I feel I ought to warn Jenny and Michael Pighills. Don't they realise the danger? We are four cyclists set on tackling the lumpiest country in the Yorkshire Dales, and we've come to their newly opened pub for the weekend. Breakfasts will have to be early and massive, dinners gargantuan, beer stocks and bike storage plentiful. The couple have only just finished applying the last lick of paint to the neat Shaker-style bar (Did the Shakers allow bars?) and chalking up the food on a blackboard opposite the massive inglenook fireplace. We're hoping to consume 6,000 calories a day each. Will they cope?
Michael is an experienced chef, and he and Jenny, a former schoolteacher, are plunging into running a village pub. They have chosen a great location in the pretty village of Kettlewell, bang on the Tour de France route in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales a honeypot for walkers, cyclists and bikers. But it's still a brave move in an economic climate that is firmly against the English pub: four close every day according to Camra, which cites poor profitability and takeover threats from betting shops and supermarkets.
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