Lancashire and Cumbria Group – September Ride from Great Eccleston

On a warm September morning we gathered in Great Eccleston Square for our Tandem Club ride.  It was good to welcome four members who had not previously experienced the planned ride.

Five tandems and a solo set off to our coffee stop at Light Ash Cafe, Myerscough, just half an hour’s ride away.  After coffee and chat we crossed the A6 at Bilsborrow, through Claughton-on-Brock towards Bleasedale.  We turned left up the fells followed by a fast descent down to Oakenclough, then a climb up to the Grizedale and Barnacre reservoirs, from which water is supplied to Blackpool and the Fylde.

The panoramic view across to the coast was not so clear as the storm clouds were gathering our way.  We then ascended Harrisend Fell, followed by a long descent into Scorton village for lunch.

After lunch we re-grouped at Daisy Clough Cafe for tea/coffee and cakes, just in the nick of time to shelter from a heavy downpour.  After the storm had passed over, we set off on a relatively flat route to Stakepool.  Then back on the roads crossing Pilling moss, to cross the Cartford toll bridge over the river Wyre and back to Great Eccleston.

A good day was had by all, who were so lucky to have kept dry.

Anne and John Hall

South Lakes and North Lancs Annual Treasure Hunt Tandem club ride. Theme – pirates, why? Because they aargh!

What a wet and windy summer we have had here in the Lake District! It was with some trepidation that four tandems set out from Kendal Leisure centre. The forecast had been dreadful earlier in the week but we held our nerve and went ahead with the ride. We dodged a couple of deluges at the start of our treasure hunt, had a couple of showers en route but largely we missed the rain and ended in sunshine for prize giving at Wilfs café in Staveley.

Setting off along the route of the old canal, we crossed the river Kent on the new bridge by Gooseholme park. Who knew that the market place in Kendal was formerly called Cheapside and Mercer Lane and received its charter in 1189? Well we all did by the end of the day. There used to be a dungeon called ‘the black hole’ for wrong doers and Todd drew a map of Kendal in 1787.

Heading north out of Kendal, we crossed the river Sprint and rode up the beautiful and quiet valley of Longsleddale. It feels remote and the scenery is stunning as hills and vale reveal themselves. The literal translation from old English is ‘long valley valley’ – and long it is with 6 miles to the start of the gravel track over to Hawes water on the Gatescarth Pass. We retraced our steps to the church and our intrepid pirates searched for answers whilst we ate our sandwiches. Rough Fell and Swaledale sheep graze in these parts and whilst there wasn’t much sun to tell the time on the sundial war memorial, we all had a different number for ‘How many Agnes are there buried in the churchyard?’ The church was set up for ‘Champing’ with camp beds, torches and blankets for a quiet and possibly slightly spooky nights sleep. A quick google revealed it as one of only 2 churches in Cumbria that you can ‘champ’ overnight and its not cheap but what a valley! Old farms, bank barns, curious signposts and a quirky castle style garage, scribed with the signs of the zodiac mystified our intrepid pirate treasure hunters until all was revealed. Somewhere along the route we lost our paper parrot and some bits of bedraggled, waterlogged bunting. Our victorious winners Steve and Jeanette were awarded with this year’s trophy and praise for best dressed bike.

Returning to Kendal and crossing our 3^rd river of the day the Mint we had covered 33 miles. It wasn’t quite the summer picnic we had planned but we were dry by the time we got back to the car park.

Keep your diary clear for next year’s treasure hunt ride!

Tish and Jasper

Levens Hall, Grange over Sands and Cartmel

Starting at Kendal Leisure Centre, six tandems and one solo left the start, to head for elevenses at Levens Hall café, around seven miles away.  They serve some delicious cakes which we enjoyed.  If we had more time, the Hall and gardens would be well worth a visit.  The house is the home of the Bagot family who have lived there for over four hundred years.  It has a topiary garden, which is made up of bushes and hedges cut into unusual shapes.

Here, another solo rider had ridden from Barrow in Furness, to meet us, a distance of over thirty miles.  From Levens, we headed west towards Grange over Sands.  This is a flat section of the ride for a change, with good views of Whitbarrow Scar, which is always a spectacular sight.  We enjoyed quiet lanes through Meathop and then climbed through Grange to arrive at Flookburgh for lunch at Brook Supplies Café, which is situated in a garden centre.  We met two more riders who had come to meet us from near Ulverston.

