Barrow and Walney Island : 15 miles.

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…

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.

I had a quick trip down to the south of the island – flat easy riding, especially with the wind behind you !

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…

After a good feed and a couple of beers I headed to bed for an early night…