Forget "Dry January" - and go to the pub instead!

I’ve written, at length, about Dry January, on several occasions in the past, with particular regard to the deleterious effect that abstaining from alcohol has on the nation’s pubs. Apologies then if you’ve heard these arguments before, but whilst I might be repeating myself, the truth remains that so-called Dry January is causing serious damage to the licensed trade. With Christmas behind us, and pubs experiencing the usual post-festive fall in footfall, January is the worst month possible for people to abstain from drinking. Worse still January is often the month which breaks a publican’s business, by undermining all the hard work of the year before and, the ones prior to that as well.

Anyone with experience of the licensed trade knows this, and the effects of a poor January often run over into February and March, providing proof that the first quarter of the year can often be the most testing time for many pubs. A combination of post-Christmas blues, poor weather and customers reassessing their leisure budget, clashes head on with licensees paying the same overheads, and struggling to keep their businesses open while.  The last thing the trade needs is Dry January, suppressing their trade even further, and with so many obstacles to overcome, sadly, some pubs do not manage to stay afloat, and find themselves going under.

Because of this effect, a growing number of publicans are suggesting that Alcohol Change UK, the charity behind the January abstinence campaign, should find a better way to raise money without hitting local businesses, but with over five million people in the UK reportedly going without a drink during this month, this virtuous, “look at me” stance is having a disastrous effect on an already struggling hospitality sector.

Alcohol Change UK was formed from a merger of Alcohol Concern and Alcohol Research UK, both well-known, anti-alcohol campaign groups, and neither exactly friends of the licensed trade, or the drinks industry as a whole. Amongst their aims is an outright ban on alcohol advertising, and tighter restrictions for the trade, such as minimum pricing, plus restrictions on alcohol promotions within stores. Dry January should therefore be viewed as a cynical ploy by this anti-alcohol group to damage the drinks trade by persuading people that they will benefit from stopping drinking, using evidence that lacks proper scientific scrutiny.

Unless, one has a serious drink problem, there is no proven health benefit from giving up alcohol completely, but this is not the message Alcohol Change UK are putting across, and it is not the one being received by well-meaning, but rather naïve people who think they are doing the right thing. This New Year is starting off from a position that is even lower than previous years, with many pubs, and even breweries, struggling to cope with an unsustainable dip in trade.

There is nothing wrong with people who, for genuine health or indeed personal reasons, wish to abstain from drink for a period of time, if it genuinely makes them feel good, but why choose the worst time of year possible for the pub trade and inflict even more damage on hard-pressed local businesses? Even worse are those self-satisfied, smug individuals who feel the need to plaster their “achievement” all over social media. So, rather than look at the downside of the drinks trade - as Alcohol Change UK would have us do, why not consider the many positive aspects that pubs, in particular, contribute to social cohesion and a well-balanced society, particularly from a mental health point of view.

Pubs are one of the few remaining places where people can meet in a relaxed, social environment outside of the home, thereby taking an important role in tackling loneliness and isolation. Loneliness can affect anyone at any time in their life, and many people experienced the pain of isolation for the first-time during the lock-downs caused by the pandemic. Since that unfortunate time, a national conversation around loneliness has opened up, like never before. Pubs have always been places of refuge, where licensees and their staff provide stability and regular conversation for many who experience loneliness and social isolation.

They also provide a vital hub for locals to get together as a community, and this is particularly evident in rural settings, where pubs are stepping in to fulfill services, such as post office and library facilities, that may be lacking in the local area. In some instances, the local pub has even doubled up as the village shop, going way beyond the act of just pouring pints. More than ever pubs find themselves, at the heart of the local community, and whether you plan to catch up with an old friend or get to know someone new, there’s no better venue than your local pub or social club.

A similar situation applies in urban areas too, with High Streets across the UK changing, as more and more services and transactions take place online. Opportunities for social interaction have lessened and shared public spaces increasingly lost. This trend was apparent even before the advent of COVID-19, although control measures such as lock-down and social distancing, accelerated it further. This is why it’s more important than ever that we continue to campaign to protect, support and celebrate the local pub.

