Most frequent pub names so far (and how many of each):

Warmest regards to Fatty from Tucson for spotting this beer label (if anyone knows where to get Fat Tire in Swindon or Oxford please get in touch)

 

It has been a good run — one of nearly 6 years, nearly 1300 different pubs, a few marathons and a bunch of halves (and shorter races), good entertainment, fulfilling work, and a couple of laughs.  But, it is over … at this address, anyway: I’ll continue on in much the same vein at the Endless British Pub Crawl (continues) but this site will just be an archive for the first 1292 pubs and memorial to itself and a lot of ill-advised fun that went into gathering the material herein.

I want to do a retrospective of this blog’s 6 years but it deserves better than what you have before you.  Them’s the breaks…here it is in tedious detail.

In 2177 days, there have been 2537 posts.  Of those, 1292 were specifically for 1st time pub visits, 367 were for last year’s Daily Tipple (with added Haiku), 210 have been for the Chippy Challenge and the Kebab Challenge, and 169 were for the 2012 Yellow Beer Challenge.  The remaining 499 involved running, mocking the serious beliefs of others, laughing at the weak, bitching and moaning about one thing or another, obituaries, and other things that serve to strengthen my bona fides of Britishness.  According to WordPress, these pages have been visited just over 350,000 times…get a life, losers.

43 Red Lions
24 Crowns
22 Ploughs
19 (tie) Bells, White Harts
15 Greyhounds
14 (tie) Black Horses, King’s Arms, Queen’s Heads
13 (tie) Rose and Crowns, Swans, White Horses

Best names: Five Mile From Anywhere No-Hurry Inn, Far From The Madding Crowd, Cafe Rene, Sally Pussey’s Inn, The Bee’s In The Wall, The Roaring Donkey, Who’d A Thought It

Fuck that place: The Angerstein Hotel, The Woodman Inn, The Black Horse

Personal favourite pub write ups: The Chequers in Cottenham, hangover after a night in the King’s Arms in Ely, handing the puzzle over to the Dog and Duck in Linton (Cambs), the Crown in Penzance (a low-key 25th anniversary), the Glue Pot in Swindon after my first Wildcats Hockey match, the Blackfriar in London (not so much the write up as the architectural details), and the Rose and Crown in Chippenham for the fantastic people watching.  Certain there are other decent ones but this list contains the two or three I’m really pleased with.

 

Other pubs worthy of mention (good or bad):

The Red Lion in Southampton for architecture and Henry V connection
The Hop Inn for the locals’ alternative names
The five Red Lion Run back in 2010
The New Inn, Blists Hill (a historic museum town)
The Goldfinger (accidentally found Ian Fleming’s grave on run to this one)
The Blue Boar, Aldbourne (Dr. Who link)
The Blind Beggar, Whitechapel (Kray Brothers link)
The Red Lion, Aston (a town of ‘tards)
The Brass Monkey, Teignmouth (George W Bush on their sign)
Wernham Hogg’s, Slough (The Office tie-in)

The writing isn’t brilliant but it was never meant to be stunning. I have occasionally stumbled into something I’m happy enough with (to mention here) but never anything I would attach a real name to.  Some of those are:

“What a Bunch of Dicks”  (September 2011)
“Our Ex-Neighbours”  (September 2011, with links to the whole saga)
“Risk Assessment: Proper Use of Bins”  (October 2012)
“British Citizenship Exam”  (November 2012)
“My Pet Leeches”  (September 2013)
“Me and the Queen”  (June 2012)

It wasn’t all drinking and knob jokes.  Occasionally I ran, sometimes quite a lot (although usually whilst stopping regularly for drinks and to tell inappropriate knob jokes).  I even race a bit with some of my favourite racing efforts here:

Grunty Fen 1/2 Marathon and general thoughts on the finisher’s medal (September 2009)
Snowdonia Marathon pub crawl (October 2009)
The River Run — Cantabrigiensis HHH (October 2009)
New Year’s Eve 10K Little Downham (January 2010)
Historical notes on the 30 Pack Marathon (April 2010)
Thame 10K and morning chunders (June 2010)
Florence Marathon (December 2010)
Bupa 10K plus bailout for the London Hash (May 2011)
Run For Heroes 5K or thereabouts (August 2011)
Chippenham Half with a sponsored pub stop (September 2011)
Swindon Half whilst hitting every pub within 1/2 mile (October 2011)
Cricklade Half + 8 mile warm-up (October 2011)
London Marathon pub crawl (April 2012)
Great British Beerathon Like the 30-Pack only smaller and including food (August 2012)
Great Bustard 5 or getting there’s half the fun (July 2013)
Beat the Bore at Night (September 2013)
Malmesbury Carnival 10K done twice to hit some pubs after  (August 2014)
Isle of Wight Marathon pub crawl (October 2014)

11:58 My big head notwithstanding, this is the Joe Strummer Subway

In fact, I started the blog for people in the States that already knew about my running idiosyncrasies (i.e., running to get to a bar, drinking heavily there or at one or more other bars, then running home).  So, for them the “racing” entries are no surprise nor are some of the other efforts, which I enjoy as much or more.  These three Birthday runs are typical:

2010
2013
2014

I also used to ‘hash’ before I found the one true way; my life as a hasher came long after I started drink-running (and drug-running, for that matter) and that it has become just a passing fad baffles some of those folk although I still encourage hash virgins to go to a hash as a kick start to Hashlam.  I would, indeed, encourage all of you to go hashing at some point.

We saw some good shows and bad shows and some shows.  I saw Springsteen in the Atlanta Fox Theatre in the 70’s but Jackie never had so we booked a trip to Maastricht to fix that…and it was awesome.  We causght Neil Young in Hyde Park and Paul Simon there as well another year.  Two of the best shows were Lloyd Cole in Stroud and George Thorogood in Cambridge, and you can’t go wrong with the BeatHoles.