The route home took us to Cartmel village.  The road from Cark to Cartmel, is a pretty one, running through this delightful valley.  Here we had a short break to look at the priory, where we received free sticky toffee pudding and ice cream, which was very welcome, as it was getting quite warm by this time.  It was “Ice Cream Sunday” at the priory.  Cartmel is a most interesting old village.  It has a racecourse, and, if you like fine dining, it is the home to L’enclume restaurant run by Simon Rogan.

Sadly, we had to move on, and the road home climbed steadily through Field Broughton to Lindale, where we enjoyed a fast descent.  We retraced the lanes through Meathop from the morning ride. The riders were offered a refreshment stop at Gilpin Bridge, but this was declined.  In hindsight, this was just as well, as it started to rain soon after reaching Kendal, around 4.30pm. 41 happy miles!

Paul Rodman

Lancashire and Cumbria group – June Ride: A Visit to North Cumbria

After 4 weeks of dry weather, we were keeping our fingers crossed that the threatened storms forecast for the west of the country didn’t materialise on our first visit to the north of our region for 12 months.  We needn’t have worried as we were rewarded with warm and sunny weather, after a bit of a gloomy start.

We had four tandems and a couple of solos on our ride this month.  We welcomed back John, from the Southern Scotland Group, this time on his solo, as we adjoin his group geographically.

We set off from Greystoke, initially following the Lakes and Dales Cycle Loop (LDL), a 196 mile loop of Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales.  Their web site is worth checking out with 6 tour options to choose from, from the ultimate 24-hour challenge to a more leisurely 6 day tour (https://www.lakesdalesloop.co.uk/).  We ‘dipped in and out’ of the LDL as far as our coffee stop at The Watermill in Caldbeck.  The lanes we cycled along were generally traffic free and this initial section gave us spectacular views across to Blencathra to the west of us as we skirted Greystoke Forest.

We finally left the LDL: at Caldbeck, heading north, (up the hill!) out of the village towards Priests Howe.  It was here we stopped for a much needed breather to look across the Solway coast into Southern Scotland, an area our group had only visited in May for our weekend away.  We were rewarded with some glorious descents as we made our way north to Dalston.  Some of the group picnicked in the village, while others popped to the local garden centre.

It was pointed out to me (no names being mentioned) that Greystoke is close to 700 feet above sea level, and Dalston is less than 150 feet above sea level, which meant an uphill afternoon ride.  In the heat!  However, the gradients were kinder in the afternoon as we followed NCN Route 7, which runs between Sunderland and Inverness on its 540 miles length (https://www.sustrans.org.uk/find-a-route-on-the-national-cycle-network/route-7).  Generally I find that if we follow a Sustrans route it is a) suitable for tandems, and b) it follows quiet lanes.  It was getting warm by this stage of the afternoon so we departed from NCN Route 7 just before Unthank to visit the Upfront Gallery and Tea Room.  An oasis in the team’s view, even though we had only 4 miles from there back to Greystoke.

After the refreshment stop, we cycled leisurely back to the start after a war, but very enjoyable 42 miles in north Cumbria.

Stephen and Jeanette Webb

Our November ride was very well attended, considering the riders didn’t know where we were going, what the route would be like, and how far we would go! In fact, 20 riders turned up, 9 tandems and 2 solos at Kendal Leisure Centre, on this sunny and mild Sunday morning.

At this point, I would also add that many of our riders are travelling considerable distances to attend the rides, so thank you for your support, especially if you are in this category.

From Kendal town centre, we climbed over Scout Scar towards Brigsteer, stopping at Helsington, to observe the view of the Lyth valley.  The drop down into Brigsteer is a steep one, better done this way round, in my humble opinion! From here, we headed south to Levens, for elevenses at Levens Hall restaurant, for drinks and welcome cakes.  Levens Hall is the home of the Bagot family.

The route then took us through Arnside, always a lovely piece of road, with views over Morecambe Bay, before arriving at the lunch stop at Leighton Moss café, operated by the RSPB.  This is near Silverdale.  The sun enhanced the changing autumn colours, yellows, orange and browns on our return route of quiet lanes, heading north, towards our starting place at Kendal. It was on the very same lanes, while on our tandem, that my wife and I witnessed a Dutch HGV get totally stuck, while trying to deliver flowers to a local garden centre.  We really felt for the driver, who damaged his truck trying to free it, which took a considerable time and a lot of stress.

Well, back to today’s ride, we all arrived back at the start at around 3.30pm, which is late enough this time of year, now the clocks have been turned back, having completed 31 enjoyable miles.

Paul Rodman

An autumnal ride, led by David and Caroline, took in Scorton, Abbeystead and the climb (via the easier route!) up to Jubilee Tower for spectacular vies of the Central Fell, The Bay and the Isle of Man.  Great day ot.

