Lancashire and Cumbria Group

Contact: Simon Brown Tel: 07757203423 Email: s53brown@gmail.com

PREBOOKING ESSENTIAL Starting with a coffee at Beetham Nurseries we will then head around the Bay via Dallam Park, Gilpin Bridge and Meathop to Grange for our lunch stop.  We'll head back via the Winster Valley through Lindale and Witherslack to Gilpin Bridge with an optional tea stop at Sizergh or Levens Hall - to warm up!  It's then a short ride through Hincaster, Woodhouse and Ackenthwaite back to Beetham.  A superb late Autumn ride to catch the last of the changing colours. Contact: Stephen and Jeanette Webb Tel: 07940 372433 Email: stephen.webb001@gmail.com

FESTIVE LUNCH POSTPONED  Our intention is to organise a social lunch in 2021 when large group activities are allowed again. Contact: Stephen Webb Tel: 07940372433 Email: stephen.webb001@gmail.com

Four tandems turned up at Kendal Leisure Centre for our September ride. It was a damp day, but fortunately not too cold.

We split into two groups of two tandems in each to maintain social distancing. The route took us past Oxenholme Station on the B6254, later crossing the M6 near Old Hutton. By now we had climbed to around 200 metres, a steady pull from the start. We took the old drover’s road known as “Scotch Road” which is always peaceful and quiet, and it doesn’t go a lot higher, rejoining the main road at Old Town.

An attraction of this route, are the fast descents, ideally suited to tandems. We soon arrived at Kirkby Lonsdale for elevenses at the Royal Hotel, after fourteen miles. We booked this stop in advance, and it made a welcome stop. We enjoyed scones and cream in very comfortable surroundings.

From Kirkby Lonsdale we took the A683 towards Lancaster. This is a nice open road with good views. A regular feature of this route, are motorbikes, who head for Devil’s bridge, at Kirkby Lonsdale. We turned right before Hornby, to cross the River Lune, which provides an excellent view of the river from the impressive Loyn Bridge which is estimated to be over three hundred years old.

Our route then took us through Over Kellet, to Truckhaven, at Carnforth for lunch (27 miles). Normally this road, the B6254 has good views over Morecambe Bay, but today it was misty. By this stage, the earlier fine rain we had ridden through, had gone.

The return route took us through Holme village to Farleton view, which is a farm café, near junction 36 of the M6. Here we enjoyed tea and cakes before heading back to the start, on well used lanes back to Kendal, a total of 44 enjoyable miles.

Paul Rodman

LA Group Rides – August : A Tale of Two Rides

August marked a return for the Lancashire and South Cumbria Group to group cycling – well almost!  With the current restrictions, we are limited to 6 riders, or three tandems in a group, and today there were 4 tandems.  So we decided to have two groups.  John and Anne led a ride for two tandems on the Fylde and into the Bowland hills and we led a ride for two tandems in South Cumbria taking in a few fells before a lovely ride down the Winster Valley.

We left Kendal with Paul and Jeannette on a glorious day, perfect for cycling, and headed via quiet lanes to Staveley and the Lakeland Farm Centre at Ings for coffee.  At the same time (40 miles south of Kendal), John and Anne were setting off with Hayley and Simon from Great Eccleston Square and cycling through the village for the short ride to their coffee stop at the Light Ash Cafe, Myerscough, on their way to the Bowland Fells.

The Lakeland Farm Centre at Ings has only been open a couple of years and there is plenty of room to sit outside the café with your refreshments.  It is a glorious spot with fantastic views of the Lakeland fells as a back drop to the seating area.  The next stretch south from Ings is up a gated lane south from Ings and can be a ‘bit of a challenge’ shall we say, for tandems.  We are fortunate to have electric assist, and we took on gate duty so that Paul and Jeannette didn’t have to stop, though I think they might have been glad of a breather at the odd gate on the climb across the fell.

Once at the top, the hard work for the day is done, by and large, with a picturesque run along narrow, but very quiet lanes down to Bowland Bridge and along the Winster Valley to Witherslack.  We rode on towards Meathop to our picnic spot on the edge of Meathop Marsh.  The weather was warm, sunny and our position on the marsh afforded us superb views of the fells further north, safe in the knowledge that the afternoon ride across to Gilpin Bridge and Levens Hall for an afternoon tea stop, was going to be flat. Hills and climbing in the morning, and a leisurely flat ride in the afternoon across the Winster and Lyth Valleys – perfect planning!

Meanwhile, John and Anne were leading Hayley and Simon through Bilsborrow into the Forest of Bowland, towards Bleasedale, before a gradual climb north through the hills of Oakenclough and Harrisend Fell.  Here there are terrific views over the Lancashire plain to the coast. It was then downhill all the way to Scorton for the lunch stop, where they found it noticeably warmer and less windy than up on the hills.

The two groups kept in touch during the day, messaging and sharing photographs of their rides via WhatsApp.  Modern technology is simply amazing.  From the shared photos, it did appear to be warmer and less windy in Cumbria, which is unusual for our part of the country.

As we completed our 38 mile day out in Cumbria with a leisurely return across the Lyth Valley for afternoon tea at Levens Hall, John and Anne were doing something similar, cycling back on a flat route along the lanes to Stakepool and across Pilling Moss. They returned to Great Eccleston by crossing the River Wyre at the Cartford Bridge and arrived back at the start for an ice cream in the sunshine after an enjoyable 35 miles.

We have had some long Zoom discussions on how best to restart our monthly rides within the current guidelines, and these ‘mini-group’ rides appear to be the answer for the time being.

Stephen and Jeanette Webb/ John and Anne Hall