Tourism ideas:

No trip to Wales is complete without a ride down this highway. (November 2009)
Find out why they refer to Oxford as the City of Dreaming Spires. (September 2010)
You can wait for English Heritage or the National Trust, but the loving family fits their own plaques (like this one to Arthur Stanley Eddington).  (August 2011)
If you get to Germany, indulge in the local folklore like the Bremen Musicians. (June 2012)
Nothing is more fun than old buses. (June 2014)
Get out on the street furnishing trail, maybe starting with post boxes. (November 2014)
And, to be serious, here are a few ideas for London.

Recipes and food:

A friend that travels in China sent some delectable menu items to look for but I still haven’t found them in any Chinatown restaurants.  On the other hand, you can find the most interesting spices in the Caribbean markets, here.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day so you shouldn’t shy away from complicated recipes like this one.  Or, as an alternative you could start your day with one of these.
There were, of course, a lot of booze recipes, but these are worth the efforts involved and better than the pictures would suggest:
Lupini
Cassoulet (one of several versions blogged herein)
Rabbit

Finally, no look back wouldn’t include obits.  Mostly, I obitted people I don’t know but knew of but on occasion I actually had a relationship with the deceased (Rest in Peace, y’all):

Vic Chesnutt (December 2009)
Bus Job (October 2010)

Andy Holden (whom I did not know but feel a special connection to, January 2014)

This blog (January 2015, which you are reading right now)

 

 

Share this, mofos:

This made me laugh so abruptly it made me spit a hot, milky liquid out (grow up…I was having tea).  Good eye on the jHavelina HHH harriette that spotted this:

 

Share this, mofos:

[The Chippy Challenge: to eat more fish and chips in 2014; see original post for details.]

Fish: cod
Sides: chips and mushy peas
Evaluation: Very good for a pub, especially good for a pub with so many mouthy youths around.  Spectacular landlord here, though. You should go there.

I had originally planned on the Butcher’s Arms for the lunch at the mid-point of a 7 mile or so run but this was actually closer to my G-Had/hash prelay inspection.  Just as well, in the long run.

Days since last: 4 (South Cerney Fish and Chips, South Cerney)

Map link.

Monthly consolidations/compilations: January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November

Share this, mofos:

Thirteen of the Daily Tipples were in the beer category with 12 pub visits (6 of which were Wetherspoons, 5 of those were the Four Candles).  The highlight of the month had to be tasting the finished batch of Two Cures, though, with the worst experience of the bunch the very disappointing trip to The Lighthouse:

BEER
DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
305	01-Nov	Wadworth Green Hopped Beer	bitter	The Prince of Wales
310	06-Nov	Ellgood’s Cambridge Bitter	bitter	Four Candles
315	11-Nov	Summerskills Ninja Beer	bitter	Four Candles
326	22-Nov	Brewers’ Blizzard	bitter	The Bear
327	23-Nov	Arkell’s Centennial	bitter	The Clifton
330	26-Nov	Fireside Ale	bitter	Red Lion
334	30-Nov	Bishop’s Finger	bitter	house
311	07-Nov	Rooster’s Union Gap	blonde ale	Four Candles
333	29-Nov	Cameron’s Gold Bullion	golden ale	Mug House
328	24-Nov	Tuborg	lager	Four Candles
321	17-Nov	Cotswold Spring OSM	mild	Four Candles
316	12-Nov	Krušovice	pilsner	The Lighthouse
320	16-Nov	Malmesbury Westport	porter	The Hop Inn
BOOZE/OTHER
DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
318	14-Nov	Two Cures Sloe Gin	booze	house
322	18-Nov	Sloe Gin Fizz	booze	house
313	09-Nov	Wychwood Ginger Beard	ginger beer	house
WINE
DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
308	04-Nov	Jacob’s Creek Shiraz Cabernet	red wine	house
309	05-Nov	Villa Verde Montepulciano d’Abruzzo	red wine	house
312	08-Nov	Frontera Cabernet Sauvignon	red wine	house
314	10-Nov	Vaucluse Grenache-Syrah	red wine	house
317	13-Nov	Viña Maipo Merlot	red wine	house
319	15-Nov	Petit Monde French Red	red wine	house
324	20-Nov	Corte Viola Cabernet Veneto	red wine	Bella Italia
325	21-Nov	Hardy’s Bankside Shiraz	red wine	house
332	28-Nov	Vinsobres Cru de Côtes du Rhône	red wine	house
323	19-Nov	Hardy’s Bankside Rosé	rose wine	house
331	27-Nov	Torretta Prosecco	sparkling wine	house
306	02-Nov	Chateau Pierrousselle Entre Deux Mers	white wine	house
307	03-Nov	Castelliere Pinot Grigio	white wine	house
329	25-Nov	Sorso Pinot Grigio	white wine	house

.

The Chippy Challenge dragged until the last week of the month but there were some spectacular examples (Crispy Cod and Robinson’s Traditional Fish and Chips) and some crimes against cuisine (Marmaris and WingLoon House):

 

#	Name	Where	Date	Venue Type
109	Prince of Wales	Shrivenham, Oxfordshire	01-Nov-14	Pub
110	Morrison’s Café	Swindon, Wiltshire	08-Nov-14	other
111	WingLoon House	Oxford, Oxfordshire	14-Nov-14	Chippy
112	Marmaris	Swindon, Wiltshire	21-Nov-14	Chippy
113	Robinson’s Traditional Fish and Chips	Bowerhill, Wiltshire	22-Nov-14	Chippy
114	Red Lion	Marston, Oxfordshire	26-Nov-14	Pub
115	Pinehurst Fisheries	Swindon, Wiltshire	28-Nov-14	Chippy
116	Crispy Cod	Worcester, Worcestershire	29-Nov-14	Chippy

.