Lancashire and Cumbria Group – September Treasure Hunt organised by Tish and Jasper

And the … Winner of the Treasure Hunt 2022 for the Lancashire and Cumbria Tandem club ride is….

I randomly met Steve (our RO) on a bus some years ago whilst attending the Westmorland show.  The traffic was bad coming away from the show and so we got to chatting for about an hour.  We quickly discovered a common interest of the Tandem club and Steve was interested to hear about a ride we had recently done with our club at the time in Surrey and Sussex, the annual treasure hunt ride.  A tradition which I believe was started by the late, great, Neville Frost.  Steve said to me, “if you ever move up to Cumbria, will you do one for us?” Well today was that day!

The route was 35 miles in total, leaving Kendal and heading for Sizergh Castle for coffee.  Weaving our way steeply to The Helm, 4 tandems and a solo set off with 25 observational questions and a list of things to collect along the way.  The day was perfect with glimpses of sunshine, long views into the Yorkshire Dales and the distant Cumbrian fells.  We had styled the hunt as a pirate treas-argh!! hunt.  We asked for best dressed bike, which was won by Steve and Jeanette with a Jolly Roger flag and stickers.  Taking note of the names of pubs, churches, headstones and dates along the way, collecting feathers and heather and rings and stings!  We finished our quest at the end of the beautiful Kentmere Valley.  Back in Kendal with tea and cake at pirate HQ, we awarded points and the triumphant victors; Andy, Christine and Will left with the trophy on the long and arduous trip back towards Preston – well, the M6 was shut wasn’t it!!

It was great fun and we look forward to next year’s treasure hunt.  Thanks Neville, you welcomed us so warmly into the family that is The Tandem club all those years ago and we’ve not looked back since.

Tish

Lancashire and Cumbria Group – The Scottish Borders Weekend September 2022.

It is a few years since we have had a group weekend away on our rides programme and I must admit, I wasn’t too sure what the support would be for a weekend away in the Scottish Borders.  Well, I needn’t have worried.  With 11 tandems and one solo we made quite a sight in Kelso where we set off for our rides on each of the 3 days we were there.

What was particularly encouraging was the fact that we attracted members from other groups – Andy and Shena travelled down from the North Scotland Group, Ted and Ann came across from Humberside and Tim joined us from the North East Group.  So coupled with the 9 tandems from Lancashire and Cumbria we were quite a large group.  Tandeming for us is all about enjoying the countryside and riding with friends – and making new friendships too.

We set ourselves the goal of riding to the 4 Abbeys of Kelso, Melrose, Dryburgh and Jedburgh over the course of the weekend.

We started all of our three rides from the Bull Ring in the cobbled centre of Kelso, where farmers used to tether bulls on market days.  It’s a perfect meeting place as it is a traffic free square and an ideal place for meeting up.  We met for our first ride in glorious autumn sunshine and set off along quiet lanes to Harestanes Visitor Centre for our mid-morning coffee stop, where we sat outside in the sunshine (have I mentioned the sunshine before?) and refuelled.  The lanes in the border country are gently undulating, but very quiet and even though we were a large group, we could easily cycle side by side without impeding traffic (of which there was very little).  From Harestanes it was on to Melrose for a lunch stop.  Melrose has cafes, picnic areas, bakeries etc, so there was something for all tastes and the hour soon passed before we embarked on the next leg to Dryburgh Abbey.  The return to Kelso via Dryburgh from Melrose was along the ‘Coasts and Castles’ route, NCN Route 1, and again along very quiet lanes through picturesque countryside.  We arrived back in Kelso, just as we had started the day, in the sunshine!

I must give special mention and a big thanks to Amanda who booked an evening meal for the group at the Cross Keys Hotel in Kelso on the Friday evening.  And what a great occasion it was too.  A chance to chat about the ride and get to know everyone a bit better – plus the chance for a beer or a glass of wine!

We headed east the following day towards Coldstream, south of the Tweed up to Hadden then down to Cornhill-on-Tweed where we crossed the river into Coldstream (and back into Scotland which we’d left during the morning) and headed into Hirsel Country Park for a well-deserved lunch stop at the excellent Homestead Café and Farm Shop.  Hirsel is a large country park with a number of way marked walks around the estate.  We had a Plan A and a Plan B in place at Hirsel.  Plan A was the 18 mile return via Hume Castle to Kelso while Plan B was a longer stop at Hirsel to explore the estate before returning via a 12 mile route (NCN Route 1) to Kelso.  This was perfect, as it allowed members of the group some flexibility in how they wanted to spend their day.  We led the ‘Plan A’ group on (or should I say ‘up’) to Hume Castle while Michael guided the ‘Plan B’ group back to Kelso after their walk.

