Anyone done it ?
Nope, but I'm a ranger for a bit of it, what do you want to know?
Looking at doing it over 2 days ,possible stop around carmel /ulverston
You'd be taking it very steady to get two days out of it but yeah, why not, plenty to see and do en route
Taking it steady is doing it over four days as I did when leading a group for Sustrans inaugural ride last summer. The hills were slightly unexpected after being told it's all flat 😕
That's because you were carrying four days worth of stuff! 😀
No need to rush these days gonna savour the views and try and slow myself down ..worth a couple of days out of my annual leave ...gonna park at moreacombe somewhere
train back? if so get of at Lancaster and ride, much nicer and probably quicker.
Might I recommend refreshments at the Greenodd bakery and the Ship Inn? ALso when you get to Walney go and say hello the seals on the nature reserve.
Cheers everyone keep it coming ,taking it all in
Cartmel (with a 't') and Ulverston are on opposite sides of the Leven Estuary, it's a bit further between them than you might think. Ulverston is probably ten miles at most from Walney so Cartmel would be a better/more even stopping point unless you've a specific train to catch. Some reasonable pubs in Cartmel - there's three on or just off the main square but it's a small village so not a lot of night life. Ulverston is definitely livelier.
Whitestone I thought that but I'm no big raver anyway ...think ulverston would have more accomadation too
If you stop in Cartmel and are rolling at a leisurely pace COnishead Priory/the Manjushri Centre would make a nice lunch stop on the second day just south of Ulverston (on the route). The cafe's in the orangery of the monastery, very nice, cheap, not exactly ruthlessly efficient though. There 's usually camping on Cartmel racecourse too if you're under canvas.
I grew up in the area so know it well (or am biased!) but I think I'd stop at Cartmel and then you've got the second day to see things in/around Ulverston rather than possibly having to hang around until they open.
No recommendations on accommodation but I'm sure that the Cumbria tourist board website will have suggestions.
Whitestone ulverston Is nice but just another little town , cartmel has a few b and b
Bookmarked.
APF
Whats the best way north to south or vice versa
Anyone else done it ?
Don't stop your bike in Barrow.
Don't talk to any Barrovians.
Don't look any Barrovians in the eyes.
They'll know you're not from Barrow and they can smell fear.
Did some of it a couple of months ago on the Tripster - south from Grange over Sands and mixed it up with bits of R6, I think. I'd had a day around the lakes beforehand, stayed near Preston after Grange then went on to Liverpool via Southport on various sustrans routes. There's some nice gravel sections on it and it was very scenic - thoroughly enjoyed it. Somerset House in Grange was an excellent B&B too.
Jekyll haha would I be OK if I walked funny ?
Gone to the hills ,prob looking at starting at glasson or Lancaster getting to ulverston ....checked out a Mexican there !!! ..then up to barrow second day ,looking in at the monastery on the way up
The route looks decent enough tbh, thanks for bringing it to my attention. I did my growing up years in Barrow and Ulverston and we used to go along the coast road many times. It rightly is very nice but didn't seem it at the time. I haven't been back in many years so it might be nice to have a go at this route, would probably be easy enough to do it all in one day and get the train back from Barrow.
You could write an alternative tongue-in-cheek macabre itinerary: Here's where 21 chinese slaves died picking cockles in 2004, here's the site of Noel Edmonds failed Mr Blobby Land in Morecambe, here's the site of the Pendle Witch trials in 1612 etc. Lots of history in Lancaster, it was the county town so a fair number of people probably met their end at the gallows there.
Perfect timing OP, just looking into this myself!
Jekyll looking at going easy over 2 days ,nice food and beer on the way ...just looking at b and b s enroute
I did it in July 2015 with Gti Junior, both of us on Roubaix bikes. We dumped the car near Lancaster station and took the train to Barrow, which is an impressive town clearly accustomed to doing big engineering. Rode to the beach on Walney then followed the Bay Cycle Way all the way back to Lancaster, chucking in a there-and-back along the old railway line to Glasson Dock and back in the hope of hitting 100 miles but giving up when we realised we were running out of daylight. The idea of starting at Barrow was to get help from the prevailing wind.
We missed the trail in Gleaston and took the small road south to Scales by mistake, which took us down to the coast road but probably avoided some uppy-downy stuff. And for the same reason, from Ulverston we chain-ganged along the A590 to the small bridge over the Leven. From there, a very pleasant track took us to the foot of the killer climb over to Cartmel, where we enjoyed a well-deserved lunch stop. It's the biggest climb on the route so the cafes of Cartmel were welcome. The rest was straighforward except that my favourite cafe in Silverdale, at Wolf House, was closed by the time we got there. There's a climb out of Silverdale but not as bad as Cartmel. From Carnforth the route is pretty traffic blighted and approaching Morecambe is really horrible, especially with a south-west wind in our faces. The old railway to Lancaster is flat but watch out for glass and robbers.
