Lancaster and South Lakes 2 February ride to Ingleton.

9 participants assembled at Millennium Bridge for Thursday’s ride to Ingleton, 2 of whom on hearing the route included Sunnybank decided to be non participants and took the direct route to Bridge House at Wray for coffee. The remaining 7, including John who was joining the ride for the first time set off. Welcome John! We headed off towards Halton along the river, but took the left turn onto Kellet Lane to Nether Kellet. Brian joined us there for his first ride with the CTC since his recent illness. Welcome back Brian! We continued along the road passing through Over Kellet and took the option towards Capernwray. Through Capernwray we arrived at the T-junction near the church and turned right up the hill towards Sunnybank. My thinking here was as the distance between coffee stop and lunch stop was only 10 miles or so, we should make the ride to the coffee stop as long and exciting as possible, hence Sunnybank! We paused at the top of Sunnybank to reassemble and things began to go a little awry then as a couple of participants decided to wait for someone who was actually one of those who had gone to Wray the short way. So, in the end, we all reconvened in Gressingham having arrived there a number of different routes. We kept together the rest of the way through Hornby and onto Wray, where we met up with 5 others, including the 2 who had travelled the direct route. A pleasant time was had at Wray, refreshments were excellent and the company was great! All good things come to an end and it was time to set off towards Ingleton, luckily, with the wind more or less in our favour. 8 of us headed out of Wray, the back way towards Bentham. We took the left turn up Russell’s Lane, avoiding the steep hill toward Long Lane. A right turn and a left turn took us to Low Bentham and we climbed up through High Bentham and took the left turn onto Windy Hill. We soon arrived in Ingleton and made our way to the cafe in Inglesport. When 8 of us walked in together, the poor young lady in charge said she was on her own and food may take a while. We were happy to wait and we all managed to sit round one table and put the world to rights. The food and drinks soon arrived and the young lady was congratulated on her efficiency. Whilst we dined, unfortunately, the rain arrived and stayed with us most of the way home, and the wind also blew against us. We took the route out of Ingleton to Ravensclose, Wennington and back to Wray, where we stopped to say goodbye as people would now drop off and make their own way home. The majority kept to the main road as far as Caton and took the turn off over ‘Crook of Lune’ towards Halton where the remaining 4 split into 2 groups and onto home. A good day in excellent company, 45 miles and 3500 ft of ascent for me! Neil Westwell.

Anyone who is interested in joining us can find information about our regular club rides on Thursdays and Sundays on our website:  www.ctclancaster.org.uk.