The GHadHHH had two minor trails this month, one each versus the Oxford and Moonrakers hashes, both night efforts.  More importantly was the treatise on IntifadHHHa and CalipHHHate differences in this confusing era of global Hashlam and its various pretenders.

 

Pub count: this month only added 8 more pubs to the total and all of them came on runs.  Started the calendar year with 1197 and the blog year (19 January) with 1201 so it is shaping up to the weakest effort of the 6 years so far but at 1280 I hope to hit 1300 before the end of 2014.

BEER

 

New pubs to the blog count, all on two day trip to IoW

 

At first glance, October seemed a month of two halves — the first healthy and spry, the last stinking of death and decay.  Yet, closer examination reminds me that I’ve been ill more or less constantly since the 10th of the month despite making the Isle of Wight Marathon trip, another cancer surgery (and spillage from the same), and having a busier than usual month at work.  The weather has been spectacular, I’m told.

I added 11 pubs to the count entirely on the two-day trip to the Isle of Wight Marathon.  Two new ones appeared in Oxford (old ones but with major refurbishments and name changes) but they will have to wait until November.  The best of the new additions has to be the Red Lion in Southampton, but you could do a lot worse than The Crab and Lobster Tap (Ventnor), The Traveller’s Joy (Northwood), or most-up-my-alley The Painter’s Arms (Cowes).

The Daily Tipple list accurately represents the beer consumption for the month with a little more than half favouring darker varieties like stout, porter, and mild.  Choosing one per day was really the hard part as almost every new pub mentioned above supplied local brews that I have never tried before and the Swindon Beer Fest introduced 7 beers and 3 ciders new to me (and scores more I didn’t get around to):

DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
274	01-Oct	Thwaites Wainwright	bitter	Wheatsheaf
277	04-Oct	Yates 130 Birthday Ale	bitter	Yates
296	23-Oct	John Willie’s 100	bitter	Four Candles
278	05-Oct	Andwell Gold Muddler	blonde ale	Steam Railway
284	11-Oct	Ale of Wight	blonde ale	Crab and Lobster Tap
287	14-Oct	Old Growler	dark beer	Far From the Madding Crowd
291	18-Oct	Trojan Horse	dark IPA (IDA)	The Savoy
297	24-Oct	Edinburgh Pale Ale	IPA	The William Morris
285	12-Oct	Theakston’s Mild	mild	Isle of Wight Community Club
292	19-Oct	Colonel’s Whiskers	mild	The Savoy
293	20-Oct	Moorhouse’s Black Cat Reserve	mild	Four Candles
298	25-Oct	Plain Ales Inncognito	stout	2014 Swindon Beer Festival
299	26-Oct	Belhaven Black	stout	Beehive
302	29-Oct	Marston’s Oyster Stout	stout	Four Candles
WINE
DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
301	28-Oct	Taylor’s Select Reserve	port	house
275	02-Oct	Anciano Reserva Tempranillo	red wine	house
276	03-Oct	Simo Crianza	red wine	house
279	06-Oct	Trapiche Pinot Noir	red wine	house
280	07-Oct	La Rabatte Chianti	red wine	house
282	09-Oct	Banrock Station Shiraz Mataro	red wine	house
283	10-Oct	Arpeggio Nerello Mascalese	red wine	Rustico, Swindon
286	13-Oct	Desconocido	red wine	house
288	15-Oct	Villa Garducci Montepulciano d’Abruzzo	red wine	house
289	16-Oct	Morrison’s Claret	red wine	house
290	17-Oct	Rosemount Reserve Shiraz Grenache	red wine	house
295	22-Oct	Featherstone Ruby Cabernet Shiraz	red wine	house
303	30-Oct	Bin 99 Cabernet Franc	red wine	house
304	31-Oct	Navarra Old Vines Garnacha	red wine	house
294	21-Oct	Luis Felipe Edwards Rose	rose wine	house
281	08-Oct	Inycon Pinot Grigio Grecanico	white wine	house
BOOZE
DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
300	27-Oct	John Lee Bourbon	booze	house

 

The Fish and Chips Challenge was in a lull partly due to the ongoing medical problems and partly due to the remoteness of new venues and my ability to reach them.  My spreadsheet updates my days-per-fish rate and the minimum number for the year (based on one every 7 days until year-end) after each fish.  The average of these two appears to be converging on 124.9 for the year (let’s say 125).  I’m going for a pub fish and chip lunch when I finish this post, so this looks like a fairly good prediction.

103	Yates’	Swindon, Wiltshire	04-Oct-14	Pub
104	Stotesbury’s Fish and Chips	Newport, Isle of Wight	11-Oct-14	Chippy
105	Tottie’s Fish and Chips	Cowes, Isle of Wight	12-Oct-14	Chippy
106	Morrison’s Battered Cod Fillets	Swindon, Wiltshire	17-Oct-14	House
107	The William Morris	Cowley, Oxfordshire	24-Oct-14	Pub
108	Swindon Beer Fest Food Tent	Swindon, Wiltshire	25-Oct-14	other

 

The G-Had has started to make an impact.  In October, the site had more hits than in all months prior combined.  It also led to paranoid behaviour by North Wilts HHH when they tried to pretend a run wasn’t going to happen and then came up with a clever (but easy to defeat) trail marking plan to foil the IntifadHHHa.  With local attention piqued and health poor, the war became one more of propaganda than contact but a fresh scalp was added courtesy the Isle of Wight HHH.

Also, the subtleties of the Intifad-HHH-a versus a Calip-hhh-ate became a matter of record, over on the G-Had HHH site.

 

 

Share this, mofos:

Hiding/subterfuge.
Do not deny the True Path.
G-Had is patient.

