Ride from Millennium Bridge to ... Beetham Garden Centre, Sunday 26th January 2020

Well, the forecast was dreadful. And only four of us turned up for the Lancaster CTC ride that was due to go to Kirkby Lonsdale. And all of us were wearing full waterproof clothing (its the only time I’ve ever started a ride with plastic trousers on…). But we set off on the Kirby Lonsdale Road up through Halton in reasonable spirits because it wasn’t actually raining. That didn’t last long and soon we were riding through a chilly mizzle that was part of the cloud system. As we rode along the hill towards Sunny Bank Farm, we had no view across the Lune Valley other than dense grey cloud. The descent towards Capenwray was on wet, greasy roads wasn’t the usual delightful woosh. Through Borwick and Priest Hutton we went, then off along Cinderbarrow Lane and through the mucky farm. We were all a bit soggy and looking forward to coffee and one rider narrowly missed being wiped out by a reversing tractor. Hilderstone Lane is always quiet and has good views across the fields to the east… but today it felt cold and soggy. With just four of us it wasn’t difficult to keep together so we didn’t stop in Holme but pushed on to the turn down Hangbridge Lane. Even though it is a narrow lane with grass in the middle we had cars come at us from behind and in front. It was good to get to the Garden Centre where we found a couple of other Lancaster CTC riders, one of whom was keen for us all to carry on to Kirkby.

However, after much deliberation with glances at the black clouds building to the South, we decided to retreat to warm sofas and telly sports. The ride back was against a strengthening wind with stinging rain… Of course once we were all safely indoors, the rain abated and the wind died. Not one of the most enjoyable rides but thank you to those stalwarts who came along and whose company made the outing worth it.

Tim Dant