A SCOTTISH couple are celebrating their wedding anniversary with a pub crawl around Huddersfield.
Mary and Steve Deans from Aberdeen took on the Transpennine Rail Ale Trail between Stalybridge and Batley on Saturday.
The couple were inspired to visit pubs in and around train stations in West Yorkshire after seeing them featured on TV programme Oz and James Drink To Britain.
Mary, 40, said: “When we saw the trail on the TV we thought it would be the perfect way to celebrate our 12th anniversary.”
The couple stayed at the George Hotel on Friday night before travelling up and down the line around Huddersfield on Saturday.
They enjoyed pints in the Station Buffet Bar in Stalybridge, the Railway Inn in Greenfield, the Riverhead in Marsden, the Swan in Slaithwaite, the King’s Head in Huddersfield, the Navigation in Mirfield the West Riding in Dewsbury and the Cellar Bar in Batley.
It was a fitting way to celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary.
Mary, who works as a garden adviser, said: “It seemed appropriate because we met in a pub, Filthy McNasty’s in Aberdeen, we went on our first date to the Guildford Arms in Edinburgh and incorporated the Great British Beer Festival into our honeymoon in 1997.
“We even received joint membership of the Campaign for Real Ale as a wedding present.”
Steve, who works as an office administrator at an agricultural college, said his colleagues assumed the Yorkshire pub crawl was his idea.
The 46-year-old said: “When I told people at work about our holiday plans, they asked what my wife thought about them. But when I explained it was all her idea they wanted to know where they could find a woman like that!”
But despite sampling some of Yorkshire’s finest brews, Mary believes the best ale can be found right at home in Aberdeen.
She said: “You have to go a long way to find a better beer than my home-brewed Christmas pudding beer – but we’ll keep looking.”
For more information on the Transpennine Rail Ale Trail visit www.realaletrail.net
