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BB2603 : A
Pub With No Cheer?
Wednesday
28th January 2026
After
coming down off the fell, we returned to
our cars which were parked outside the tired looking
hotel. The white paint had turned
grey and was peeling. The place looked sad. However,
they had let us park there for free so we
felt obliged to visit the bar. This was
a dismal room at the back of the property.
There were three tables, all occupied
but there was no sound. No chatter,
no background music; just the whisper of
the drinks being poured.
The
couple at the table nearest the window,
and hence the least gloomy, got up and left
without a word. We thought we would
take their place. When we looked at
the table, we realised that its top could
come off. Underneath was what seemed
to be a bar billiards table.
I
used to be fond of playing bar billiards.
In fact, my greatest sporting moment
was becoming the 1968 Leeds University Mexico
Olympics Bar Billiards Champion.
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What
an achievement. Even surpassing
my Stockport Wolf Cubs Football
League 1958 Cup medal.
We
had a simple strategy. Give
the ball to Doyley. That
was Mike Doyle, later of Manchester
City and England. He could
whack them in from all over
the pitch. A bad day for
us was an 8 - 0 victory. Generally
we were in double figures.
Come
the day of the final, Doyley
wasn't available. We lost
3 -1. It's a runners-up
medal. I never forgave
Doyley for letting us down that
day.
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Anyway,
back to the bar billiards table.
It wasn't like the ones
I remembered. There were
no mushrooms guarding the holes.
In fact, there was only
one hole.
And
there was only one regulation
sized ball; the others were
smaller with sizes down to dobbers
and alleys. And I don't recall
there being any cues.
In
fact I don't remember any more
about being there or even returning
home which is quite unusual.
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I
do remember the walk. The
morning had been bright and sunny after
very heavy rain. The Met Office forecast
was a little unusual. The wind speed was
predicited to be "minus infinity"
mph. I
kid you not. That is what it
said on its website.
It sort of sums
up what I think of their revamped app.
Why
did they have to meddle with a perfectly
good one to produce this abomination? What
does a "minus infinity" wind speed actually
mean?
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In
reality, as we walked up the Dubbs Road
to the Dubbs reservoir,
there was little wind.
We were surprised
to see so many vehicles at the Dubbs Reservoir.
We were told it was because the reservoir
had developed a serious leak. They
were waiting for a cement wagon to arrive
but, whilst we were there, they got a call saying that he
wasn't coming today. What a waste
of a large number of man hours.
Martin
left us at the stile that leads to the climb
of Sour Howes.
It's quite a steep
pull up to the summit but the views were
good.
There seemed to be quite a lot
of snow on the Central Fells.
We
had feared that the ground contouring Moor
Head would be seriously boggy but that turned
out not to be the case. For a while
we walked with a man who was on his 16th
round of Wainwrights. We are not tempted
to emulate him.
After another short
climb we reached the Sallows summit where
Tony met some folk from Otley- a town that
he knows well. Or at least, knows
the pubs well.
Job
done, we dropped down to the Garburn Road
and the Longmire Road tracks.
Before
reaching the road, we passed what used to
be a small bungalow and now is being transformed
into a mega- property.
After
coming down off the fell, we drove to the
Eagle & Child, or as Stephen calls it-
the Bird & Bastard. Inside was warm
and welcoming as usual. After a convivial
pint in Bull Shit Corner, I started telling the boys about the
dream I had last night that ended
today's outing at the Pub with no Cheer. Thank goodness it
wasn't a dream come true!
Don,
Wednesday, 28th January 2026
Thanks
to TV Mike for several of the photos
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