So, if you really care about pubs, January is definitely NOT the month to be going dry, and whilst I don’t always get out to pubs as much as I used to, or indeed would like to, there is still nothing finer than, “A pint amongst friends.”

 

Early on New Year's Eve

On New Year’s Eve I finally managed to escape the confines of the house to take a wander down into Tonbridge. It wasn’t my first venture outside of the house, as I had been out three days before, primarily to drop my unwell car off at Halfords, for a diagnostic check, after the engine started misfiring and running erratically. It was a virtual re-run of the problem I experienced back in September, when Matthew and I were driving back from a visit to Dorking.

On that occasion we had to be recovered from Clackets Lane services, but the second time around, I managed to limp the vehicle back home.  Matthew was with me again, and we were on our way back from the Tesco Superstore at Riverhead. The way the car was handling suggested a repeat of September’s breakdown, namely a faulty fuel injector, and this was confirmed via a phone call, from Halfords, whilst I was sitting in the cafe in Waitrose, enjoying a flat white and a cookie.

Replacing an injector was a job which Halfords were unable to do, so after collecting my vehicle, and limping it back to Bailey Towers, I headed off to the station and boarded a train to High Brooms. I had pre-booked a look, plus a test drive at the local Skoda dealer, and to cut a long story short, I ended up placing a deposit on a much newer, and shinier SUV. The vehicle is now parked on my drive, after I collected it yesterday afternoon, but this isn’t a post for petrol-heads, but rather is some general background information as to why I was out and about on the last day of the year.

Although mis-named, and over exaggerated, the 100-day cough that had been doing a tour of the UK left Mrs PBT’s and I decidedly under the weather - Eileen rather more so than me. Son Matthew also copped a dose as well, although being younger than his parents (I shan’t say fitter), he bounced back a lot quicker than we did. I took a slightly different route into the town, following a path that led me through the maze of newish apartment blocks that have sprung up over the past couple of decades, on land either close to, or actually overlooking the River Medway.  

This area represents the town’s largest piece of development land, and additional space for building has recently become available following the demolition and removal of two large gasholders. These relics of from a bygone age were something of a local landmark, and their removal upset quite a few local people. I remember spotting them from the air, whilst on a flight coming in towards Gatwick, but now they are no more, a substantial piece of development land has been created. Nice as these new dwellings are, very few, if any of them are within the reach of first-time buyers. This is a real bug bear, as far as I am concerned, and I know I’m not the only local person who feels this way. I digress, but with a son unable to get onto the housing ladder, and still living at home, you can perhaps understand my frustration.

Moving swiftly on, I had another reason for visiting the town centre, apart from wishing to escape a spot of cabin fever, and that was to visit a local hostelry. Mrs PBT’s had probably guessed as much, but then after nearly 40 years of marriage, she knows me only too well. I walked along the towpath into the centre of Tonbridge, and crossed the river by the "Big Bridge", as this Victorian structure is known to the local townsfolk. I then made my way along to Fuggles Beer Café, which looked busier than I thought it would be – although it was New Year’s Eve.

I made my way inside, and fortunately despite the crowds, there were still a number of empty chairs and free tables. I spotted a familiar face sat at one of the tables, so after buying myself a pint I walked over and said hello to Keith and asked if I could join him. Keith lives within walking distance of Fuggles and often brings his two dogs with hm, along to the pub, for an afternoon pint or two, so surprised to see just one hound lying under the table, I asked where the other one was. Sadly, one of the dogs had died, although Keith advised that the animal didn’t suffer.

A choice of three cask ales was on offertory tempt the enthusiast, and I started off with an excellent pint of Jarl, from Fyne Ales. Extremely pale in colour, this single hop, session, blonde ale is the brewery’s flagship beer, and I was really tempted to have another. Also on sale was High Contrast, an American Pale Ale from Downlands Brewery. Keith bought himself a pint, and I followed suit, shortly after. It was a decent enough beer, but not really a patch on the Jarl. The third cask offering was the ubiquitous Plum Porter, from Titanic Brewery which, as its name suggests, is a plum-infused porter. There are people who rave over this beer, but neither of us fancied drinking, even just a half of it. Looking back, the last time I sampled this Titanic brew, was in Birmingham, back in April, at the legendary Barton’s Arms. My notes tell me that I only had a half on that occasion.

