Thursday Ride to Roots, Catforth

Lancaster Cycling UK ride to Roots Café near Catforth, Lancashire Thursday 9th, October 2025.

13 riders including one tandem, turned up at the Boot and Shoe, for the start, on this dry morning, which was positive.

We headed out on the cycleway through the university, to arrive at Garstang Arts café, which is a favourite stop, for elevenses. From here, we headed south, trying to avoid the busy A6, and eventually we found some quiet lanes near Guys Hamlet village. The lunch stop today, was Roots Café, which is near the M55 motorway, but not the easiest to find. It is well worth the effort though as the food is good, especially for hungry cyclists. One rider had to leave early, and we were genuinely worried he might get lost, trying to find his way home. I hope he did get home safely.

Increasingly on our rides, we are finding more roads are being closed, often while repairs are carried out. I suspect this might be due to health and safety rules, although I am not an expert. While sometimes we can get through on bikes, there is no guarantee of this, and it can mean that we must ride extra miles and make diversions to our planned route. Today, we came across two such situations.

Later, we found more lanes heading north for home andpassed through the village of St Michael’s on Wyre, after which we did a short stretch of main road.

Our route home took us to Walling’s Ice Cream shop and cafe, which is near Cockerham. Here, some riders went on towards home, while others couldn’t resist the generous and tempting ice creams and cakes.  

A total distance of just under 50 miles. We were very fortunate as we had no rain. The picture shows riders at Roots café, enjoying lunch.

It is worth mentioning that increasingly some riders are using electric bikes. The club welcomes new riders, and more information can be found at: www.ctclancaster.org.uk

-Paul Rodman