The first trip of the New Year was to explore some of the numerous pubs along Nottingham Road between Kimberley and Eastwood using a Derbyshire Wayfarer and a Trent Barton Zigzag day ticket. I travelled to Derby and then caught the Red Arrow limited stop service to Nottingham Victoria Bus Station to change on to … Continue reading A Grand Day Out.. on the Nottingham Road →

A South Yorkshire Day Connect ticket costs £6.60 from the driver for one day’s bus and tram travel throughout the area. Getting to Rotherham mid-morning allowed plenty of time for the short journey to Broom, arriving there just after 11am. The Stag (CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide 2018) adjacent to the roundabout of the same name, opens … Continue reading South Yorkshire →

A mid-morning arrival at Huddersfield station (via Wakefield) allowed plenty of time for a cooked breakfast and a half of Clarks (now brewed at Castle Eden) English Pale Ale in The Vulcan before boarding the hourly train for the short ride to the attractive village of Marsden. Sitting outside the Riverhead Brewery Tap (CAMRA Good Beer Guide … Continue reading West Yorkshire →

It had been ten years since my last visit to this small town near Telford in Shropshire so another visit was planned to coincide with the 44th Beer Festival in the Crown.  No cheap advance bookings were available on morning departures from Sheffield to Birmingham, so I opted to travel via Stockport instead. The hourly … Continue reading Oakengates →

March 2018 saw the 34th and final London Drinker Beer Festival, held in the Camden Centre which is very convenient for both St. Pancras and King’s Cross stations. Advance train tickets were booked, but again the cheapest route was via the non-stop Grand Central train from Doncaster to King’s Cross rather than East Midland Trains … Continue reading A Grand Farewell to the London Drinker →

The first weekday train on which a Derbyshire Wayfarer is valid gets to Derby just before 10am. There was a short wait for a ten-minute ride to Burton and then a walk in to town for the hourly Midland Classic service X12 to Sutton Coldfield. An Allday+ ticket costs £5.30 for unlimited travel on Midland … Continue reading Lichfield and beyond →

A planned busy day out using the Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket started with a train to Derby and a bus into Derby Bus Station. A Trent Barton service 6.3 took me to Belper in time for the noon opening of the 8th Amber Valley Beer Festival at Strutts, a former school, now a community facility. Numerous … Continue reading Amber Valley →

Catching the first available weekday train service from Sheffield to Derby using a Derbyshire Wayfarer allowed for a few minutes in Derby before boarding a train bound for Burton. On arrival there it was a ten minute walk in to town to catch the Midland Classic service X12 to Lichfield. A slight hold-up on the … Continue reading Cannock and Ashbourne festivals →

Being a Bank Holiday weekend, a more local day out was planned with the intention of doing a few pubs around the Chesterfield area and then stopping off in Mosborough on the way home. With the exception of the last port of call, all were visited by using a Stagecoach Explorer ticket costing £6.30 from … Continue reading A Grand Bank Holiday Day Out →

Today’s main intention was to visit Wigan Central, located in two arches beneath Wigan North Western rail station. Arriving in Manchester my plan was to use the buses, rather than the trains, to get around so I purchased a Greater Manchester Any Bus Day Rover ticket, which is available from any bus driver, for £5.60. … Continue reading Under the Arches →