As I said earlier, Fuggles was ticking over nicely, but without being overcrowded. The management were obviously expecting an influx of people later on, as there were plenty of staff lined up behind the bar, all eager to pull pints for the cafes thirsty customers. The latter were made partly of small groups, interspersed with several large ones. With several women, holding very small babies that were probably just a few weeks old, the term “yummy mummy” sprang to mind, although perhaps Mumsnet would be a better description. Babies were passed around, not so much amongst admirers, but probably because mum fancied a break, but the various infants were all well behaved, so much so that you wouldn’t have known they were there.

I had a brief chat at the bar with one, thankfully child free lady, who was raving about the glass of Bruges Zot she’d just ordered. I didn’t have the heart to say it wasn’t amongst my favourites, although I did tell her I’d visited the Brouwerij De Halve Maan, where the beer is brewed, on my last visit to the city. Fuggles is that sort of place, where people are genuinely interested in trying different beers, and long may this continue. Two pints were sufficient for me and Keith, who'd had a head start on me, was ready to leave too, and get his dog back home. Those beers in Fuggles, represented my first pints in a pub since bidding farewell to the two Mudgies at the Wharf in Macclesfield, at the beginning of December. I’m not sure whether it was a case of absence making the heart grow fonder, but they didn’t half taste good!

 

The true taste of Christmas

Here’s a short post, not just to round off 2023, but also to take the total for the year above that of last year. In addition, I promise, it will be the last article to mention Christmas, unless something particularly enlightening or relevant turns up prior to next year’s festive “celebrations.”

Right, here we go, and I want to launch straight in to the often-thorny subject of “Christmas Ales.” Now I’ve published several articles over the years, the most recent being two years ago, about what constitutes a decent Christmas beer, and what constitutes a fake – a cheap, marketing gimmick of taking a bog-standard BBB (Boring Brown Bitter), shoving a fancy label on it, and giving it a festive sounding name, that often incorporates the most cringe worthy puns imaginable.

You know the sort I mean - Good Elf, Rocking Rudolph, Tinsel Top, Merry X-Moose, Santa’s Sack (don’t even go there!), the list goes on, and so does the awfulness. It doesn’t have to be this way, but backing up what I wrote two years ago, a proper Christmas Ale, should be brewed to a decent strength to begin with, ideally something at around 6.0% or stronger. I also like my Christmas ale to be dark in colour (preferably darker than ruby), full-bodied and well-hopped.

For this reason, I have deliberately avoided those uninspiring, malt-led, brownish bitters in the 4.0 – 5.0% strength bracket, as there is nothing Christmassy about them. Even worse are those festive offerings that are pale in colour, and sometimes even golden! Low in strength and low on taste, the only connection with Christmas that these beers have is the name on the pump clip, or bottle label.  

Fortunately, I’ve enjoyed quite a few “proper” Christmas ales over the years, and this year has been no exception. Even better is the fact that one of the very best of these beers, is brewed just 30 miles down the road, from my home. There are no surprises for guessing which brewery and beer I am talking about, but before revealing all, I want to say the following.

Lots of Christmas ales claim to contain the "spirit of Christmas", and perhaps some do more than others, but until I cracked open this 500 ml bottle of Harvey’s delectable Christmas Ale on Christmas afternoon, I thought they were all missing something. This followed hot on the heels of a bottle of St Bernardus Christmas Ale, which despite the claims on the bottle was something of a disappointment.

Not so with this bottle from Harvey’s with a BBE date of December 2023, the beer had if anything improved as it aged in the bottle. I know some will maintain this isn’t possible in a bottled beer stabilised by filtration and pasteurisation, but despite this treatment, there will always be a few viable yeast cells that make it through the aforementioned processes.