We had 3 rides planned for the weekend on consecutive days, and the idea behind that was to allow couples to dip in and dip out of the rides to suit their own personal circumstances.  A few couples had to head home on the Sunday, but we still had a creditable 7 tandems out on the ride to Jedburgh Abbey, our third and final destination of the weekend.  And again, it was along more quiet lanes, with stunning scenery and yes, more sunshine to end the day back in Kelso.  A great weekend of cycling.

A few of us remained in Kelso on the Monday to watch the Tour of Britain flash past us on the cobbles in the centre of the town, a lot faster than we had ridden them on the previous three days, before heading home.  So all in all, we can consider the weekend a big success – fresh air, exercise, beautiful countryside, lots of laughs, fun, sunshine, cakes and the odd beer.  Perfect.

Seven Tandems and two solos set out from Askham village car park to complete the "Penrith Orbital", a ride invented by Yours Truly to encircle Penrith without actually going there.

From Askham an uphill start was made over the Celleron road and down to Pooley Bridge where the café for elevenses was seen to have a 50 yard queue.  200 yards further on the Ullswater Steamer Pier was found to serve the much needed coffee and its seating area provided us with an idyllic view of Ullswater.  Alongside the lake then up, and up, with plenty of drink stops over the hills to cross the busy A66 then downhill at last to, and straight through, the pretty village of Greystoke.

Cycling on through Blencow on easier roads to the oddly named Unthank and on to the Pot Place at Plumpton for lunch at noon.  We were treated to yet another hill as we cycled via Salkeld Dykes, then a brief walk with our bikes over Langwathby Bridge which is closed to motor traffic for repairs.  Incidentally this bridge is in the Guinness Book of Records for being the world’s oldest temporary bridge, built 1968. 

An unscheduled stop at Langwathby shop was made for more liquid refreshment then up the hottest hill of the day (full sun and 29°C) to Culgaith and on, almost, to Temple Sowerby.  After passing under the new A66 Temple Sowerby bypass a beast of a hill, thankfully mostly under the shade of trees, took us over to Cliburn (another drink stop - I did warn it was hilly!) and on to the ice cream shop/café at Melkinthorpe where their products were devoured with more gusto than good manners!  On through Lowther Estate, down to the River Lowther and up the last hill to Askham car park.

40 hot miles completed; here’s to the next ride!

Peter Koch-Osborne

Sunday's ride departed from Clitheroe.

The ride headed north through Bashall Eaves before turning right to Waddington, through West Bradford, Grindleton and towards Bolton By Bowland. We had our coffee stop at the excellent (very popular amongst cyclists) at The Garden Kitchen garden centre after 12 miles.  The food and drink here is served from a shepherds hut and is in paper cups / plates.  Seating is available both indoors and outside.

From Holden we doubled back on ourselves for a couple of hundred meters before once again heading north over the fell to Salidburn.  Absolutely stunning views from this stretch of the Lancashire Cycleway.  From there we head west to Newton for our lunch stop at Dunsop Bridge after 22 miles where we met Matt.  Post-lunch we returned to Clitheroe via the edge of Longridge Fell - in total around 34 miles and 2400' of climbing.  Beautiful weather, stunning views and great fun!

Kirkby Lonsdale and the Arnside and Silverdale AONB from Carnforth - June 2022

The June ride of the Lancashire and Cumbria Group started from Carnforth and part of the afternoon stretch of the ride was in the Arnside and Silverdale AONB.  We were soon to learn the true definition of AONB - Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Our group today consisted of 11 couples on tandems and one solo. It was great to get such a good turn out and also to welcome new members to the group.

The first leg of our ride took us through the villages of Borwick, Newton and Whittington through beautiful countryside to Kirkby Lonsdale. We hadn’t lost any tandems - yet - and we safely arrived at Carterton Golf Club for our coffee stop. Casterton Golf Club welcome cyclists and if you are in the area then it is a good place to stop with good food and excellent service. 

It was getting on for midday by the time we left Casterton (where had the time gone?) on the second leg of our journey to Leighton Moss. This part of the ride took us through Hutton Roof village and I suppose the clue to the type of terrain is in the name of the village (i.e. Roof!). It was here that I managed to, let’s say, misplace 8 tandems and our group was down to 3 tandems and a solo! Fortunately, after a quick phone call to Helen and Mike, they led the errant riders back to safely meet us in the Hutton Roof village.

