Day 7 had ended in Barton north of Preston with Anne and Neil Ashworth.
We used to work together at the Royal Preston Hospital. We had a lovely evening together catching up and Martin McDonald who is a friend and another ex colleague called in too so a very sociable evening was had by all. Possibly a little too much wine as my legs were suffering a bit the next day.
We left Barton and the sat mac guided us up a lane over the M6 but it turned out to be an access road to a farm only. However going back meant a long detour to find an alternative crossing point of the motorway and knowing the road we wanted was 1/4 mile away and down a footpath we decided to wall it along the field edge. We did have to lift the bikes, panniers and all over a couple of stiles then snuck through some farmyards which I think were on the footpath route but not totally sure. We went unnoticed and pedalled off into the Forest of Bowland in beautiful sunshine.
Soon the road kicked up and over a high pass to Higher Bentham.
Gary really was feeling pretty empty of energy in his legs at the start of the day and these climbs meant he was struggling somewhat. Coming close to wanting to give up. Obviously that wasn't going to be allowed! We pushed on and he managed with regular stops to slowly tick off the miles. It was our second day of 100 miles and it was taking it's toll especially in the heat of the day.
Despite dropping to lower ground and the fantastic scenery we were weary when we eventually made it to the Corby Bridge Inn where I had booked us in. It was a pub with rooms perfect to guarantee food and sleep. However they had called us earlier to say they were flooded and couldn't accommodate us. They rebooked us in at the Brookside B&B in Warwick Bridge. The Corby bridge Inn certainly appeared to be thriving when we saw it with a B&B sign outside! They had neglected to mention that the road between them and the new accommodation 1/2 mile away was closed for road works. When we finally made the 2 mile detour Gary was almost on his knees and I wasn't feeling much better. Deborah at Brookside B&B took us in after more than 12 hours on the road.
Within minutes she was driving us to the local pub for food. It was too late in the day for them (20.30hrs!!) so she took us on 2-3 miles up the road to another pub where we found food to revive us. She then picked us up and tool us back to Brookside. Its a gorgeous old watermill building with the original wheel still visible. The B&B was my favourite so far. A real home from home with every detail for the weary traveller attended too.
I didn't want to leave the next day, it was so comfortable and we were so grateful to her and the fact that she went out of her way to help. Corby Bridge Inn's loss of business was certainly our gain. I can highly recommend Brookside B&B and aim to visit again.
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Location:Preston
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