Name: Inycon Pinot Grigio Grecanico
Type: white wine
Venue: house

Review/notes: Rushing from the bus to “Rodbourne” which I found as the location of the Moonrakers Hash House Harriers trail by using the cached version of their page (thanks, Google), I easily found powder but wanted to know which way they were going to run.  I made a nice little loop past the most likely suspects (the Manor and the Southbrook) but it would have been rude not to stop in for a quick one.  It also gave me the opportunity to plan where my additional run might go (GPS on pause).  On arrival back at the G-Had Madrasa, I found that Jackie had prepped a stunning supper with a reasonably good line-up of wines, starting here.  On-on.

[DT =Daily Tipple, explained in DT #000 here]

Monthly consolidations/compilations: January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August

Share this, mofos:

Another month and the fish continues to pile up.  Of the three pubs, the Who’d A Thought It was the best with the Bear almost surprisingly stingy (but it has become a tourist venue). The winner as a chippy, this month, would be either the fish stand at the St Giles Fair or the J&J Fish Bar (both exceeding expectations enormously).  The Shanghai Fish Bar should be closed down despite getting their cleanliness problems in order–they’re just very bad.

 

#	Name	Where	Date	Venue Type
92	Pisces Aroma	Swindon, Wiltshire	06-Sep	Chippy
93	The Crown	Pewsey, Wiltshire	07-Sep	Pub
94	St Giles Fair Fish and Chips Stand	Oxford, Oxfordshire	08-Sep	Chippy
95	The Bear	Oxford, Oxfordshire	12-Sep	Pub
96	Goujon Monkey	Oxford, Oxfordshire	12-Sep	Chippy
97	Red House Plaice	Swindon, Wiltshire	13-Sep	Chippy
98	Who’d A Thought It	Lockeridge, Wiltshire	14-Sep	Pub
99	Khan’s Takeaway	Swindon, Wiltshire	18-Sep	Chippy
100	Shanghai Fish Bar	Swindon, Wiltshire	19-Sep	Chippy
101	Robinson’s Fish and Chips	Hilperton, Wiltshire	24-Sep	Chippy
102	J&J Fish Bar	Swindon, Wiltshire	27-Sep	Chippy

 

This month’s Daily Tipples were weighted a little heavier on the beer and the haiku’s and descriptions a little more surreal.  More than half the DT’s were in pub visits (some new ones).

 

BEER
DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
266	23-Sep	Palm	Belgian ale	The Hop Inn
245	02-Sep	Raw Amarillo	bitter	Far From the Madding Crowd
246	03-Sep	Life Sentence	bitter	The Plough
250	07-Sep	Good Old Boy	bitter	The Three Tuns
252	09-Sep	Backyard Brewhouse Hellbound	bitter	Four Candles
253	10-Sep	Popham’s Pride	bitter	New Calley Arms
254	11-Sep	Smithwick’s	bitter	O’Neill’s
255	12-Sep	Shotover Scholar	bitter	The Bear
257	14-Sep	Moles Mowdy Jack	bitter	The Bell Inn
260	17-Sep	Robinson’s Trooper	bitter	Steam Railway
261	18-Sep	Hobgoblin	bitter	The Bayberry
263	20-Sep	Weighbridge Brinkworth Village	bitter	Christ Church
264	21-Sep	Topaz IPA	bitter	Carter’s Rest
267	24-Sep	Marston’s Pedigree	bitter	The Red Admiral
259	16-Sep	1843 Craft Lager	lager	The Sun Inn
269	26-Sep	Dębowe Mocne	pilsner	Eastcott Hill
270	27-Sep	Funnel Blower	porter	Beehive
WINE
DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
244	01-Sep	Primitivo Salento	red wine	house
247	04-Sep	Hope Bay Shiraz	red wine	Ban Quet
248	05-Sep	Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cab Sav	red wine	house
249	06-Sep	Dead Letter Office Shiraz	red wine	house
251	08-Sep	Mendoz Parra Alta Malbec	red wine	house
256	13-Sep	Gnarly Head Old Vine Zin	red wine	house
258	15-Sep	Prunatelli Chianti	red wine	house
265	22-Sep	McGuigan Black Label Shiraz	red wine	house
271	28-Sep	Pinna Fidelis Roble	red wine	neighbours’ house
272	29-Sep	Piccini Memoro	red wine	house
273	30-Sep	Zalze Shiraz Grenache Viognier	red wine	house
CIDER
DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
262	19-Sep	Somersby cider	cider	Abbey Stadium greyhound track
268	25-Sep	Fatty’s Farmhouse Scrumpy	cider	Buttercross Inn

 

The G-Had rolled on to trail #48 and enhanced (and was enhanced by) my enforced two week vacation at the end of the holiday calendar.  Bicester HHH was marked due to the irresistability of a Bollard trail, K&A HHH notched a second attack, and my first Churn Valley HHH effort appeared.  Ease of access and choices of venues were the main attractions for the Moonrakers HHH (twice) and the North Wilts HHH (three times), and with the North Wilts 1500th next weekend in my favourite corner of Shropshire maybe the G-Had will get a chance to branch out a little (it would be nice to make the 50th GH4 coincide with another hash’s milestone).

The Blue pins are the September G-Had strikes

 

Share this, mofos:

 

A modern Marston’s pub looks like any other modern Marston’s pub, but the help at the Red Admiral were attentive, intelligent, and funny.  You can’t ask for much more than that.  I was in the Hilperton shops to grab a cod snack but with my bus stop only a quarter mile away thought it worthwhile to pop in.  As it is more restaurant than anything else, I stashed the fish in my backpack until I left.

Not nearly as charming as the Lion and Fiddle a half mile away, I have seen worse by far.

Share this, mofos:

Dennis Hopper says,
“Heineken Schmeineken, fuck
That shit. Pabst. Blue. Ribbon.”

