Ride to Sizergh Castle via Beetham, Sunday 2nd December 2018

Four riders set off from Beaumont in the light rain which continued all day. They picked up Patience at Bolton le Sands, and Brian somewhere along the A6.  At least, he was with us when we turned off at Cragg Bank.

We continued drippingly round the estuary to Warton and thence under the early winter woodlands through the Yealands, Only the odd dog walker (with dog) was greeted by us as we turned the cranks over the hill and on to Hale crossroads. The single track road was awash, and some parts submerged, but the drainage improved as we turned onto the main road and thence to Beetham Garden Centre via the back road.

Here we were joined by Miles and Sandra as we proceeded to drip onto their chairs and floor amidst the hordes of sensible car-borne customers. It was decided in the soggy circumstances to go direct to Sizergh, via Hincaster. Surprisingly, by this time we still had 5 recruits, and the café was quiet, not being able to compete with the Christmas shopping Malls.

Aiming for an early conclusion, and realising that the forecast dryness was not going to come to pass, we remounted and pedalled over the hill to Levens, (2 riders opting to dice with death on the A590..). A headwind added to the challenge of the return on the usual route over the Moss at Heversham, onto Storth and Silverdale, eschewing tea at Leighton Moss in favour of shedding wet clothes and the comfort of hot showers and hot chocolate.

Len and Patience.