The lanes to Clawthorpe from Hutton Roof are narrow and quiet, but it can be a popular spot for walkers heading up onto Farleton Fell so care was needed on the descent.  Dropping in Clawthorpe provides extensive views across Morecambe Bay and the Bay was ‘lit up’ by the sun which had made a reappearance after a brief shower.  We had our lunch at Leighton Moss, the RSPB bird reserve, sitting outside in the sunshine and enjoying a well earned rest.

This area of Lancashire is limestone country and is well deserved of the AONB description. It is an extraordinary place famous for its amazing wildlife, stunning scenery, and superb walks. Stunning limestone pavements, ancient woodlands, intimate orchards and meadows and an impressive coastline make it one of England's finest landscapes - and we were there cycling through it!

Suitably refreshed we headed to the coast and Arnside, for an ice cream - and why not? Then it was upwards and onwards (and downwards and upwards again) to Silverdale and back to Carnforth where I counted, double counted and counted again the tandems. Phew, all back safely. This was a great day out, lots of laughs, superb fun, brilliant company, fantastic scenery, great coffee, cakes, ice cream plus plenty of exercise. All the ingredients of what we have come to expect on our monthly rides.

Another superb monthly ride led by Anne and John.  Taking in a few hills on the outskirts of the Forest of Bowland with extensive views across the Lancashire plain to the coast, Morecambe Bay and the Lake District fells, before a leisurely ride back on the Fylde to Great Eccleston.

24 members gathered for our Festive Lunch at the Crooklands Hotel in December.  As with all groups, we’ve had a difficult couple of years.  From having no rides, to restricted numbers on rides, socially distanced rides, and virtual group rides, we have managed to ‘keep going’.   Sunday was a chance to reflect on what we have managed to achieve in difficult circumstance, look ahead to 2022 with optimism and simply to enjoy ourselves, which we certainly did.

The threat of the emerging Omicron virus almost scuppered our plans at one point, but thankfully everything went ahead without incident.  The staff at Crooklands were again amazing and made us very welcome.

Our group has had a successful year with over 40 members taking part in our activities.  We’ve also welcomed new members into the group too, and we’ve a lot to look forward to in 2022.  The 2022 Rides Programme is almost finalised and we are planning to fill in the missing details on our January ride starting in Hornby.

Keep an eye on the ‘What’s On’ page on the website for details of upcoming rides.

Stephen and Jeanette Webb

Lancashire and Cumbria Group – November Ride to Grange Over Sands

On a bright and sunny November morning 9 tandems and 3 solo riders met at Beetham Nurseries for a ride to catch the last of the autumn colours to Grange Over Sands. We gathered  in the excellent Garden Cafe for refreshments before even putting a foot on a pedal! A great start.

This ride was shorter and a flatter than many of our rides but didn’t lack anything in the scenery and colours on display in the surrounding countryside. We welcomed two new couples along to our group too on what was our last full day ride of the year.

Our route took us around ‘The Bay’ through Dallam Park, Levens, Witherslack, and Meathrop into Grange Over Sands. The pace was easy going and along quiet roads and allowed us to chat and we soaked up the surprisingly warm November sunshine. The sunshine simply illuminated the autumn colours, showing them at their best.  It won’t be long before we lose the leaves that are left so this was really our ‘last chance’!

On the stretch to Grange we ‘collected’ another solo rider from our group who had ridden out from Barrow to meet us bringing the total numbers of riders out from our group to 22 which is an excellent turn out for November. We split up in Grange at lunch time as we thought that a café may struggle with such a large group of hungry riders landing all at once!

We took a slightly different and a bit hillier route back to the Nurseries, exploring the Winster Valley and returning via Heversham. A few couples peeled off on the way back and a smaller group arrived in Beetham in time to finish the day with a bit of Christmas shopping.

Another superb group ride with great company. A special mention must go to Beetham Nurseries for allowing us to start our monthly ride from there and being so accommodating.

Stephen and Jeanette Web

October Ride to Sunderland Point and Morecambe

We had recced this particular ride a few weeks ago and the one thing we learnt from the recce was that we would have to cycle the planned route in reverse if we wanted to avoid getting trapped by the rising tide at Sunderland Point.  And that’s just what we did.  The only disadvantage to that is the hills were saved until the end of the ride!

