Graham, there were only three of us who stayed over night, a couple of other lads who would normally have stayed had work or other commitments. There are other posh pubs in the area that have rooms but I should think they are in the region of ?40 to ?50 a night. If you decide to stay in the buck house then you need to bring a stove, they only provide a kettle and micro wave. BTW the bunk house is attached to the Pub.
Graham if you are seriously interested then email me and I?ll send you a copy of a word doc I did for the first Ribble Fish-in which has information about day ticket water around Ribchester?
If you are in a position to take a couple of days off when the river/weather conditions are favourable then it?s certainly worth a trip up north. Apart from reading the Ribble reports you should also keep an eye on the river levels by ringing Rivercall, for the Ribble ring 0906 619 7733. There are three areas; Locks Weir, New Jumbles Rock and Salemsbury, the later two being the areas where the day ticket waters are. However, noting what?s going on at Locks Weir will tell you if there is a flood pulse coming though. Also noting what?s going on at Rivercall will also give you some indication as to how fast the river can change and may influence your decision to travel up north. Needless to say you have also got to watch the weather, In your case I?d be looking for the start of a settled period and a river that?s fining down. Any level between normal summer level and 0.3M above NSL will mean that all pegs/swims will be fishable, above 0.3M and certain swims become more difficult. If you are fishing into dusk or the evening keep your eye on the moonrise time, clear sky?s at night on the Ribble in my experience are bad news for the Chub.
If you do come up north then I?m sure either myself, or another FM Ribble local will meet up with you.