Harvey’s delectable Christmas Ale has a respectable 7.5% abv, and basically is a strong, dark, barely wine reminiscent of the strong “stock ales” drunk during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Consumed over two sittings, given it strength and volume, this particular bottle contained the real essence of Christmas, far more than the St Bernardus version. Without going all Jilly Goolden, in last Monday’s bottle I found notes of pine needles, spices, oranges, dates, raisins and other vine fruit. The pine needles were reminiscent of Christmas trees, whilst the other components embodied the true essence of Christmas, by literally warming the soul. An award-winning beer which is definitely, pure class in a glass. I have consumed more than a few glasses of cask Christmas Ale as well as the occasional bottle, but somehow that aged, bottled version tasted even better.

I scored it at 4.75 on Untappd, but with hindsight it was a definite 5.0. If you are lucky enough to come across this beer, either in bottle or cask, then don’t pass up on the chance of missing one of the finest, and most authentic Christmas ale around.

In the meantime, given the timing of this post, I’d like to wish all followers and readers of this blog, along with friends and family, a happy, peaceful, prosperous, and above all healthy 2024, and thank you for your support over the year just gone.

Golden Pints - or metric equivalent - 2023

As 2023 rapidly approaches its conclusion, and after a reflective look back from a beer and visiting different places perspective, there’s one final task to undertake, before drawing the curtain on the year. Before going any further, I want to reiterate that I’ve never really ran with the “Golden Pints” idea. I was even thinking the concept was in its death throes, until a look through my Blog List showed there were quite a few bloggers still putting out their favourites from a varying list of beer, pub, brewery, and all things related highlights.

What I’ve tended to do in previous years, was take a look back over each previous year, and write a review, under the banner of “The Year in Beer.” So, this time around, having written a fairly lengthy review of 2023, I reflected that I hadn’t properly set out my thoughts on the best beers, best pubs, best places to enjoy a beer etc, over the course of the past year, and this was where the idea of resurrecting the “Golden Pints” concept re-entered my thinking. I still feel the title “Golden Pints” is pretty naff, although perhaps the word “Pint” will now take on a new significance, at least amongst the dwindling band of Brexit supporters, given the news that wine can now be sold in pint bottles!

This aside, I want to place on record that I found great difficulty in writing this piece. This may have been because I was over-thinking what to include and what to leave out, given copious guidance notes, plus a year’s worth of blog entries. Veteran bloggers, Boak & Bailey, thought otherwise, opening their Golden Pints review with the statement, “These end-of-year roundups are more fun to write than to read, aren’t they?” The pair still felt the need to do it, in order to put a “neat bow on the year,” whilst following the guiding principle, that nobody really cares about all this, “so don’t overthink it.” Their final line that this type of article is more about feeling, than about facts, helped guide me, when I was struggling to put my own review together.

Best beer on home turf

Harvey’s Sussex Best. Unlike previous years, where no single, individual beer stood out, my answer has to be Harvey’s Sussex Best. A magnificent beer, that is truly worthy of the title, “best bitter,” and what’s more it’s a blend of juicy, sweet malt sugars, set against an earthy, peppery background imparted by traditional hops varieties such as Fuggles and Goldings.

So no, over-powering citrus, or pineapple flavours, hiding behind a murky haze, here. Instead, just a good, old-fashioned glass of traditional English bitter, representing all that is best in local brewing.

Best beer abroad  

Päffgen Kölsch. A tricky one really, as despite spending nearly a month away from the UK, I didn’t visit that many pubs or bars, and certainly not in the Mediterranean. Five days on a business visit to Cologne was perhaps a little different, and it certainly allowed me to drink plenty of Kölsch - the city’s local beer style. Whilst Kölsch is pleasant enough, it doesn’t really reach out and grab you by the throat, although I shall make one notable exception.

Päffgen Kölsch, dispensed from a wooden cask behind the bar counter, and retailing at €2 a glass, was the sole beer on sale at the legendary Gaststätte Lommerzheim. The latter is a classic, old-style Cologne pub on the other side of the River Rhine, and Päffgen are one of the few independent Kölsch brewers remaining in Cologne. In my view, and also that of many others, Päffgen Kölsch are up there with the very best.

