddly, there’ll probably be less spelling mistakes than normal. Mrs RM’s actual birthday...
December 2025. Faversham. Just below the station, red P Walking back from the Sun to Faversham Premier Inn on the eve of Mrs RM’s birthday I suddenly realised we’d taken a different route into town that afternoon and missed its most...
December 2025. Faversham. Back in Faversham from Herne, and an early tea on Mrs RM’s eve of birthday. The Sun isn’t in the GBG, but it had the most convincing menu, and it pays to treat a girl to somewhere nice, once or twice....
December 2025. Herne Bay. Mrs RM looked unimpressed at the entrance to our Herne Bay GBG debutant micro as it opens on the dot of six, I think she’s hungry after only eating oysters and scampi all day. But it’s big on character and...
December 2025. Herne Bay. Yes, it’s my birthday (22/12) and I’m in a caravan writing blog posts for you (after a day’s walking in Hastings). Mrs RM did the same on her birthday, we’re dedicated to our art. Still on Mrs RM’s Birthday Eve,...
December 2025. Whitstable. Mrs RM had been a bit miffed that our recent overnighter in Whitstable had skipped the harbour, and as you’ll appreciate I can’t afford to have an even slightly miffed wife. A mere 8 minutes from Faversham by...
December 2025. Faversham. Part 2 of Mrs RM’s eve of birthday bash, though a drier “bash” you’ll never see. A dozen “must sees” marked on our Faversham map, the most exciting of which was “warm sausage roll from Tommy Butcher the...
Definitely onto the short posts now, but as it’s nearly my birthday (22/12) my attention is wandering. December 2025. Faversham. Mrs RM was determined to wake up somewhere exciting on her **th birthday this week (actual age only...
December 2025. Rye. Back in Rye the bus to the harbour was 40 minutes late. As you’ll know, 40 minutes is exactly the right amount of time needed to to Mrs RM’s shopping at Jempsons and squeeze in a bit of curated pub research. About...
December 2025. Hastings New Town. I didn’t buy a £1 bag from Primark to carry my £10 fleece, so ran the risk of leaving it on the train (again) if I extended my rapid assault on Hastings New Town. So the Yates’s, and the heritage...