CTC Lancaster and South Lakes Ride Report – Thursday 3rd November 2022 Lancaster to Beetham and Oxenholme

 Wednesday’s strong winds had fortunately died down by the time Lancaster and South Lakes CTC cycling club members assembled at Millennium Bridge for the first Club ride of November.  Ride numbers have slowly returned to their healthy pre-Covid state and around 12 of us set off in the direction of Halton, some of the group choosing the cycle track alongside the river, and others taking the roads out of town and past the army camp.  Reassembling at the bottom of Arrow Lane in Halton we climbed up to the edge of Nether Kellett, then across to Over Kellett, Capernwray, Borwick, Priest Hutton and Burton in Kendal.

Turning left at Neddy Lane, we continued over the motorway to Holme, then in to Beetham Garden centre on the “back” road.  Other riders had made their way independently to the café where we tucked into tasty scones and cakes to fuel up for the next stage of the ride.

A slightly different group of 11 of us continued via Whassett, Ackenthwaite, Woodhouse and Viver in wonderful autumn conditions, enjoying this year’s exceptional display of autumn leaves.  We paused at Sellet Hall bridge over the Lancaster canal to inspect the newly reinstated furlong of canal, which has been dug-out, re-lined and filled with water.  It has still yet to be connected to the canal by the removal of the existing bund once all safety checks have been completed.

We cycled on to the little school at Crosscrake, where we turned right up to the A65, which we joined for around a mile before taking the more northerly of the two roads over the Helm to our lunch destination at Oxenholme Station Inn, which is actually well outside Oxenholme, but has long been on the list of lunchtime destinations for the club.  The pub was very quiet and the staff welcomed us with open arms, supplying hot and cold drinks and a limited choice of food.

Our onward route took us on the B6254 towards Old Hutton.  We turned right at Middleshaw and down a rather mucky lane past the riding stables at Holmescales.  The attractive scenery and scarcity of motorised traffic compensated for the mud as we cycled on through Gatebeck and Goose Green to the A65 near Crooklands.  Avoiding the busy traffic at the motorway roundabout we took the small lanes through Millness before joining the A 6070 to Holme.  From here we took the Moss lane towards Hale Moss, passing the Wildlife park, then taking the Yealands route back to Warton.  The two climbs into Yealand Storrs and in Yealand Conyers tested our fitness, before we joined the Crag Bank route around Carnforth, then back to our various homes in smaller groups.

This was our first Thursday ride since the clocks have gone back and so 50+ miles was plenty for the time of year.

More information about the club and our programme of rides is available on our website. We welcome new riders. Patience Cooper

www.ctclancaster.org.uk