Ride to Fox's Pulpit via Beetham, Sunday 5th August 2018
/The outlook was fine with a hot afternoon in prospect , as ten CTC members set off on a ride to Fox’s Pulpit on Firbank Fell between Sedbergh and the M6.
The cyclists met up with five fellow members at Beetham Garden Centre café, before continuing with a slightly depleted group of eight to Ackenthwaite and Millness. The route from here made for the foothills to the west of the M6, via Gatebeck and Ewebank, before climbing steeply to a fine vantage point high above the motorway, looking down onto Killington Lake.
From here, our minor roads shadowed the M6. First to the west and then to the east, before leaving behind the hum of the traffic and turning right onto Firbank Fell. It was on the top of the Fell in 1652 that George Fox ministered to about 1,000 believers (thereafter known as Quakers ). The group enjoyed a picnic lunch from this elevated historic spiritual monument, with views south down the Lune Valley. Two visiting Quaker couples, from Connecticut and Limerick, brought the heritage of the Pulpit to life by telling of their recent visits to local Quaker Meeting Houses, on their ‘pilgrimage ‘ vacation.
Turning our wheels towards home, we gingerly descended the steep and winding fell road to the junction with the Sedbergh- Kendal highway, then followed familiar by-ways down the valley to Casterton, where another convivial break was taken at the Golf Club café. Reinvigorated by the teas and cakes, the final leg was completed via Whittington, Docker Park, Capernwray, and the Kellets.
A total of 56 reasonably hilly miles, with a destination highly appropriate for a Sunday ‘ awheel’.
Len Howard & Patience Cooper
Photographs by Ian Wood