Best Locations to Enjoy a Beer (UK) 

Boar’s Head Inn at Eridge. The Boar’s Head is, an unspoiled 17th Century inn, just off the main A26 road, a mile or so to the north of Crowborough. It is a low beamed pub with a cosy interior, featuring two inglenook fireplaces. Visited back in November, after a gap of 30 years or more, but still as good as ever. A really atmospheric pub, serving an excellent pint of Harvey’s, in a rural setting, but one that is easily accessible by bus.

Barton’s Arms, Birmingham. Dating from 1901 the Barton’s is a Grade 2* listed heritage building and represents Victorian splendour on a grandiose scale. It is one of the most spectacular survivors from the late Victorian era in the country, with an imposing stone and red brick with exterior, complete with its own clock tower, and an interior boasting numerous original features. These include rich mahogany woodworking’s, stained and engraved windows and mirrors, snob-screens, a sweeping wrought-iron staircase and wall-to-wall tiles, ranging from shiny-glazed decorative patterns to huge painted scenes.

Best Locations to Enjoy a Beer Abroad

Dash Coffee Bar, overlooking the waterfront in Argostoli, capital of Kefalonia. The cool shady interior, of this attractive, contemporary bar, formed a welcome refuge from the fierce heat of the midday sun. And seated at the bar, enjoying a cool and refreshing half litre of Mythos beer, whilst watching the world go by outside saw me in proper, wind-down holiday mode, and was the perfect way to round off my time ashore in this gorgeous, Greek island.

Gaststätte Lommerzheim, Cologne. Not just for the excellent Päffgen Kölsch, but also for the atmosphere inside this true, Cologne, beer house, known locally as “Lommi’s”. The pub is a survivor from the days before WWII, and there is a real buzz about the place. Time your visit carefully, as it is often difficult to get a seat, such is its popularity with the locals.

 

Best new pub find

 Bull, Birmingham. A classic, back street local in the centre of Birmingham, which is one of the oldest pubs in the city. A snug, cosy and comfortable, back street boozer, with a real homely feel, with two distinct drinking areas surround a U-shaped bar with smaller, and quieter back room.  A collection of 300 jugs adorns the ceiling, along with a number of old pictures and memorabilia. Just the place to spend time on a wet April, afternoon in Britain’s second city.

Best brewery

Braybrooke Beer Company. A tricky one again, although I’m going out on a limb by recommending Braybrooke, a company specialising in the production of really good, proper lager. Brewed using state-of-the-art equipment, and the very best ingredients, the resulting beers are a selection of unfiltered, unpasteurised, and naturally carbonated beers that have complexity whilst retaining the refreshing drinkability every great lager should have. (Braybrook’s words, although I whole-heartedly agree with them).

Back in the summer, I signed up with the Braybrooke Beer Club, a subscription beer delivery service, where, each month, I receive a selection of Braybrooke beers.

Best Beer City  

Manchester. It was a close tie for Best Beer City, between Manchester and Birmingham, both of which I revisited in 2023. In Manchester’s case, it was 30 years since I’d last set foot in the city – an interval that is far too long. Although many of the breweries, I knew from the four years I spent in adjoining Salford, during the late 1970’s, have vanished (Boddingtons, Burtonwood, Greenall’s, Tetley’s, Threlfalls, and Wilsons), others have taken their place,

My visit, at the end of June, only scratched the surface, but was still sufficient to remind me of the vibrant and thriving beer and pub scene. As Arnie said, “I’ll be back.”

Beer festivals

London Craft Beer Festival. Held in Wapping, at the historic Tobacco Dock, the festival proved an interesting experience, although had I needed to pay for my admission ticket, it’s doubtful I would have gone. There were some interesting breweries exhibiting, and some equally interesting beers, but the event followed the American pattern of “sips” rather than a decent amount of beer. I also, might have escaped contracting my third dose of COVID, had I stayed at home, especially as the festival was hot, crowded, and cramped, in equal measures.

Best days out

Macclesfield, Manchester, Birmingham – for nostalgic reasons, plus Chichester. I included the latter because I’d never visited before, despite it being fairly close to home, and relatively easy to get to.

