Millennium Bridge to Sizergh Castle on Thursday 24 August.

It was a later start for the ride to Sizergh Castle. Given the short notice of the ride, only announced the previous day, and later start time, it was a bonus when 9 people arrived for the start. Our coffee stop was Bay View Garden Centre, so riders were surprised that we were heading towards Overton at the start. This was a way to Bay View which we used many years ago, but not recently! Following the cycle track towards Morecambe, we took the first exit which took us between the river and the cycle club race track. After passing Snatchems we joined the road to Overton. In Overton we took the right turn onto Middleton. Heysham was next where we passed the golf course and headed towards the port transit area. We rode through Heysham village and joined the promenade, taking in the magnificent views across the Bay. It looked good in the sunshine and we hoped it would last. It didn’t, and the rain started, but, luckily, it stopped as soon as it started. We rode all the way along the promenade, carefully passing the pedestrians enjoying the attractions of Morecambe in Summer! On reaching the end of the promenade, we joined the main road which we followed until the turn off down Pasture Lane. We continued down to the shore and followed it round to the crossing across the West Coast rail line. Luckily, the gates were up and we were soon arriving at Bay View Garden Centre. We decided to go into the Restaurant rather than the Garden Cafe! Unfortunately, Mike had punctured and was unable to continue, so he didn’t reach Bay View. We were joined by Mark who had ridden independently from home. So, our numbers remained 9, all of whom wanted to continue to Sizergh Castle. We left Bay View in good spirits after excellent refreshments, enjoying the sunshine and brightening skies, riding round the shore and joining the A6, following it as far as Crag Bank where we took the turn through the village. Round the shore and over the narrow wooden bridge, we headed towards Silverdale, passing the Golf Course and the Railway Station. We headed towards Arnside, but took the right turn towards Carr Bank, joining the road through Sandside. We followed the Milnthorpe road and after crossing the river took the road over the Marsh, and joined the road towards Levens. Reaching Levens Hall, instead of following the road round to Levens, we took the right turn up the slope towards Sizergh. We arrived at Sizergh Castle around 1.30 expecting the lunch queue to have subsided, it hadn’t so we had to wait for a while before we could obtain our refreshments. Sitting out in the sunshine, we joined the table occupied by Cynthia and Ray who we hadn’t seen since the recent ride to Kendal. It was nice to catch up! Our excellent lunch stop came to an end, time to head for home. We left the Castle grounds and followed the wonderfully named Nannypie Lane towards Sedgwick, crossing the river and then the motorway we continued to Hincaster. Onto Ackenthwaite, Whasset, Holme and Burton via a slightly unusual route, we were now nearing home and our group began to fragment as we took our direct routes home. An excellent ride in fine weather, including substantial sunshine. Nice refreshment stops in good company, I managed 55 miles and 2000 ft of ascent. Our rides take place on Thursday and Sunday and new riders are always made welcome.Why not give it a try? Neil Westwel