Ventured out to The Bay Horse at Great Heck last night having read about it in the Good Beer Guide. Real Ales from The Old Mill Brewery. Pint of Black Jack and a top meal. Winner!

An excellent pint of Adnams Broadside in the Cocked Hat - I always enjoy my visits there. Good banter before the game, talking up the Dons chances of finishing in the top 2 in NL2 and then ... no let's not go there!

Well I don;t care what some others think...was out round Sheffield before the game on Sunday and had a few cracking pints of Abbots

Proper beer.
Had a pint of Jericho in Wetherspoons in Donny (don't know who makes that).
Speckled Hen in the Tut (beautiful).
And a couple of real ales in the Cocked Hat. I didn't take much notice of what they were, but they were excellent.
And then...................

Nothing wrong with Abbot Ale, as you say a cracking pint and excluding one or two seasonal beers it's now the strongest of the Greene King ales at 5% (since the strength of the Cask version of Old Speckled Hen was reduced to 4.5% in 2006).

Looking to Saturday, the Pack Horse is in this years Good Beer Guide and is on the main road out to Headingley from Leeds (A660) Woodhouse Lane (which further on becomes Headingley Lane).

A little nearer to the ground but just beyond it on Otley Road is the Arcadia Ale & Wine Bar which stocks a number of real ales including some from Yorkshire micro-breweries.

Back in the City Centre, the following can be recommended;

North Bar (New Briggate)
Palace (Kirkgate)
Scarbrough Hotel (adjacent to the Railway Station)
Town Hall Tavern (Westgate)
Victoria Family & Commercial (Great George St)
& Whitelocks First City Luncheon Bar (Turks Head Yard, off Briggate).

Last nights jaunt included a visit to the Dog & Gun at East Butterwick which although having a Doncaster postcode is just the other side of the River Trent in north Lincolnshire.

The pub is home to the DarkTribe brewery (yes, there is no space between Dark and Tribe) and available yesterday were Sternwhistler (a golden ale) and Red Rock (a dark ale).

If you're out that way, access is via the east end of Keadby Bridge (where East Butterwick is signposted).

Also worth a visit only a further 10 or 15 minutes away is the House Inn at East Ferry. Real Ale, good quality food at a reasonable price and a rock jukebox.

Excellent places, Arcadia is part of the Market Taverns chain of qulaity pubs that were smoke free for the last few years. It's not a traditional pub though, a bit soulless, but great beer & good food. I would also recommend the Prince of Wales, just round the corner from the Scarbrough. Full of mature rugby fans on a match day & much improved since the smoking ban.

I hope to be taking in a few on Saturday.

Ah Dixie Dean's beers! ( Dark Tribe). Sampled many of his offerings at the Eight Jolly Brewers in Gainsborough en route to my other weakness in life at Sincil Bank.

The EJB is a cracking little place and I guarantee there'll be brews and breweries you've yet to hear about. Another pub close to the Trent an' all.

Looks like I'm going to be visiting East Butterwick and East Ferry shortly too.

Have you tried any pubs in the sticks north of Doncaster yet? A must is the exotically-named Jemmy Hirst at the Rose and Crown, run by two former members of the constabulary, one of whom was also a CAMRA chairperson at her Hampshire Branch. The beers and the general ambience of the place are superb. Log fire, book shelves stacked with old books and the locals talk!

Bit further out still is the Ferry at Cawood, which has a reputation for good food but the beer can give it a run for its money too.