Best beer book 

Cask – The Real Story of Britain’s Unique Beer Culture, by Des De Moor. Claimed to be the definitive book on the subject of Cask Beer, Des’s latest book certainly looks like a real labour of love. I’ve met Des on a couple of occasions, and know from his London Pub Guides, that this current book will prove informative on a subject close to the hearts of many of us. It received mixed reviews from two other bloggers who I know – Tandleman and Ed Wray (no more name dropping, I promise), so I look forward to getting stuck into it.

I say that, because despite the best intentions, I haven’t read the book yet! The plan was to make a start on it whilst on our recent cruise, but being a relatively slow reader, I have only just finished the other weighty tome I was ploughing my way through. That particular book is Tom Jones, by Henry Fielding, and with over 800 pages of close typeface, it took longer to finish than I anticipated. Expect a review of “Cask” in a few months’ time, then.

 

Bucket list – places visited for the first time.

Greece plus the Greek islands.  A short visit to the Greek capital, Athens, allowed sufficient time to scale the Acropolis, overlooking the city, view the Parthenon, the only downside being the thousands of visitors, all with the same intention. It was still worth the steep ascent, even though I managed to lose the tour-guide - clue, carry a more distinctive flag, next time!

Visits were also made to Crete, and its laid-back capital, Heraklion, Santorini, the lovely Ionian island of Kefalonia, mentioned above, and finally Sardinia, an island which, according to Ancestry, Mrs PBT’s has a 1% DNA match with.

This concludes my look back at 2022, a mixed year, for want of a more appropriate description, and whilst a part of me is itching to get my hiking boots on, and head out, back into the great outdoors, a glance at the appalling weather, outside my window, persuades me otherwise.

 

So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over, and a new one just begun.

So sang John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 52 years ago, but despite the half-century time lapse, it's still a question that's well worth asking. Christmas Day and Boxing Day are now over, and apart from confirming that the Bailey family enjoyed an excellent roast turkey dinner, on the "big day," I want to take a look back at the year that is fast coming to an end, with particular emphasis as usual on the world of beer and travel.

After a brief respite on Boxing Day, the weather has returned to its familiar, damp and rather miserable pattern, so with nothing to tempt me outside, I want to use the time to present my annual round-up and look back at the year 2023.I’ve been keeping some rough notes which suggest that I didn’t achieve as much as I would have like to, in certain areas of my life with particular regard to pubs. I only visited 84 different pubs in 2023,     which was a lot more than I initially thought, but obviously pales into insignificance when compared to the exploits of pub-ticking legends such as Retired Martin, Si Everitt, LAF (Life After Football), and GBG completest over several years, Pubmeister. In mitigation, 23 of those pubs were new to me.

Despite this low tally – only three up on 2022, I enjoyed visiting all these pubs, which ranged from town centre locals, unspoilt rural gems, modern craft beer bars, to CAMRA National Heritage Pubs. The numbers were boosted by days out spent in a number of towns and cities, up and down this fair land of ours. Places visited this year, were Norwich, Henley-on-Thames, Birmingham, Manchester, Chichester, and Macclesfield, I also spent time in Dundee and Cologne, and whilst these visits were work-related, I still found time for a few beers.

We said a sad farewell, at the start of the year, to Mrs PBT’s brother David, who died unexpectedly in January, then, later in the year we had another family funeral to attend, this time it was Eileen’s aunt, who was just a few months short of her 100^th birthday! This meant a trip to the Bingley area of Yorkshire, for the funeral, and also to spend a few days with the Yorkshire branch of Mrs PBT's family. As on a previous visit, we based ourselves at the Bradford West, Premier Inn, which is on the edge of Bingley, in an attractive, semi-rural setting. (The adjacent photo, shows David, sitting next to me, in happier times, enjoying a summertime drink).

Eileen is a big fan of this Whitbread-owned, hotel chain, and whilst I agree with her statement that “you know what you are getting,” I personally prefer an independently operated, or even family-owned establishment, even though occasionally, it can throw in the odd “duffer.” A short, 1o-minute walk from the Premier Inn, takes you to the Airedale Heifer, a stone-built pub housed in a former barn, that was once part of the Old East Riddlesden Hall Estate. The Heifer, is also home to the Bridgehouse Brewery, with brewing taking place in a separate outbuilding, behind the pub.

