If the wind is favourable (and it usually is) there’s a fast run to Cockerham, where hills begin again. Gentle at first, the slopes get a little grander as the route hems the skirts of the Bowland Fells, through the Quernmore valley just east of Lancaster. Crook O’Lune is a lovely spot, and you may want to loiter a little. The fun’s almost over, just that last, imperceptibly downhill ride back into Lancaster and the train.
Grim up North? You must be kidding.
STAGE 1A
The Lancaster Link
| Start | Lancaster station SD 472 617 |
| Distance | 5.3km/3.3 miles |
| Total ascent | 25m/80ft |
| Ride | Almost entirely off-road, but with better surfaces than many main roads and, apart from the optional climb onto Castle Hill, almost totally flat |
| OS maps | Landranger 97 Kendal & Morecambe |
| Connections | Lancaster station, West Coast Main Line |
| Accommodation | B&Bs and several hotels within easy reach. Lancaster’s Tourist Information Centre is located in the Storey, a large building 150m down from the station on the main road (Meeting House Lane) towards the town centre: use the main station exit on the east side. The University of Cumbria’s Lancaster campus (formerly St Martin’s College) provides low-cost accommodation (student rooms) during the summer vacation. |
This isn’t officially part of the Lancashire Cycleway, but it’s such a useful connection for those arriving by rail that it has to be included. Not only is Lancaster the nearest West Coast Main Line station to the Cycleway itself, but the connecting route out of town is almost entirely off-road (just 20m of back street to contend with), avoiding any tangles with traffic.
Lancaster is also the handsomest large town in the county (it’s officially a city, but feels more like a town – and a good thing too). The only drawback is that it would be easy to be seduced into exploring Lancaster and forget about the rest of the Cycleway.
Leave the station through a gate alongside Platform 1. You may have to cross the footbridge (lifts available) to get there. To visit Castle Hill, turn left and left again, over the railway. To get straight into the Cycleway, turn right and follow the cycle path across a field.
Meet Long Marsh Lane, turn right under the railway and then immediately left on another cycle path, joining a former railway line. This runs below the Priory, through trees, then behind houses before emerging just above the river. Continue along the old railway line, past the back of Sainsbury’s. Wiggle through an underpass beneath the busy Lancaster–Morecambe road. The underpass is ridable, given reasonable bike-handling skills, but the barriers could be tricky with panniers.
Continue past a small skate-park and under the roadway of Skerton Bridge. The imposing arches of the Lune Aqueduct are the next landmark. The next two bridges overhead carry a new link road and then the M6, after which you soon get glimpses of fine waterfront houses in Halton. Keep on to a small car park then turn left to cross the river on a narrow iron bridge. The official Cycleway route joins from the east here.
Riverside view of Halton: a few steps from the route but screened by trees
At the time of writing, the cycle path is re-routed around works on the new motorway junction/link road. Normal service may be resumed by the time this edition is published but, if not, the detour is obvious and easy to follow.
CASTLE HILL AND LANCASTER
This hilltop site, commanding the lowest feasible crossing of the River Lune, has been a strategic fortified site since Roman times, and may well have been occupied even earlier. Sporadic excavations, notably in the steep field north-west of the Priory, have yielded some evidence about Roman occupation, but the overall shape of the Roman fort and town is unclear: much must have been destroyed or covered by later buildings, especially the Castle. One small fragment of Roman masonry and the foundations of a bath house can be seen, but they will only excite the most dedicated antiquary.
The Castle we see today is built around a Norman keep, although its most distinctive feature is the 15th-century gatehouse. Although this is referred to locally as John O’Gaunt’s Gate it was actually built for his son, Henry IV, and it’s uncertain whether John O’Gaunt ever visited the town.
The Castle housed a prison for centuries, right up until 2011, and John O’Gaunt’s Gate finally opened to the public in 2013. Access remains limited: you can walk into the courtyard and visit the new café, and guided tours will take you further. Tour highlights include the Shire Hall, with hundreds of heraldic shields around the walls; the Crown Court; the original dungeons; and the Drop Room, where many condemned prisoners spent their last moments. Among famous trials which took place here were those of the supposed Pendle Witches, of whom more when we get to Pendle (Stage 7). Castle Hill also boasts many fine 18th-century houses, dating from the time when Lancaster was a major port.
Next door to the Castle is the Priory Church. The church is always open – although you can’t just wander round when there’s a service in progress – and it is exceptionally beautiful. The bulk of the building is 15th century. A particular treasure are the mediaeval wooden choir stalls.
There’s a fine view across the city from the top of the steps alongside the church. Prominent buildings include some 19th-century mills, the Town Hall, and St Peter’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, but lording it over everything on the hilltop opposite is the Ashton Memorial. Variously described as ‘England’s grandest folly’ and ‘the Taj Mahal of the North’, it was traditionally known locally just as ‘T’Structure’. The white Portland stone building, completed in 1909, was built for Lord Ashton, formerly ‘Lile Jimmy’ Williamson, as a memorial to his wife. He made a fortune from linoleum and oilcloth and in the late 19th century was the undisputed overlord of the town. Today the memorial houses displays and exhibitions and there are superb views from its balconies – but it’s a steep climb, and out of your way. Still, every passer-by wonders what it is, and now you know.
BY THE RIVER LUNE
The route runs behind St George’s Quay, the core of the former Port of Lancaster. In the mid-18th century it was, briefly, the second port of the nation. Many warehouses survive, now converted to other, mainly residential uses. Recent additions are very much in keeping, so the whole Quay retains a distinctly Georgian appearance. The centrepiece is the beautiful Customs House, dating from 1764, which now houses the Maritime Museum.
Part of St George’s Quay, with the Customs House on the left
Lancaster’s prosperity in this period was inextricably linked with the slave trade. This is now acknowledged by a small memorial, on the right after the first access ramp of the Millennium Bridge.
Almost exactly on the line of Roman and mediaeval bridges, the Millennium Bridge is dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists. The crossing links to another cycleway (yet another former railway line) which leads to Morecambe.
After the underpass, the grassy area known as Green Ayre was the site of Lancaster’s second railway station,