Walking the Calories off??

Had an old [in both senses] friend staying for the weekend, this annual event usually involves lots of beer and curries. To mitigate the effects of the calorie overburden I’d planned a few walks. The weather turned out to be good for November, particularly since he comes up from the South and thinks we live in an icy wilderness. On the Saturday a short local walk took us via the banks of the Ribble down to Ribchester with it’s Roman relics. The plan was to have a pint and a sandwich at lunchtime in one of the local pubs and catch a bus back later.

River Ribble at Ribchester

Problem One was that the two traditional pubs in the village, The Black Bull and the White Bull, were closed so we wandered along to the Ribchester Arms. We were made very welcome and enjoyed a good beer with hearty sandwiches.

Calorie intake.

The bus timetable suggested a bus at 2.30, we arrived at the bus stop at 2.23 and waited and waited. Problem two was that no bus appeared, except returning in the opposite direction. I am sure that the bus must have arrived early and didn’t stop according to the timetable. This view was re-enforced by a poster at the stop suggesting the number to ring with complaints about the bus service. Probably a regular problem for the locals, obviously no way to provide a public transport service. We were rescued by a friend driving past!

My complaint about the bus service is being dealt with.

Bus complaints.

Anyhow, drawing a veil over the Saturday night’s calorie intake Sunday dawned bright, sunny and dry. We had arranged to meet four good friends at Foulridge in the car park of a restaurant where we would eat in the evening.

All assembled we set off for a walk around Kelbrook. walking along lanes in the morning was a good opportunity to catch up on recent news and events. Good light-hearted banter was the order of the day. A constant background firearms noise accompanied us and we realised that all the 4X4 vehicles passing us were on a mission. When we arrived at Kelbook Lodge there was great activity with various shooting activities, fortunately not involving living animals or us. This was the site of some glorified clay pigeon shoot. Watching the targets it appeared that not many of the participants were capable of scoring! http://www.kelbrookshootingschool.co.uk/

Kelbrook Shooting Lodge

Having seen the poor shooting we kept a wide birth of the target area. Eventually after some trackless walking we arrived at the trig point of Kelbrook Fell with excellent views over Pendleside, Bowland and Riblesedale.

Difficult navigating and diverted paths eventually brought us round the north side of the fell and we picked up the Kelbrook Circular Walk. Dropped into the village of Kelbrook and delighted to find the chippy open with an attached cafe serving a good cup of tea.

From here we made our way over an old railway and drainage ditches to arrive in Salterforth. Our objective was the old pub called the Anchor Inn.

The pub is beside the Liverpool -Leeds canal. This is an interesting place. Parts of the original Inn can still be seen down in the cellars and, having been undisturbed for a couple of centuries, there is now a magnificent array of stalactites and stalagmites in the original cellars.

Soon we were back at the Massala Room and changed for an evening meal. This place has a Sunday buffet which is excellent value and really good quality.

So having had a good day’s walk we were faced with a serious eating option — probably about 3000 cals! Walking only uses approximately 100 calories per mile, so we were well into a positive calorie equation. Oh, well there is always the climbing wall tomorrow!