The weather was perfect for cycling as the 3 tandems, one solo and a recumbent set off from the car park adjacent to Junction 34 of the M6 and headed along traffic free cycle paths through Lancaster and across the Lune via the Millennium Bridge towards Heysham.  Numbers were down from usual as many members were away on holiday.  Well, they certainly missed a treat this month.  The cycling was gentle as we headed across the causeway to Sunderland Point which provided us with extensive views across the estuary to the Bowland Fells.  We could even see the Yorkshire peak of Ingleborough popping its summit above the skyline.

We retraced our route back to Overton and took the lane into Heysham, stopping for a well-deserved coffee at Tracy’s.  Then it was onto the prom towards Morecambe.  We passed the start of The Way of The Roses, and even Eric and Ernie on our way to Hest Bank, where we started the first bit of climbing of the day up to Nether Kellet.  The climb was well worth it with superb views over to Warton Crag and across ‘The Bay’.  We stopped at the top of the climb to discuss our plans for lunch as we were running a bit later than planned, partly due to the many stops for photo opportunities and partly, a big part in fact, due to going quite slowly along the prom.  It is a shared cycleway, so no traffic thankfully, but you need to take care with pedestrians and dogs! 

We opted for a picnic lunch in Carnforth, sitting outside enjoying the warm autumn sunshine.  Was it really October?  After lunch we headed through Warton to Yealand Redmayne before circling back south through Priest Hutton and Borwick.  We only had one more climb up to Over Kellet before a long descent to Halton where we picked up the Lune Cycleway back to the start.  40 glorious miles in a lovely part of the country with wall to wall sunshine.  A big thanks to Matt for the action photos from his on-board video cameras.

Five Tandems and a single bike left Padiham leisure centre to start our ride around Burnley and district.  We climbed out of Padiham and cycled along some nice quiet roads behind the villages of Simonstone and Read before climbing up back lane through Blackhill Wood to take in the views at the car park at the top of the hill.  (This car park is equipped with a defibrillator although luckily none of our party needed to use it!).  We then descended to Sabden, before heading down past the old Roman road to join the A680 and our coffee stop at the Café by the River.  Our route then took us along quiet lanes to the Padiham Greenway and back past our starting point.  At the top of the greenway, we briefly joined the Leeds Liverpool canal, before making our way around Burnley centre to join the Brun Valley Greenway which took us past Rowley Lake, before the descent down to Towneley Hall for lunch.

The hall was the home of the Towneley family from around 1200.  The family once owned extensive estates in and around Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire.  The male line of the family died out in 1878 and in 1901 one of the daughters, Lady O'Hagan, sold the house together with 62 acres of land to Burnley Corporation.  The family departed in March 1902.

After lunch we headed back through the town passing Turf Moor the home of Burnley football club. We then re-joined the canal at Thompson’s Park and travelled along the straight mile an unusual stretch of canal elevated 60 meters above the town on a purpose-built embankment constructed in 1796.  It is known as one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the British Waterways’, as it bypasses the curves and twists of the hilly landscape, and the need for multiple towpath locks to navigate the ups and downs.  It gave us some fantastic views down either side of its slopes as we cycled alongside its tranquil body of water.  This then took us through the Weavers triangle.  In the 1700s, Burnley was a centre of the wool industry. It switched to cotton in the first half of the 1800s.  The second half of the 19th century saw Burnley develop into the most important cotton-weaving town in the world.  As Burnley expanded, the area around the canal became known as the weavers' triangle, with many of the large mills situated in this area.  By 1911, the towns textile industry was at the height of its prosperity, there were approximately 99,000 power looms in operation, and its population had grown from 4,000 (1801) to over 100,000.  We then joined the Ightenhill Greenway for our ride back to Padiham leisure centre, approximately 33 miles.

Lancashire and Cumbria Group : A Ride in the Eden Valley from Crosby Ravensworth near Shap, August 2021 led by Paul and Jeannette

Seven riders turned up in the village, three tandems and one solo. This ride had been cancelled two weeks earlier due to a poor weather forecast.  This day the weather was bright and dry at the start with little wind.

Firstly, we visited the church yard of St Lawrence’s church where a young cyclist is buried, Thomas Henry Morris who died in 1929. I will enclose a link if readers are interested: https://www.cyclingnorthwales.co.uk/pages/1929_livrpl_trag.htm

Having paid our respects, we cycled on the pretty lanes to Larch View Nurseries at Melkinthorpe, a distance of around ten miles to our elevenses stop.  Here we enjoyed excellent cakes and tea and coffee.  This is a most interesting place to visit.  Link: La Casa Verde - Larch Cottage Nurseries

On the way to Melkinthorpe we saw a red squirrel dart across the road. Fortunately, it was fast enough to avoid us!