Name: Marston’s Pedigree
Type: bitter
Venue: The Red Admiral, Hilperton

Review/notes: Two G-Hads in about 3 hours with a 1 hour and 20 minute bus ride between them makes for a thirsty bunny.  Pedigree was the only thing on the taps that hasn’t already been represented in the Daily Tipple but it is a completely suitable rehydration product and should be available in the gym.  Not as suitable as, say, PBR but beggars can’t be choosers.

[DT =Daily Tipple, explained in DT #000 here]

Monthly consolidations/compilations: January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August

 

 

Share this, mofos:

 

I can’t count the beers
After Mr Happy’s Hash:
Smithwick’s at Bob Dobbs.

Name: Smithwick’s
Type: bitter
Venue: O’Neill’s, Oxford

Review/notes: To be fair, I couldn’t count the beers AT a Mr Happy’s Hash but I know we happy few emptied a large cooler full on a regular basis then retired to the 6th street dive for nibbles and pitchers of Smithwick’s at deep discount.  Ah, memories…I wonder what they might be if I had any.

[DT =Daily Tipple, explained in DT #000 here]

Monthly consolidations/compilations: January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August

Share this, mofos:

 

The lesson today:
Whining gets you what you want.
So sayeth Twitter.

Name: Popham’s Pride
Type: bitter
Venue: New Calley Arms, Wanborough

Review/notes: So, I was going to tweet about my Swindonian adventures for the next two weeks anyway and had decided this long before the ADMIN post requesting volunteers ever went up.  The post on this blog, yesterday, had no more merit (nor should have been taken any more seriously) than this one from back during the 100 Shit Beers in 100 Places Challenge.  The beleaguered list admin wrote me a nicer email than I deserve and offered me a week, so I’ll actually do it legitimately for half my holiday.  I only want to point out that his capitulation sets a bad precedent.

Beer was good, and the Calley is always a pleasant visit.  I sat alone in the tiny bar about a third of the way through my run home (the second third taken up with marking a trail for the G-Had Hash House Harriers) and got a much closer look than my first visit in the midst of a half marathon.

[DT =Daily Tipple, explained in DT #000 here]

Monthly consolidations/compilations: January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August

#

A relatively busy month just passed.  Here’s the short version (somewhat longer versions available in the blog).

Ten new Chippy Challenge entries include the southernmost and westernmost, circled here:

At 91 for the year so far, I predict a year-long tally of  about 125 (definitely more than 109 and up to, at the current average rate, 137). The venues themselves were:

#	Name	Where	Date	Venue Type
82	Three Goats’ Heads	Oxford, Oxfordshire	01-Aug	Pub
83	Dolphin Fish Bar	Calne, Wiltshire	02-Aug	Chippy
84	PCR Cafe, Dept. Of Physiology	Oxford, Oxfordshire	08-Aug	other
85	Fish and Chips Takeaway	Bath, Somerset	10-Aug	Chippy
86	Seafoods	Bath, Somerset	10-Aug	Chippy
87	Buckles	Chippenham, Wiltshire	16-Aug	Chippy
88	Cove House Inn	Isle of Portland, Dorset	18-Aug	Pub
89	The Old Harbour Fish and Chips	Weymouth, Dorset	19-Aug	Chippy
90	Bobby’s Fish and Chips	Swindon, Wiltshire	23-Aug	Chippy
91	Golden Dish Fish and Chips	Malmesbury, Wiltshire	30-Aug	Chippy

.

Of course, the Daily Tipple trundles along easily and the Haiku are not yet becoming repetitive (albeit, enough of them are entirely derivative).  We drink a lot of wine seems to be the take home message of the DT:

BEER
DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
214	02-Aug	Moles Jailer’s Daughter	bitter	The Dumb Post
222	10-Aug	Corncrake Ale	bitter	King of Wessex
242	30-Aug	Codrington Codger	bitter	The Red Bull
243	31-Aug	Weighbridge Aunt Sally	bitter	Beehive
230	18-Aug	Bombardier Burning Gold	golden ale	Cove House Inn
225	13-Aug	Barley Brown’s Black IPA	IPA/mild	Four Candles
213	01-Aug	Double Four Lager	lager	Three Goats’ Heads
218	06-Aug	Kronenbourg 1664	lager	Eurobar Cafe Hotel
241	29-Aug	Harviestoun Schiehallion	lager	Four Candles
221	09-Aug	Aldaris Pilzenes	pilsner	WWI Commemorative Street Party
WINE
DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
215	03-Aug	Canaletto Montepulciano d’Abruzzo	red wine	house
219	07-Aug	Villano Tempranillo	red wine	house
223	11-Aug	Percheron Cinsault	red wine	house
224	12-Aug	Mondelli Chianti Riserva	red wine	house
226	14-Aug	L’Avenir Pinotage	red wine	house
227	15-Aug	McGuigan Estate Shiraz	red wine	house
228	16-Aug	Cape Nelson Shiraz Cab Sav	red wine	house
229	17-Aug	Cono Sur Pinot Noir	red wine	house
232	20-Aug	Louis de Camponac Cab Sav	red wine	house
236	24-Aug	Montes Cabernet Sauvignon	red wine	house
237	25-Aug	Dino Sangiovese	red wine	house
238	26-Aug	Feria et Fetes Grenache Noir	red wine	house
239	27-Aug	Muriel Rioja	red wine	house
240	28-Aug	Carta Roja Monastrell Syrah	red wine	house
216	04-Aug	Fronton Negrette	rose wine	house
231	19-Aug	J. P. Chenet Merlot	rose wine	The Old Harbour Fish and Chips
233	21-Aug	Cordoniu Gran Cremant	sparkling wine	house
217	05-Aug	Elegant Frog Viognier	white wine	house
CIDER
DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
220	08-Aug	Sandford Orchards Rhubarbed	cider	Four Candles
234	22-Aug	Circle Cider Roundabout	cider	house
235	23-Aug	Sheppy’s Vintage Reserve Oak Aged Somerset Cider	cider	house

.

