August 2023. Whalley.
In the Spring of 1997, fresh into my first Finance Director job, I joined an expedition from St Albans to Whalley (via a tick lunch stop at the Red Lion in Kegworth), where the two main NHS bodies responsible for learning disability services were comparing notes at Calderstones “Hospital”.
One of my earliest exposures to the joys and responsibilities of Board membership, I can remember some underlying differences of opinion as well as a memorable evening meal at Mitton Hall and an overnight stay in the “prayer and reflection rooms” at Whalley Abbey.
And on Saturday, Mrs RM stayed there again, the Abbey proving the cheapest place to stay in the whole of east Lancashire (£130 for a Travelodge in Blackburn. What !).
“What about the campervan ?” you ask. Sometimes a girl needs a little luxury. And a toilet that isn’t a hedge.
If you want grandeur on the cheap, this is the place to come.
Smart entrance, simple rooms (no TV). I’d booked the last room, the one with the low beams you bang your head on.
Never mind. The little touches made up for that, like the warm and fluffy breakfast pastries and the bench seating in the dining area,
and the “honesty bar” stocked with all your favourites like Heineken 0.0 and Madri.
And some lightweight reading matter in the library if you’re bored.
You’re only 10 minutes from the station and the hedonism of Clitheroe, or you can walk the gardens amid the ruins.
We opted for the hedonism (though actually it was posh Whalley where women were puking on the streets at 8pm).
retiredmartin 
Not been to Whalley for a while, I remember there was a bar/bottle shop on the main Street. Given the size of the town there is quite a bit there given how close it is to Clitheroe and the likes of Blackburn etc. I must try and fit in a train (remember them?) Ride out that way.
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Whalley looked quite by day, three pubs and that bottle bar you remember which is quite basic, but was manic early evening.
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Thanks for the reply 👍
I know when to time my visit, I’ll see if I can take in the mill at Clitheroe too.
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By mill I guess the Bowland Brewery hall ? That will astonish you !
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That’s the one, looking forward to it 👍👍
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We followed part of that route, a couple of months ago, but only as far as Skipton. The section that skirts Bradford, is a pain and the local “Sadiq Khan” is planing to impose the city’s own ULEZ – according to Mrs PBT’s Yorkshire relatives.
Surprised to learn you were “ticking” a quarter of a century ago.
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It is a pain, Paul, particularly through Saltaire, but I guess I’m used to the Bradford stretch by now !
I started colouring in the GBG in 1994, which is pretty much when we started going away every weekend, staying in the new budget hotels.
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Those same women were puking in the Spoons in Ramsgate.
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Midnight Friday night in Doncaster is your benchmark for debauchery, Dave.
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My experience of those towns just north of the M62 is that there are indeed some parts with expensive houses and big gardens. But if it’s posh you’re after then I’m not so sure that you’ll find it so easily…
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You get a lot more for your cash north of the M62, certainly. I judge “poshness” by the number of bridal shops and wine bars and in that regard Whalley looks more South Cambs than Fens.
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