We did 86.95 miles in 6 hours 17 of moving time giving 13.7 average, with 3650 feet of climb. As we got back into Lancaster from Glasson Dock we realised we couldn't remember where we had left the car and only found it by chance, in fact it was about 2 minutes down Westbourne Road, which was the nearest we'd been able to find to the station that didn't have parking restrictions.
Next time we do the ride we will definitely pay the extra for an early train and start much earlier in the day so as to give time for refreshments at Wolf House and Glasson Dock as we were getting tired by then. It took our legs a good week to recover from the effort, I being 59 and GtiJ 16 at the time. The Sustrans map of the route is good but watch out at Gleaston, where the little blue signs seemed to disappear.
Cheers global good info
Globalti, having done it that way would you say barrow to lancaster was the better way or would you do it the other way if doing it again?
I've not done it yet, but it's on my list of rides to complete this year. I live in Lancaster and I regularly ride some of the sections around Arnside and Lancaster. I plan to get an early train to Barrow and ride back. Most of the time that will put the wind on my back.
I'm planning to do it in a day.
Gastro full ride report on my desk the next day please !!
I've just remembered the climb near Bigland Hall (heading south after you've crossed the river on your way towards Cartmel...! Still; it paid back later and Cartmel proved a good stop for calories. I'd joined the route at Penny Bridge having done an anti clockwise loop from Oxenholme station to Elterwater (via the Windermere ferry and some great gravel riding) on R6, then south over the hills to Coniston and down the lake on R37. It was lovely riding and pretty obvious where to head if you look at the Sustrans site - definitely recommended!
I would always do it heading east, for three reasons:
The prevailing wind will help you at times.
The climb from the Leven is followed by a super descent into Cartmel, which has great cafes and pubs to reward you.
I just like the feeling of finishing and having no more travelling to do - it would be a ballache to have to train back from Barrow, tired, late in the day.
you could cut straight across from Barrow station instead of heading all the way out to Walney to get to the start/end, cuts a few miles out.
I'd love to do this route myself. Especially as I've finally put the caravan on a site near Carnforth.
The route goes right past where we've plonked it so if any of you lot need cake and a brew then you're more than welcome. 🙂
Anyone done Lancaster to barrow ?
Anyone done it lately ?
Will have been a bit on the damp side yesterday 😳
Barrow, which is an impressive town
I hate to break this to you, but based on your description, I think you must have accidentally started the ride somewhere other than Barrow.
It kind of is impressive though, which I say grudgingly as I grew up in far more genteel Ulverston. It's not pretty, and avoid the shopping part at all costs, but I think it's a pretty imposing town. They do some pretty big engineering too; I did my apprenticeship in the shipyard and always remember this lathe for turning submarine propshafts where the operator stood on the carriage.
We were up visiting family last week, my OH was quite shocked by the old Egerton Court buildings (Glasgow style Victorian tenements for the shipyard workers).
Thanks for the info guys, aiming to do it myself.
barrow island?
yes quite an eye opener that such a place still exists these days! proper cheap accomodation though if you've got next to no cash.
I did the Bay Cycleway on Saturday. I've lived in Lancaster for 11 years and it was a real eye-opener to see the fantastic roads around the bay and on the southern tip of Cumbria. I chose to get the early train to Barrow and ride back to Glasson Dock. The weather was good and the wind was kind most of the way. There are plenty of places to stop for coffee / lunch on the way. The roads were quiet and nice to ride.
There are a couple of sections to watch out for if you're on a road bike. After leaving Greenodd there is a section on a farm track. It was stoney and not nice to ride on skinny tyres, I took it very slowly to avoid any damage to tyres and wheels. The second section to watch is the cycle path from Lancaster to Glasson Dock. In the dry it's lovely with a few parts that are not tarmac and give it a strada bianci feel. However if it's been wet they will be muddy and slippery on skinny tyres.
I went off the route a few times. A couple added an extra mile and 1 diversion was planned so I didn't use the canal towpath between Carnforth and Hest Bank.
It's very achievable in 1 day. I'm slow and I've not been on the bike much for 6 weeks.
As I'd completed the 85 miles to get from Walney to Glasson Dock and needed to ride the 6-7 miles home I did an extra loop to make it 100 miles. The first time I've ridden 100 miles in a day and I did it solo, so felt rather proud of myself.