With a bit more travel than normal this month, I was able to add a few new pubs this month, bringing the blog total to over 1250 with 20 new ones this month.  The new ones, few though they are, are shown here and, easier to see, on the map link:

My running mileage is nothing special (170 miles this month) looking back over the previous years, but it is back up to a sustainably middling-to-long-mileage level.  While still short of the planned 2015 ramp up (I’ve got some upcoming surgery that will slow things a bit), I’ve got a good baseline level of fitness for the advanced (and ever-advancing) age.

Largely due to the extra mileage and the aforementioned local tourism, the G-Had is starting to bleed into new realms and I have a few potential recruits (although they may, just as easily, become hashers).  The missions completed in August hit 3 sites with new attacks against Bristol HHH and Wilton HHH. Taken from full map at http://goo.gl/maps/aR9JU :

Share this, mofos:

An old acquaintance has secured Kate Bush tickets (first of 22 shows — which all sold out in 15 minutes — is tomorrow), one of the more heavily hyped items of late with several pages of bits in yesterday’s Observer and a documentary on BBC4 last Friday.  Since she and partner are travelling from Los Angeles, I feel compelled to give some wholly unsolicited tourism options for any down time they have on the trip.  Most of these are from the blog, so almost all of them require no extravagant expense (depending on what and how much you decide to eat and drink along the way).  Not at all comprehensive, please add your own suggestions for my next trip down the Big Smoke.

Pubs: The map above is my London pub tally through 24 August 2014 and if you click on the picture it should take you to the UK-wide map from which this was gleaned.  The pushpins are more accurately located than Google has them but some of the pubs are now gone.  If you see one you are likely to want to visit, I have an entry for it on this site now linked to the pushpin on the map but haven’t bothered to include links on the map (so you would have to come back here to search for them).  Some of my favourites are:

The Bree Louise: great selection of beer and cider near Euston Station

The Lyric is pleasant enough and you can peer out at the former Red Lion where the Communist Manifesto was mostly written.

I owe the Lord Nelson another visit after their hospitality during the London Marathon. Likewise the Rose of Denmark. The night before the race, we were also thoroughly entertained at the Flowers of the Forest.

Ladbroke Grove is the part of West Kensington where the Clash were holed up in the early years and you’ll find the Kensington Park a fabulous watering hole in the neighbourhood. Another pub with a bit of a punk history to it (and great Thai food on the menu) is the World’s End in Camden.

One of the most beautiful pubs I’ve seen in town is the Blackfriar. If you want to go to just one for atmosphere, this is it.

 

The East End has a few worthy boozers, too. I really like the White Hart with it’s Jack the Ripper connections and proximity to the London Hospital where John Merrick (the Elephant Man) lived out his days. Just up the road you’ll also find the Blind Beggar where Ronnie Kray shot George Cornell (Kray Brothers, Piranha Brothers, and Kemp Brothers fans should make time for a beverage here). Dinsdale.

 

Cemeteries: These are a particular favourite of mine and Jackie’s and we’ve done the Highgate tour several times.  London has a bunch of good ones sprinkled around, and you could do worse than to stumble upon the Bunhill Fields (wiki here) and leave a penny at Blake’s site for the ferryman.  Highgate East is free and very good, but Highgate West requires a tour guide although the hassle is well worth the cheap fee and the advanced planning.  Closer into town, Kensal Green is also truly awesome and a good way to kill a few hours.

Farther afield but still in the London confines, the Necropolis Station is worth trying to find.  Near the Waterloo Rail Station, this was a dedicated rail stop that shipped 10’s of thousands of small pox corpses out to the suburban cemeteries.  Also, if you find yourself at Chelsea Bridge (see the music entry, below), there is another Victorian cemetery nearby we haven’t visited yet but have shortlisted.

Food: Okay, you can probably find more palatable things to eat, but nothing will be more quintessentially London than a bowl of jellied eels soaked in as much chilli vinegar as you can stand…and it comes with a little plate on which to spit the wee bones.  Trust me on this one.  Go to the Borough Market because if you chicken out there is a ridiculous spread of other food to go for, as fresh as you might ever hope for and reasonably priced (considering the floor show that goes with it).

English food is generally dreadful although I am really fond of blood pudding and fish and chips.  If you are from the southeastern U.S., as the catalyst for this note is, you might find yourself more at home dining in the Brixton Market where people know what pimento cheese is and the greens and black-eyed peas are cooked in artery clogging levels of salt pork.  Just pick a street stand and start eating; don’t worry, the contact high you get from the pot smoke everywhere will keep you munchy enough to try everything (wear loose clothing for the trip).

Music sites: More than any music site in London I am ashamed of NOT going to is the house where Joe Meek had his weird studio and eventually killed his landlady before committing suicide.

Look out, kid, there are sites I have been to that are pretty good such as Savoy Street in front of the Savoy Chapel where Dylan dropped cards while Subterranean Homesick Blues played in the background.  You might also want to pop by number 3 Savile Road, the Apple offices where the last Beatles performance occurred, but under no circumstances should you do the Abbey Road walk of shame (better to just leave some graffiti on the walls outside the studios where, keeping with the Kate Bush theme, Man With the Child in His Eyes was recorded).  Also, here’s a Werewolves of London location near the Kensal Green cemetery and not far from Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten’s squat.

Not London, just my Christmas card pic a couple of years ago, but musical

Clapham is an easy tube stop and the Clapham Common is a great and very large park to kill an afternoon around.  Squeeze fans might go to the Clapham Junction station and get Up the Junction stuck in their heads.  It’s not a long hike from there to Chelsea Bridge where you can look out over the Thames toward Battersea Power Station (The Pink Floyd’s Animals should come to mind) and settle into a brilliant Waterloo Sunset.  Classical music fans can find Jimi Hendrix’s place (which had previously been Handel’s place) at 23 Brook Street while you can find the scene of one of the more annoying brain worms, Come On Eileen, at Brook Drive on the opposite side of the Thames.