From here we skirted around Penrith, passing the impressive Brougham Castle on the River Eden.

The route took us north to Melmerby for lunch, passing through Edenhall and Langwathby.  We enjoyed lunch at the Old Village Bakery which is also recommended when cycling in this area.  We were fortunate when it started to rain we were undercover, at the bakery, as the showers were quite heavy at times.  The ride back to the start was more direct, through Temple Sowerby and Kings Meaburn.  We arrived back at 4.00pm after almost 40 enjoyable miles.

Paul and Jeannette Rodman

A superb ride from Scorton Picnic Site up and over 'The Trough' and down to Puddleducks at Dunsop Bridge for coffee. After coffee we had an undulating ride by the River Hodder towards Bashall Eaves then west to Chipping for our lunch stop in the sunshine outside the church. After that, we ambled back to Scorton for delicious ice cream at The Barn.  What a day!  44 miles - which just flew by :-) 

6 tandems + a few hills + coffee and scones = great time by all :-)

On a fine bright Spring morning there was a good turnout in the sleepy village square of Great Eccleston for our May ride. We set off through the village and the quiet country lanes towards St. Michael’s on Wyre and on to our coffee stop at the Light Ash Cafe, Myerscough. Fortunately the weather was fine, as it was outside service only.

From there we crossed the A6 at Bilsborrow and left the flat Fylde to climb gradually towards the Bleasedale Fells, admiring the beautiful bluebell woods along the way. We turned left uphill over Oakenclough fell and Harrisend fell, stopping on the top to admire the views across the coastal plain, spotting landmarks such as Blackpool Tower and Morecambe Bay.  This was followed by a fast descent down to our lunch stop in Scorton village

Great day out - 7 tandems, socially split into 3 groups, enjoyed a ride in glorious weather from Kendal to Levens Hall and Kentmere.

Lancashire and Cumbria region group members rides in February and March 2021

Lancashire and Cumbria Group's 'Virtual' Tandem Club Rides

With Lancashire in additional lockdown measures and the advice from Cumbria County Council to restrict  groups of 6 to two households, our monthly group rides have been put on hold for the time being.  However, within these constraints we’ve been managing to get out and about on our tandems, either on our own or as a mini group of two tandems.

John and Janice caught the late October autumnal colours in South Lakeland on one of their rides, visiting Cartmel and Bowland Bridge.  This area has quite a few steep climbs but the effort of climbing the hills always brings its own rewards with spectacular views of the central and southern fells to the north and Morecambe Bay to the south with the Bowland Fells beyond.  In fact, the day after Janice and John visited that area of South Cumbria, I completed a similar ride with Mike on our solos.  The wooded hillsides are simply stunning in October with the golden autumnal colours.

Jeanette and I met up with Paul and Jeannette in early October for a tandem ride down to Beetham and across to Arnside and bumped into Matt coming in the opposite direction on his trike.  We couldn’t have planned to meet up at our lunch spot even if we’d tried.  We’d only changed our route at the very last minute as Jeanette knew where we could find a couple of picnic benches.  Paul and Jeannette also spent a couple of days exploring the Eden Valley, another beautiful area and superb cycling country.

New members to the Lancashire and Cumbria Group, though not new to the Tandem Club, Emily and Geoff joined Jeanette and me on a ride in the Lyth Valley and over the fell along the ‘gated lane’ as everyone knows it by, over to Ings.  We’ve been this way many times this year and it became one of our favourite ‘lockdown’ rides.  Now that a few cafes are opening up along the route, we’ve been able to take the opportunity to stop and enjoy a coffee (and perhaps a slice of cake!) on our rides.

John and Anne have been mixing tandem rides with walks recently, and have visited north Cumbria and also Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire before Lancashire’s lockdown level was increased!

November looks like it is going to be another ‘Zoom’ month up here in the North West unless we can come up with a plan within the current government guidelines.  Let’s see!

In spite of the extra lockdown measure in our region, we've been getting out and about in small, or very small groups!

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

Well, the rides are back on.  We had four couples out today, Sunday 9th August.  We split into two groups of two, one starting from Great Eccleston and the other starting from Kendal.  Both groups had fantastic rides in the August sunshine.  It's a start, what's the proverb?  Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.  That's the one.  Let's hope our numbers start to increase now that we've restarted our rides.

