Real Ale, Real Music

I have just returned to the Yorkshire fishing port and tourist attraction of Whitby for the first time in years With an increased number of drinking establishments in the town since I last was here, our visit only took in a small proportion of them. Read on to see how it all went.... The weather forecast was not good for the weekend, with high winds and heavy showers courtesy of Storm Boelo due to land early on Saturday evening. With its position on the north east coast of Yorkshire, Whitby was expected to be very much in the firing line. Not deterred, 7 of us were going over for the weekend to help one of the guys, Karl, celebrate his upcoming birthday.  We left Brighouse at around 9.30 on Saturday morning, with Suggs driving us over via minibus. Aussie Tony and myself were getting picked up at the Dusty Miller in Hove Edge where we are all regulars, and having already collected Pete and Tony, after picking up Alex and Karl himself before leaving Brighouse, we were on our way. Kar...

Join me as I take a tour around the northern reaches of England's most northerly county where, amongst the historical towns and villages, and stunning coastline, there are some rather splendid pubs and beers.... After a great day before in Newcastle, and then following a good night's sleep and breakfast, I left the toon behind, heading out of the city centre late morning and up the Ponteland Road to join the A1 on my way further north. Driving up, the road north through Northumberland was busier than I would have expected, particularly considering it was a Sunday. And I have to say this stretch of the Great North Road is not my favourite, as it alternates between dual carriageway and single track, so traffic would bunch for a while and then speed off, and then converge again, whilst the general drift of the road is not the easiest to negotiate. The countryside was unfailingly pleasant though, with the odd sea view off to the right, and bright blue skies overhead, so I wasn'...

Ok, this is something a bit different as I take you to Huddersfield and the Colne Valley and then to Newcastle. Some live stuff written about the place I am sat in as I am away for a few days. So more random I suppose, some of it more like a diary, with a recurring theme of snacks.... Last Wednesday , a group of us who either work, rest, and/or play in the Grayston Unity and Meandering Bear in Halifax headed out for the afternoon to the nearby Colne Valley. We were heading to Marsden which with the ongoing Huddersfield Station works involved catching a train to Mirfield and a 35 minute wait to catch our connecting train. Needless to say, we made the most of our wait, wandering over to the nearby Navigation for some refreshment. Back at the station we boarded the train and after a journey of around 15 minutes, we were duly decanted at Marsden on what was a bright, sunny, and warm day for early October. Down the hill to the Riverhead we went after a short diversion along the canal to vie...

After a night and afternoon in Worthing, our Saturday evening saw us venturing to another place in the county of Sussex. Read on to find out about our evening in Chichester, visiting some of the city's real ale pubs and a few other bits and pieces.... Chichester is the county town and only city in West Sussex, situated around 18 miles to the west of Worthing and 30 miles from Brighton. There is a regular train connection from Worthing, and our journey to this historic city took us less than half an hour. We arrived in still bright sunshine and as we left the station we had the inevitable wait for the gates of the level crossing to lift so we could enter the town centre. We walked up a street with plenty of shops, restaurants, and the odd pub ( although none on my list ), arriving after a few minutes at an old market cross. This was Chichester Cross, which is a type of butter cross familiarly seen in old market towns. It was built in 1501 as a covered marketplace and stands at the i...