Ride from Millennium Bridge to Arnside via Wallings Cafe, Thursday 7th February 2019

Extremely unpromising weather greeted us as we assembled at Millennium Bridge for Neil’s ride to Arnside. As the 8 of us started the ride, it became increasingly obvious that we were going to battle against both wind and rain for the first leg of the ride which included Lancaster Quay, the cycle path to Aldcliffe, where Ian joined us, and onto Stodday, before taking Tarnwater Lane to Galgate. Stoney Lane, Chipping Road and Long Lane took us to Scorton where we passed the first roadside cafe with envy, having already informed Wallings that we were going there for coffee. Passing two more cafes we travelled along Cabus Nook Lane and onto Park Lane arriving at Wallings around 11am ,where we enjoyed our coffee and cakes and indulged thankfully in a substantial drying process.

Leaving Wallings we were grateful to see the rain had stopped, and was that a hint of sunshine peeping through the cloud? We took the turn onto Cockerham Road and made our way along to Whams Lane to 5 Lane Ends towards Quernmore through ‘Happy Valley’. We arrived in Caton by which time we were down to 5 participants, the other 4 having previously arranged appointments. The sun was now shining, the rain had gone away, only the wind to contend with now, and that was only intermittent. Continuing our cycle stop cafe conquering ride at some pace now, we crossed the Lune by the road bridge and carried onto the top of Green Lane. The next village was Over Kellet then Borwick, passing Clearwater Cafe on the way. Greenland’s Cafe was the next cafe to pass before we arrived at Burton, taking the Yealand turn. Sunny skies and moderate wind continued as we passed RSPB and Silverdale Golf Club. Through Waterslack and the edge of Silverdale, we arrived for our extremely well earned lunch at the Heron Cafe in Arnside, where we were made very welcome.

We then left to make our own way home, arriving at varying times between 4pm and 5.20pm. A challenging ride of over 63miles, 3600 ft of ascent, 9 cafes, but we only stopped at 2 of them!!!

Neil Westwell