More photos from our 'lockdown' rides

We've been out and about - on our own - during this lockdown period

Our group members have been going out on their own for rides. Here are a few photos :-)

LA & FY Tandem ride Sunday 08.03.20 Six Tandems, and two solos, turned up at Carnforth Station for our March ride. So far this year, bad weather has forced the cancellation of our February ride, so riders were eager to get out again. The other problem, like other parts of UK., has been flood water. Having left the station we took the marsh road to Cragbank, which fortunately wasn’t flooded. From here, we passed through the village of Bolton Le Sands, to Halton for elevenses at the Community Centre cafe. The Community Centre was busy with sports and a church service in progress. On leaving Halton, we crossed the River Lune, which was noticeably very full of water, to access the cycleway to Caton, where we returned to roads, climbing through Quernmore. This is a pretty valley, and yet only a couple miles from Lancaster city centre. Here sheep roam on green pasture, and you could be miles from anywhere. The route to the lunch stop took us through Galgate village to Ashton Hall garden centre. Here we met two more members of the club. We had planned to use the cycleway back into Lancaster, but this has been badly flooded, so we stayed on the lane through Aldcliffe, which is a pretty way into the town, alongside the Lancaster Canal. By now, we had little option but to pass through the centre of Lancaster, which fortunately wasn’t too busy. The Millennium Bridge is an easy and interesting way to cross the River Lune by bike. The city of Lancaster has some good cycleways. Finally, we headed through Nether Kellet back to Carnforth, around thirty enjoyable miles. We enjoyed a final stop at the station cafe, for tea and coffee, which is famous for the filming of the film “Brief Encounter”. We look forward to next month’s exciting episode! Paul Rodman

LA & FY Group Christmas Lunch December 2019 We had a great attendance at our Festive Lunch this year, held again at the Crooklands Hotel. A few members braved the blustery wet and windy Cumbrian weather for a short ride before settling down to a well deserved Christmas lunch. A superb venue, attentive staff and lovely food. It’s a tribute to the hard work of the outgoing Regional Officer, Paul Rodman, that we had 24 members in attendance. Our Group is very active with rides every month, and often members meet up to squeeze in rides of their own in-between! It was also lovely to welcome club members who hadn’t been able to ride with us this year to catch up on their news. Members who no longer ride with us often meet up at the coffee stops on our rides and attend the annual ‘runs meeting’ contributing ideas of their own. The Crooklands Hotel is an excellent venue and well worth a visit if you are in the area. If you live in the LA and FY postal code area, or even further afield, and would like a monthly ride with a friendly group of tandemers then please get in touch. Stephen Webb

This year's ride out of Appleby-in-Westmoreland saw 7 Tandems and one solo cyclist meet up at Appleby rail station. Unfortunately our leaders, John and Alison couldn't make the trip so the honour fell to John and Ann. I won't mention how many times the map came out but a successful day ensued including morning coffee at Culgaith, taking in the stone circle 'Long Meg' (including a free lecture by John), lunch at Melmerby green and village bakery where Geoff and Elma turned up for a social. We thoroughly enjoyed the Cumbrian countryside and luckily the rain held off for the majority of the 37 miles. Even when it did occur it was only fairly light so by the time we finished at Croft Ends Farm, we were quite dry. Thanks to Dave, Lynn, John and Ann for once again providing tea and biscuits which was most welcome.

Priest Hutton Club Ride, organised by Dave & Lynne Wilson, taking in Beetham Garden Centre for morning coffee, Grange over Sands for a picnic lunch and Priest Hutton for afternoon tea and cakes.

After a promising start (well it wasn't raining), 4 tandems and 2 solos set off for a jaunt around the south lakes between High Newton and Ulverston. After an early coffee stop at the motor museum in Backbarrow the rain started - and then it rained a lot more! The ride was duly shortened slightly and lunch was taken in Booths in Ulverston. The ride back took us through Greenod and over the river Leven for afternoon coffee and cakes at Holker Hall. During the final short ride back to High Newton it nearly stopped raining (but only nearly)!

Once again the ride started from Anne & John Hall's house in Blackpool, calling at Lytham for coffee and the Plough at Eaves for lunch before returning to Blackpool for well deserved tea and cakes. The weather Gods was not too unkind although it was the usual mixture of wind, a small amount of rain and even the sun made an occasional guest appearance between the clouds.

Leaving the Kendal Leisure centre we headed to Staveley for coffee at Wilf's café and a quick nose into Wheelbase for spares. This was followed by another short jaunt to Bowness-on-Windermere for an early lunch. By the afternoon the weather started to improve with the sun coming out while we made our way south east through the Lyth valley. At Levens we returned home to Kendal via Sizergh (omitting the tea stop!).