I started off from the Commadore Inn on a gray overcast day. Todays route to Lancaster is mostly flat with less than 2000ft of ascent. It starts by heading north east to cross the river Kent at Levens before heading south to Milnthorpe on quiet roads.
From Milnthorpe the route follows the banks of the river to Arnside where I stopped for a drink.
Arnside
From Arnside the route swings inland around Arnside Knott before rejoining the coast just before Silverdale. The cloud lifted and the temperature warmed as the route headed south just inland of the coast.
The route rejoined the coast just before Morecambe
Morecambe sea front
From Morecambe the route follows a cycle path by the canal all the way into to Lancaster – a really pleasant route… In Lancaster I had time for a quick pint at the station before getting the train back to Maryport. In summary the Bay Cycleway is a great route that I’ll be doing again sometime…
I awoke early to gray skies. It didn’t look the best day for cycling but I was looking forward to it. The Spoons breakfast was good and served by friendly staff. I was on the road before 8:30am
I started from Walney bridge where the route leads through the streets of Barrow & past the BAE buildings before heading over a bridge past the Devonshire Dock. I have to say they’ve really tried to make this route safe – see the coned cycle lane below past the BAE works.
Wide segregated cycle lane – good but not quite up to French or Dutch standards yet
The BAE buildings…
Then over Devonshire Dock bridge
Now it was shortly after this I got stopped by two Police who wanted to know who I was, what I was doing and why I was taking photos. Apparently this is where one of our nuclear subs are housed so they were checking me out.
Thankfully I’d not been arrested I then headed out past Buccleuch and Cavendish docks on traffic free tracks. The route then heads south past the Morcombe gas terminal towards Roa Island. I have to say its a great little route out of Barrow – again they’ve tried to make it nice.
Cycleway out past Cavendish Dock. Still a gray day.
Wreck on the way to Roa Island
The route then headed north towards Ulverston where it started to drizzle. I stopped for the usual tourist photo.
Laurel & Hardy… Stan Laurel was born in Ulverston in 1890
Strangly enough there are quite a few famous people from Ulverston. The Ulverston Wikipedia page lists 14 famous people. I didn’t realise that Christine McVie from Fleetwood Mac was born there !
From Ulverston the route left on quiet undulating roads over to Greenodd where I crossed the estuary.
From Greenodd quiet roads again towards Cartmel.
Before Cartmel there’s a climb up to Bigland Hall. We need to talk about this climb because it’s a big one that goes on for about a mile. I got up OK but at 10% gradient if I’d got kids it would have been a different story.
Low Wood to Bigland Hall – avoid this section if you don’t like climbing…Cartmel race course…
I stopped in Cartmel for a break. I was hoping for a cool drink & a large portion of the famous Cartmel Sticky Toffee pudding. Sadly nowhere had it on the menu ☹️
The Cartmel entry in Wikipedia says…
“More recently Cartmel has emerged as a foodie destination. Cartmel sticky toffee pudding was first sold at the village shop in 1984[11] and grew in popularity: it is now sold in supermarkets around the UK. The Cartmel Sticky Toffee Company, who make it, moved to a larger factory in nearby Flookburgh in the 2000s but still operate[clarification needed] and sell from the village shop in Cartmel.[12] In 2002, chef Simon Rogan opened L’Enclume restaurant in the village. The restaurant quickly became one of the UK’s most popular, and held top spot as the UK’s best restaurant in The Good Food Guide from 2014-2017, returning to the top in 2020.[13] In 2022 it became the first restaurant in the UK outside London and the South-East to gain 3 Michelin stars.“
From Cartmel the route goes via Flookburgh on quiet roads to Grange over Sands.
I woke on saturday morning to sunshine. Pity my head didn’t feel as clear as the skies. I’d started the bike club friday social ride with good intensions – I’d set a three pint limit for the evening. Sadly my halo slipped slightly but only by two !
The first part of my trip is a short cycle from Cockers to Maryport station. There’s no photos or video for this section because my hazy head made me late setting off for the train. It was a sprint to Maryport station – sadly the train won & I had to wait an hour for the next one. The worst of it was that I thought I’d made it only to realise my thinking was an hour out – doh…
That gave me time to buy some water – first thing I’ve forgotten. I cycled to the local garage for the water where I realised I’ve no lock – second thing I’ve forgotten.
Maryport station isnt too bad – they’ve tried to tart it up with a state of the art touch screen ticket machine and quite a few information boards on the Romans who had a settlement in Scaryport. Pity there are no toilets…
One of many information boards at Maryport station
Now my dislike of UK trains is well known but i have to say this journey was stress free with lovely views
From Barrow station I headed out to Walney island for a ride to the southern nature reserve and soon found this.
Start of the Bay Cycle Way…
I had a quick trip down to the south of the island – flat easy riding, especially with the wind behind you !
Ride down Walney to the nature reserve
View from Walney Island.
Sadly, there are “no cycling” signs on the entrance to the nature reserve so I turned round at that point. Walney’s nice though so I think we’ll come back in the van for a night at the Queens Arms and a walk through the nature reserve.
I’d booked into the Weatherspoon’s for the night. Normally I avoid Spoons because of the owners politics and attitude to staff but Sarah had recommended it. I have to stay the staff were friendly, the room spotless. Best of all there was no objection to me taking my bike to the room 🙂
Another recommendation was the Dhaba Indian restaurant which is just round the corner from Spoons. It was a good recommendation…
Dhaba Indian Restaurant – well worth a visit
After a good feed and a couple of beers I headed to bed for an early night…
The Bay Cycle Way looks a great short tour that’s right on our doorstep. Sarah did it with a friend in June 2022 and thought it was great. I’m now planning to do it.
Sarah did it with the Sustrans map – I prefer digital mapping. I downloaded the map from www.Waymarked Trails.org as a KML file.
This is a test of embedding a Google map of the route into this blog. I created a new map in Google Maps and imported the KML file. I copied the link into WordPress below…
