Back home.

Wednesday 26th April 2017

A better day was forecast and we set off in lovely sunshine.  It was a bit chilly though and John borrowed some leg warmers to keep his delicate legs warm.  The difficulty is that John isn't normal sized.  Before we got to Clitheroe he was having a Nora Batty problem!

He did eventually managed to get them to stay up but not without some serious stretching.

We stopped off at our old school...Clitheroe Royal Grammar School for Boys.  I think Peter tried to blag his way in with a member of staff but we still only managed a photo from the outside.

I don't think there will be anyone let at the school that would remember us.  We weren't what you would call outstanding pupils.  I remember a school report that said...French exam - 15% - This subject is a mystery to him!  It looks like the school has changed a lot since we were there, several new buildings etc.

Our route today involved cycling around Pendle Hill, through Chatburn, Downham, Barnoldswick, Foulshaw, Nelson, Burnley, Cliviger, Padiham, Simonstone, Read, Whalley and back via Clitheroe.  This area is famed for its witches of the 1600's. Twelve Pendle witches were tried and executed in 1612 at Lancaster Court for the murder of 10 people.  Looking at some of the people we saw today I think their may be a few still around.

Downham is an unspoilt village where we used to have picnics and splash around in the stream.

The cycling was a bit challenging till it eased off after Barnoldswick, known locally as Barlick.  We had our morning coffee sitting out in the sunshine.

Onward along the Leeds Liverpool Canal to have our lunch at Reedley.

Whilst having lunch we discovered that today was Intellectual Property Day.  Which leads me to remind you not to use any of the codswallop from this blog as it is subject to copyright even though there is nothing intellectual about it!

This is 18 Red Lees Ave, Cliviger, our ancestral home!  We introduced ourselves to the owner (not Frank Casper) who was looking out of the window with a puzzled look on his face.  When we lived there  it was heated by an open fire and a Baxi boiler and Mum washed with a top loader washing machine.  We recalled who the neighbours and looked at the bungalow that our Nanna lived in.

Peter decided to have a little rest at Townley Hall.  I once got into trouble with my parents when I was 6 for cycling on my own to Townley.  I was caught out because I fell off my bike, cut my knee and was taken home by a kindly stranger!

We visited the hallowed turf.  Let's hope they stay up in the Premiership.

We cycled through Burnley town centre - it wasn't pretty as the pedestrian area was being dug up and refurbished.  Padiham wasn't much better and they were doing any alterations there.  The photo is our second home at Harewood Ave, Simonstone where we moved to in 1968.

Us three boys all slept in the same bedroom at the top right window.  Our Nanna came to live with us.  It was a lovely area to grow up in - probably middle class by Lancashire standards.  We used to play 'walley' with a football against the garden wall.  If we let the ball start rolling down the steep street it was a hell of a chase to catch it before it got to the busy main road.

The local pub was sadly closed in the afternoon.

We cycled onward to Read and Whalley and into Clitheroe.  Peter suggested a visit to the Bowland Brewery to quench our thirsts

It was a great bar that was in an old mill which included the old machinery but it was done in a modern contemporary way.  Plenty of beer too.  I had a pint of Pheasant Plucker.....it certainly was pleasant!

It was 6.30 pm when we got back to Waddington and had completed 50 miles riding.

The evening was a little more sedate than the previous night.  We ate at the Higher Buck pub and then had a drink in the Lower Buck.  We had a great day of cycling adventure and nostalgia.