During our time in Yorkshire, we spent a morning in Howarth and then took a drive across the moors to Colne and Skipton. The scenery certainly looked spectacular in the June sunshine, and we passed a number of attractive looking, stone-built pubs nestling by the side of the road. Our journey home, saw us skirting Skipton and the edge of Harrogate, before passing through the attractive North Yorkshire town of Knaresborough, and then on to the A1 and the road home.

Fortunately, the car behaved itself on this trip, which is more than be said after what happened in September, when it started malfunctioning on the M25, during a drive home from Dorking. Having to be recovered from Clackets Lane services, was an indignity I haven’t experienced before, but after having the faulty fuel injector replaced, blow me if the same thing didn’t happen again, on the Friday before Christmas. I limped the vehicle home this time, and it’s going in for a diagnostic check in a couple of days’ time. I mentioned previously that I’ve been looking for a replacement vehicle, but with the benefit of that wonderful thing called hindsight, I should have looked for one, earlier in the year.

One activity that definitely took a nosedive was bus trips, out to unspoilt and difficult to reach country pubs. I’m not how this came about, particularly as there was very little in the way of long-distance walking but trips out by bus were nowhere as frequent as the previous year. For the record I travelled out to Goudhurst – Star & Eagle, Eridge – Boar’s Head, Petteridge – Hopbine and Brenchley – Halfway House, Penshurst – Leicester Arms and Edenbridge – Old Eden, but that was it. This was despite my best intentions, and the fact that I’d compiled a list of “easy” places to visit by bus.

2023 was a disappointing year for walking, being marred by wet weather, particularly during the months of March and April. This didn’t help with my quest of completing the Tunbridge Wells Circular Walk, a 27.5-mile trail that passes through a rolling landscape of ridges, valleys, small fields, hedges, and broad-leaved woodland, as it skirts the town of Tunbridge Wells. Lying within the High Weald AONB, the trail explores the diverse and beautiful countryside which lies on the borders of Kent and East Sussex.  I have been following the official Kent Ramblers Guide, which divides the trail into four convenient stages, which vary in length from 5 to 10 miles, but so far, I have only completed two of the stages (Southborough to Pembury, and Pembury to Frant).

Still to come are Frant to Groombridge (7 miles) and Groombridge to Southborough (6 miles). These final two stages should be relatively easy, although the trail isn’t as well signposted as those along the North and South Downs. I aim to get started, once the wet weather eases up, and the days begin to lengthen again. 

Another feature missing on the walking front, has been the complete absence of CAMRA, related rambles. This follows on from the relocation to Portsmouth of one of the leading lights and driving forces of the Weekend Walking WhatsApp group. The garden also proved rather disappointing last year, and if truth be known, I probably expended too much time and effort on it, for very little return. On the plus side, it has forced a reappraisal on what’s feasible, or even worth growing.

Highlight of the year, even if it was a longtime coming, was the (almost) three-week Mediterranean cruise that Mrs PBT’s and I embarked on, back in October. Not only did it take up a large chunk of the month, it also represented by far the longest holiday that the pair of us have ever undertaken. Even better was the fact that we didn’t fall out, not even slightly, despite being in close proximity to each other for a long period of time. 

There were many memorable moments, and some amazing sights, such as passing through the Straits of Gibraltar, as well as the Strait of Messina, between Sicily and the Italian mainland.  Anchoring in the collapsed caldera, that makes up much of Santorini, was also memorable, even if on that occasion, we didn’t get off the boat. Then there was my ascent of the Acropolis, overlooking Athens, and getting separated from the tour party, when we reached the Parthenon. 

Both Eileen and I were smitten by the charms of Kefalonia, and have marked down this idyllic Greek island, as a place we would like to return to before our days are out. Cruising doesn’t always get a good press environmentally and is said to be worse for the climate than flying. There are other downsides too, such as limited time in each location and not experiencing the local hotels and nightlife, but the sheer joy of waking up almost every morning in a new or different port, or anchorage, certainly takes some beating. Let’s end the year on a high note then and await what 2024 has to offer us with a mixture of excitement tempered by a slight hint of trepidation.