Road Cycling In Lancashire: Get Those Wheels Rolling With Help From Pedal North

Both Lancashire and Yorkshire provide some of the very best road cycling routes in the world. It also has to be said that these two ‘Rose Counties’ have supplied the Great Britain team with great cyclists. Last year saw the World Championships come to the area, albeit damp; but that’s weather which northern cyclists are quite used to. 



With recent events in the UK bringing even more people to cycling, there’s so much to explore across the counties of the north and we want to help you to start exploring both Lancashire and Yorkshire by bike. 



To start things off, here’s a short spin out across the Trough of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. This magnificent loop around the Western Bowland fells, comes with a variety of cleft moorland, estate farmland and coastal plain views. This route is firm favourite of a friend, Norman Hadley, a writer and cyclist from Garstang, which is where we start and finish the route for you.  In terms of refreshments, there are many opportunities to choose from: Cobbled Corner at Chipping. Puddleducks at Dunsop Bridge. Snack van (seasonal) at the bottom of Langden Beck. Add to this, The Priory at Scorton, which is very cyclist-friendly (they even have their own cycle shop). 


Route

1. From Garstang, head south towards Catterall. At a mini-roundabout by a vet’s, turn left into Dimples Lane.
2. At the end of the lane, turn left into Bruna Lane and follow that over the canal and the M6.
3. Turn right into Sandholme Lane. Follow this to a stone bridge overhung by trees. Turn left into Butt Hill Lane. Keep climbing for over mile, passing Cobble Hey Farm, where the road becomes Hobbs Lane.
4. Turn left into Bleasedale Lane. Follow this up, then through three successive dips until you join Oakenclough Lane coming in from the right at Wickens Farm.
5. Follow lanes to Chipping. There are several possibilities, all of roughly equal length.
6. Go straight through Chipping and, shortly after the Gibbon Bridge Hotel, turn left, signposted to Whitewell.
7. Pass the Inn at Whitewell and head upriver to Dunsop Bridge. This landscape has a slightly Scottish feel, I always think, as if you could be wending your way up a minor Cairngorm Glen.
8. Take a detour into Dunsop Bridge if hungry or keep going straight up the Trough road. Dig in.
9. Descend past the Marshaw pines (another touch that hints at Rothiemurchus Forest) and look out for a left turn (signposted to Garstang). Take it.
10. Follow the rise and fall of the moorland, heading broadly SSW, with good views out to Morecambe Bay and the southern Lakes. Go straight on at a stop sign.
11. Go straight through the village of Scorton. Just after you cross Gubberford Bridge, there’s a tiny, unsigned left turn. This is a quiet lane leading back into the centre of Garstang.

Further route details and maps can be found on the Pedalnorth.com website at the link below:

Trough of Bowland Cycling Route

https://pedalnorth.com/trough-of-bowland-cycle-route/ .

All that’s left for you is to get out and ride into the hills and have a great day cycling. We’ll be bringing you lots of cycling routes in the north and some useful cycling tips, including places to visit elsewhere on a cycling vacation, once these strange and difficult Covid 19 times are over. In the interim, enjoy our picture of Yorkshire’s own Lizzie Deignam, seen here at home and cycling across the magnificent Dales.