Tyne Valley Whistle Stops

As part of my bessy mate’s 50th celebrations, myself, Honest Paul, Plymouth Pete and of course the birthday boy himself - Zippy Turnbull, headed across to Carlisle for the starting point of a monumental pub crawl.  Out task was to have a drink in 15 pubs in seven different locations on the Tyne Valley rail line, before getting back to Newcastle before 10pm.

Carlisle 

(arr. 10.45 dept. 1225)

After partaking our breakfast in the Market Hall,  we had an hour to tick off a Carlisle hat-trick. I picked out 3 pubs that I hadn’t been to before, which were close together.

1.The Last Zebra - Lakeland ‘Entente Cordiale’ (3.9%)***+

2.Thin White Duke - Loweswater Gold (4.3%)***+

3.The Fat Gadgie - Salopian ‘Pogol’ (5.5%)****

THE LAST ZEBRA

THE THIN WHITE DUKE

THE FAT GADGIE

Wetheral
(arr.1232 dept.1339)

The tranquil village of Wetheral has two pubs:

4.The Wheatsheaf - Keswick Waimea Pale (4.2%)****

5.The Crown Hotel - Great Corby 'American Pale Ale' (4%)***+

THE WHEATSHEAF

THE CROWN

Haydon Bridge
(arr.1416 dept.1504)

A brief visit to Haydon Bridge to visit two boozers on the north side of the river, where I supped the best pint of the day in the Havelock.

6. General Havelock Inn - Cullercoats ‘Wild North Blonde’ (3.8%)****+

7.Railway Hotel - Great North Eastern ‘Baron Von Frankenstout’ (4.6%)****

GENERAL HAVELOCK INN

RAILWAY HOTEL


Haltwhistle
(arr.1518 dept.1657)

We doubled back to Haltwhistle, where we had loads of time to knock off three hostelries in the middle of Britain.

8.Manor House Inn - Ringwood ‘Doggle’ (4.2%)***+ (re-sup)

9.Comrades Club - Adnams ‘Nut Blonde’ (4%)***+

10.Black Bull - Allendale ‘Curlew's Return’ (4.2%)***+

MANOR HOUSE INN

COMRADES CLUB

THE BLACK BULL

 Hexham

(arr.1721 dept.1932)

This was the only disappointing leg of the journey, only having time for two pubs after spending too much time in the Chinese restaurant. We also lost Honest Paul when we ran back to the station.

11.Station Inn - Allendale ‘Golden Plover’ (4%)***+ (re-sup)

12.The Globe Inn - York ‘Otherside IPA’ (4.5%)***+

THE STATION INN

THE GLOBE INN


Corbridge
(arr 1936 dept. 2032)

As the town centre is a canny hike from the train station, we were just going to go to Dyvels, but to get back on target we hiked up to Corbridge in the howling wind and called at the Golden Lion.

13.Golden Lion - Theakstons ‘Golden Lion Ale’ (4.1%)***+

14.Dyvels - Allendale ‘Pennine Pale’ (4%)***+ (re-visited)

GOLDEN LION

DYVELS


Wylam
(arr.2050 dept.2134)
 After reuniting with Paul on the train our seventh and last destination was a visit to one of my favourite pubs

15.The Boathouse - Yeovil ‘Star Gazer’ (4.1%)**** (re-visited)

THE BOATHOUSE

Mission completed

Back in Newcastle on schedule and time for a couple of pints in the Head of Steam, before staggering to the bus stop at 11.30.