Here are two websites that give pretty good music tour ideas.  First, Music Like Dirt has a map if you just want to find something near you.  The Shady Old Lady has a much more comprehensive site and a lot of other categories to choose from but you are on your own for mapping.

Dr. Who just started again, and I do try to hit Who sites out here in the provinces.  Below, you’ll find a screen shot of the Google Earth map of Dr. Who scene sites in central London taken from http://www.doctorwholocations.net/  (download the file DrWhoLocations.kml to load into G-Earth and maybe a more useful map overlay — I’m using OpenStreetMap for mine).

For movie sites in London, try the map at https://moviemaps.org/cities/4 which, though far from comprehensive it does give you some touristy ideas, and a map.

 

Other recreation:  I do not recommend Boris Bikes except maybe in the Square Mile on the weekends (the City is abandoned by 6pm Friday).  They are cheap, sturdy, and fun but you can get yourself killed on them as well.

Depending on your interests overlapping a bit, I would highly recommend hashing in the city.  London hashers are a friendly lot, take you to the most interesting pubs around, and if you aren’t careful you might even get a little exercise while trotting around the back alleys and through tunnels and up and down streets you might never otherwise venture.  They have a centralised calendar of events here but sometimes it is irregularly updated; I have never been disappointed by a London based hash…here are some of the individual kennels’ pages:

London HHH

 City HHH

West London HHH

South London HHH (SLASH) … say, ‘hi,’ to Testiculator if you go here or, for that matter, any of the others as he seems to hash a lot.

Share this, mofos:

The approach to Colerne from Corsham was steep downhill to a creek and steep uphill to the village and about four miles of rocks, mud and pasture.  Except for getting a brief start on the G-Had HHH trail as I reached the area near the church, I made a more-or-less direct path to the Fox and Hounds for a well-deserved (I thought) beer.

There were four ales on tap although the gents lining the bar were all quaffing lager.  There was a house ale with the landlord’s face on the pump clip but I opted for the other one I had never seen before, a Cottage Brewing Sunset that was sharp and floral and very refreshing as I continued to pour sweat throughout the tipple.

The pub looks very old and the afternoon clientèle seemed intent on quietly murdering their beverages, but there are loads of indications that you can party at this pub (mostly the signs hung around the walls — and on the pub website — that say, “Party at the Pub”).

Share this, mofos:

 

I had never seen the Raven although I have passed it dozens of times on visits to town.  From the outside, it looks like a very posh shop perhaps dealing in corsets or lavender scented bath items, but inside it is a regular boozer with wood floors and a grand landlord with a spectacular West-country accent.

 

I was in town to ‘do’ a G-Had trail over and in addition to the North Wilts Hash House Harriers scheduled trail purportedly starting as soon as their train arrived.  It was to finish at the Raven so I made concentric and criss-crossing paths seeking the prelay before time and the live trail after the appointed start, yet to no avail.  Giving one last try from the far side of the river at opening time (12:30) I gave up when the Raven once more appeared before me.

I sat near a British family in for a lunch of pies (the house speciality).  It was a mum and dad roughly my age and a son roughly 25-30 years old.  The fourth member of the party was the son’s girlfriend who was the only one that seemed comfortable in her own skin.  I could have sat and watched the unease with which the stilted conversation progressed for hours, but I wanted some lunch myself before the train back home and pies were not going to do it for me.

 

Share this, mofos:

Although not a big fan of the modern, shopping mall-style Wetherspoons pubs, I was in Bath early on a Sunday and they were the only place open before noon.  They are cheap, have a great selection (including today’s Daily Tipple) and there’s free wifi.  Any port in a storm (in this case the storm was the remnants of Hurricane Bertha, by the way).

Share this, mofos:

 

An hour to London.
Pleasant, but what about the
Depressing ride back?

Name: Corncrake Ale
Type: bitter
Venue: King of Wessex, Bath, Somerset

Review/notes: I went to Bath Spa today for a G-Had HHH trail versus the North Wilts Hash. However, today’s Haiku relates to another short trip.

Last night, an acquaintance from the depths of time made overtures that Jax and I might meet up with her and her’s during their upcoming trip to London. On the train to Bath, I became convinced that I made the right decision to beg off this invitation: except for a few shared experiences three decades ago we really have nothing in common (even though, since raising my head above the parapet, I have found her little blog entertaining enough as well as comforting that sometimes very little in this world changes).

The bad thing about reunions, though, are the expectations that inevitably are dashed during the meet-up (which almost always is finished long before it ends). It may seem selfish that I am sparing myself an uncomfortable hour-long train ride; bear in mind, I am sparing her the same misery on a twelve-hour journey back to L.A.

You’re welcome.

[DT =Daily Tipple, explained in DT #000 here]

Monthly consolidations/compilations: January
February
March
April
May
June
July

Share this, mofos:

 

It was meant to be a rest day from the marathon ramp up but duty called me to the Bulford Barracks to wreak havoc on potential Hashing trails, this time versus the Wilton Hash House Harriers with whom I have no prior quarrel nor, indeed, any knowledge of except that they do not lay live trails and they occasionally cross bus routes I can reach from home…and, they were using a pub I had not yet been to, the Rose and Crown.

The architecture of the pub is red brick and flint which is more striking than the photograph shows.  It is a big house and bears a plaque commemorating the Canadian paratroops billeted here during WWII.  The run was slow going after yesterday’s 15 mile slog but I found likely shiggy as well as easier footpaths into the gunnery fields.

