route in the future. It’s even possible that a wholesale re-drawing of the route could take place, although this will only happen when funding is available to support a consultation process, new signage, mapping and so on. As author of this book, I hope to be involved in any such consultation and would welcome feedback from readers.
The obvious place to track such developments, you might think, is the internet, but I’ve yet to find a site that can be relied upon to be up to date. We’ll do our best with the Updates tab on this book’s page on the Cicerone website (www.cicerone.co.uk), and you can help by letting us know of any changes you notice.
Signage
Based on my experience (I re-rode the entire route in the early months of 2016), 99% of junctions on the Lancashire Cycleway are correctly signed. All well and good, but what about the 1%, those odd spots where, perhaps as the result of mischief, signs are missing or wrongly aligned?
If you rely solely on signs to navigate, one missing sign (or even one that’s momentarily hidden by a double-decker bus) can throw you right off, and by the time you realise you may have scant idea where you are or how to get back on route. It’s wiser to maintain a running check against the text and maps in this book. GPS navigation is another great standby.
Several stretches are shared with other National Cycle Network routes and the proliferation of blue signs could be confusing. The Northern Loop of the Cycleway is NCN route 90 and the Southern Loop is route 91. Other NCN routes you’ll encounter include National Route 6 (London–Cumbria), Route 55 (Ironbridge–Preston), the Way of the Roses (Route 69, Morecambe–Bridlington), and the Bay Cycleway (Route 700), unveiled in 2015, which runs from Walney Island to Glasson Dock.
Are there enough signs here?
Maps, apps and timings
Combined with the detailed route descriptions, the maps in this book should be more than adequate for navigation, but you may want to consider carrying Ordnance Survey maps as well as they give a much wider view of where you are and what you can see. As they show every road and track, you can also use them to plan alternative routes and links for future exploration of Lancashire. The 1:50,000 Landranger series is an ideal scale for cycling. To cover the entire Cycleway you’ll need six of them:
97 Kendal & Morecambe
98 Wensleydale & Upper Wharfedale
102 Preston & Blackpool
103 Blackburn & Burnley
108 Liverpool
109 Manchester
The first four are needed for the Northern Loop; the last four for the Southern. Sheet 98 is only needed for about 10km of the route, with no complicated navigation, so you could well manage without: as it includes the final stages of the highest climb on the route, you may well feel that ignorance is bliss!
There are now many apps which allow you to access OS mapping on a smartphone; check out www.viewranger.com for example. A good alternative to OS mapping is Open Cycle Map (www.opencyclemap.org). Alternatively, there’s much to recommend a dedicated bike computer, which will allow you to keep your phone safely stowed, and conserve its battery. The simplest cycle computers cost little more than £10 while GPS-based ones start around £75. Most GPS computers can be used for navigation as well as for tracking rides, and many will display simplified maps as well as giving turn-by-turn directions. Garmin (www.garmin.com/en-GB) is by far the best-known name in this field; I’ve recently been using their Edge Touring Plus, which comes pre-loaded with maps of the UK and Europe.
Using any computer or tracking app will soon give you a sense of the average speed you can expect to achieve on a bike. This is a great help in planning your rides, as estimating times for cycling is notoriously more difficult than for walking. Walking speeds vary much less and there are many formulae and rules of thumb enabling you to work out how long a walk may take: Naismith’s Rule is the best-known, if not necessarily the best.
Cycling speeds vary for many reasons; fitness, aerodynamics, the load you’re packing, and so on. Hills will slow you down, but cyclists have much more chance than walkers of taking some time back on the descent – at least when there’s a reasonable surface and it’s not too twisty. For example, the descent from Merrybent to Slaidburn at the end of Stage 2 is a good one; the descent from Marl Hill on Day Ride 7 is not (at least until they fix the road surfaces).
Still, even if your name is Chris Froome, average speed in the hills will be less than on the flat. If you’re a bit more ordinary than Froomey, the time taken to cover a given distance may increase by up to 50% for the hillier stages; perhaps even more if you’re heavily laden.
Using this guide
This guide is divided into sections, averaging around 40 kilometres in length. The endpoints of these sections are either reasonable candidates for an overnight stop, or places with a train service, or often both. It’s hoped that this structure will help in planning your trip around the Cycleway, but these are only suggestions and there are many alternative stopping-points.
Each chapter includes a detailed description of the route to be followed, accompanied by a route map, usually at 1:200,000 scale. In addition to the maps, there are route profiles for most stages. If there isn’t one, you can assume that it it’s flat!
At the start of each stage of the route you’ll also find a box telling you:
where the route description starts
the total length of the stage
the total ascent
a brief outline of the nature of the actual riding (how hilly it is, how busy the roads are likely to be, and so on)
the maximum gradient encountered (if this line is missing, the stage has no climbs of note)
OS maps (Landranger sheets needed)
an outline of train services on or near the route
a general indication of where pubs, B&Bs and so on are plentiful and where they are thin on the ground: for more on accommodation, see Appendix A, Further information
intermediate distances: cumulative distances of intermediate points from the stage start
Each stage is preceded by an introduction giving a brief sketch of the character, scenery and major points of interest of the stage, and the route descriptions mention places of refreshment along the way. It’s a scientific fact that cyclists need lots of refreshment!
THE NORTHERN LOOP
208.5km/130 miles
Loyn Bridge (Stage 1)
INTRODUCTION
The Northern Loop embodies everything
