Ride from Beaumont to Grange-over-Sands, via Levens – Sunday 11th July, 2021.
/After admiring John’s new bike – it was new before the pandemic, but we hadn’t yet seen it – eight of us set off down Green Lane to ride over Kellet Lane and through Over Kellet, where Bob joined us at the crossroads. When we hit the A6070 most of the group revolted at the thought of the ‘mucky farm’ and carried on via Burton. Two of us followed the ride proper, found that the mucky farm was not too bad and enjoyed the quiet of Hilderstone Lane with views across the fields to our left. We regrouped in Holme and continued northwards through Wassett and Ackenthwaite to turn left at Woodhouse towards Heversham. We negotiated the church goers at the pretty St. Peter’s church and rattled along through Leasgill to meet the very busy A6 and the short run to Leven’s Hall. There were other club members at Levens who joined in the coffee time chat. We lost two riders and gained one before the second outward leg to Grange. There was a sprinkling of rain and capes went on… and off again.
Now, people had been asking me questions about which way we were going and I was struggling to remember the route. But I did remember Sampool Lane and Gilpin Bridge and the old A590… The rest I was vague about. You see I plan the ride on a map and enter it into my Garmin Satnav, which, when it’s behaving, beeps and tells me when to make a turn. It saves getting out a map (which I carry on a phone) and means I don’t have to remember just which of the many possible ways I chose to go when I planned the ride. I knew we were going to the bottom of Tow Top, but not up it. But I’d forgotten how a lovely the Back of the Fell Road is, with its ups and downs, gentle curves with trees to the right and views over the watery fields to left. Anyhow, we rode into the back of Lindale and went up School Hill (who can forget its steep twists…). The group had got strung out a number of times, and it was difficult to remember who was where in the sequence but the conclusion of the fast descent into Grange did bring us all together for butties by the pond. Angry black-headed gulls screamed at each other as we ate. It’s so sad that the exotic species that made the spot special were all stolen.
After lunch we headed off past the golf club to Meathop and then across the moss back to the old A590. The meadowsweet was a feature of the day’s ride, flavouring the air and creamily clouding the tall grasses along roadsides. There was more spreading out of the riders and a long stop at Gilpin Bridge trying to work out who was where. As we set off I confused everybody by misremembering the route as going across the moss beside the Kent estuary. The Garmin reminded me it went up round the back of Levens to Sizergh. And even though I remembered it going along Nannypie Lane, I forgot that I’d put Sedgewick and Crosscrake in the route. The Garmin works as a sort of ‘extended mind’ (Clark and Chalmers, 1988) for me, filling in the gaps in my memory that my onboard mind struggles with. Some people use maps or notebooks with names of places and turns (which is the example Andy Clark and David Chalmers offer as an extended mind). Now the philosophers were keen to exclude digital devices and simple aide memoires from their extended mind thesis but I always thought their definition was too narrow just to provoke all the computer scientists. The debate has raged…
Whatever, following Vivier Lane, recrossing the outward route but using Paradise Lane (with luscious clover in between the two tarmac paths and nettles hanging out to catch cyclists’ arms) took us to Beetham. An earlier discussion had persuaded me to abandon the garden centre as a tea stop and so we went up Slack Head and bore right to head for Silverdale. This deviation caused Garmin to beep periodically, suggesting redirects and about turns to get back on route. But I used my onboard mind to overrule the electronic memory (you see, I’m not dependent on it, which is why Clark and Chalmers wouldn’t accept it an extended mind) and we passed Gait Barrows and Trowbarrow Quarry to get to Redbridge Lane. At the golf club most of us had tea but were jealous of Nigel’s cold pint of lager, condensation misting the outside of the glass. The club is welcoming of cyclists and in fine weather their raised forecourt makes for a pleasant spot with mature trees, well-tended greens and a view across the valley. We dispersed after tea, and Garmin stayed quiet as we found our own ways home, spreading out along the Shore Road and Ancliffe Lane.