I had to hurry after the run so only refreshed with a pint of Thatcher’s cider; the original plan was to chase down a squaddie bar at the other end of the encampment but it seems to have been replaced by a hair salon or an Indian takeaway (or my map was wrong).  Even if it had turned up, it may not have been open before noon, either, but it was with this dashing of great hopes that I returned to the R&C.  The pair running the Rose seemed fairly nice in our brief encounter, though; still, with a bus to catch at 1pm I lit out toward the Plough shortly.

BEER

The frequency and intensity of my running has increased with the rise in temperature this summer so I find myself ducking into pubs for respite more than in recent months.  Beer and cider are featuring more so than dinner wine in the Daily Tipple log as a result:

 

DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
184	03-Jul	How Green Is Our Valley	bitter	Red Lion
188	07-Jul	Titanic Ale Over	bitter	Old Crown
190	09-Jul	Prescott Hill Climb	bitter	The Greyhound
199	18-Jul	Enraptured	bitter	The Four Candles
204	23-Jul	Brains SA	bitter	Red Lion
206	25-Jul	Cross Bay Nightfall	bitter	The Vine Inn
208	27-Jul	Stonehenge Ales Pig Swill	bitter	The Bell
211	30-Jul	Swordfish	bitter	Victoria Arms
183	02-Jul	Everard’s Sunchaser	blonde ale	White Hart
197	16-Jul	XT Pi	mild	St Aldate’s

.

WINE
DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
186	05-Jul	Caberet Frank Cabernet Franc	red wine	house
189	08-Jul	Co-Operative Côtes du Rhône	red wine	house
191	10-Jul	Inycon Sangiovese	red wine	house
195	14-Jul	Jubilum Pinot Nero Syrah	red wine	house
196	15-Jul	Sierra Grande Pinot Noir	red wine	house
198	17-Jul	Paarl Mountains Cab Sav	red wine	house
202	21-Jul	La Metropole	red wine	house
205	24-Jul	Le Cru des Amoreux Saint-Amour	red wine	house
212	31-Jul	Quirky Bird Shiraz Mourvedre Viognier	red wine	house
182	01-Jul	Sainsbury’s House Dry Rosé	rose wine	house
207	26-Jul	Banrock Station Colombard Chardonnay	white wine	house
210	29-Jul	Monte Giove Pinot Grigio Chardonnay	white wine	house

.

OTHER
DT #	Date	Name	Type	Venue
185	04-Jul	Warner Edwards Elderflower Infused Gin	booze	Magnum Wine, Old Town
209	28-Jul	Vodka and summer fruit frozen daiquiri	booze	house
187	06-Jul	Weston’s Vintage Cider	cider	house
193	12-Jul	Thatchers Vintage Cider	cider	house
194	13-Jul	Thatcher’s Katy	cider	house
200	19-Jul	Hogan’s Cider Panking Pole	cider	Groves Company Inn
201	20-Jul	Thatcher’s Heritage	cider	The Clifton
192	11-Jul	Lilley’s Apple and Pear Cider	cider/perry	Turf Tavern
203	22-Jul	Thatcher’s Perry	cider/perry	The Four Candles

.

Having logged all the chippies near work, I also find that pub fish and chips — at least in Oxford — are the way forward in the Chippy Challenge.  I’m also having to travel farther afield from Swindon although there are still a good number of fish and chip shops near enough home to add to the list.  The Chick-O-Land in Salisbury is the new southernmost member of the list:

 

#	Chippies
72	Lemon Plaice	Swindon, Wiltshire	05-Jul
74	Liden Take Away	Swindon, Wiltshire	12-Jul
77	Sim’s Chippy	Swindon, Wiltshire	19-Jul
78	Rainbow Take-Away	Kidlington, Oxfordshire	23-Jul
80	Chick-O-Land	Salisbury, Wiltshire	27-Jul

 

.

#	Pubs/Other
71	White Hart	Headington, Oxfordshire	02-Jul
73	Turf Tavern	Oxford, Oxfordshire	11-Jul
75	St. Aldate’s Tavern	Oxford, Oxfordshire	16-Jul
76	Groves Company Inn	Swindon, Wiltshire	19-Jul
79	The Vine Inn	Cumnor, Oxfordshire	25-Jul
81	Victoria Arms	Marston, Oxfordshire	30-Jul

.

 Red markers are July additions, go to full map by clicking on one of these graphics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The G-Had also continues to develop with July trails overlapping a Didcot HHH trail (the inaugural Didcot clash, in fact) and a Bicester HHH trail that was more personal than it probably should have been.  Those make G-Had HHH trails #36 and #37.

 

 

 

The new pub count (as in the Count of Pubs New to this blog) stalled the first week of June and I almost went the entire month of July without an addition to the list.  This was corrected last Sunday with an 11 mile / 6 pub jog from Amesbury to Salisbury largely along the River Bourne.  With the woman working Sundays and every other Saturday the numbers should pick back up in the coming weeks.

Share this, mofos:

“I’m a free born man…”
He was often heard to say,
“…Of the USA.”

Name: Mary Jane
Type: bitter
Venue: The Britannia, Oxford

Review/notes: Very hoppy and citric ale to go with a fish and chips lunch at the turnaround point of a run.

A hasher from Tucson, Fredophile, passed away yesterday.  Lumbering and obnoxious it was always a joy to see him on his rare visits during my tenure with the jHavelina’s and Mr Happy’s.  If his funeral cortege takes a direct route without veering off into a stand of jumping cholla or a strip club or into a bar you can be sure his soul has already left the corpse.  On-on, buddy…regards to BusJob and Prof (late of the Bicester Hash).

Thoughts with Jilldo and co, as well as the jHavelinas and Huachucans for whom this is a sad loss.  Apologies to all for forcing the Pogues into Haiku structure for this entry, but a great song for a wake.

[DT =Daily Tipple, explained in DT #000 here]

Monthly consolidations/compilations: January
February
March
April
May