Windermere Railway Station – Lickbarrow Rd - Matson Ground – Lindeth Lane - Winster – Bowland Bridge – Masons Arms - Ludderburn – Ghyll Head – Storrs – Bowness – Windermere Railway Station
15 miles (24 km) 1230 ' climb (380 m)
Map
To view elevation details please use this link and select "Elevation Graph" from the top left hand side corner of the map.
http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=653271
Description
The ride starts with one mile through town before reaching Lickbarrow Rd, the start of the rural ride.The area in front of the railway station is busy with buses, taxis and cars. It is safest simply to push your bike directly ahead from the station exit for 15 yards to the gates of the vehicular entrance to Lakeland car park.
It is generally ok to bike straight through and then left through the Lakeland car park (take care) - follow the “Parking” sign not the “Exit” sign, as the “Exit” is the same one you entered, and is for cars.
Note – the car park gates are locked at about 1900 hours. This route however returns to the railway station via Windermere centre (public roads) and not through the Lakeland car park. See note at end for alternative routes if starting after 1900 hours and the gates are locked.
At the far side of the car park is a vehicular exit onto Thwaites Lane (high retaining wall). Here go right, downhill, to quickly pass under the railway bridge. Bear left to follow the road (Claife Ave) through the housing estate to its end as it swings right to join Droomer Drive.
Turn left at Droomer Drive, and in a couple of minutes take the 1st right onto Limethwaite Rd (see note at end for off- road possibilities from here). Limethwaite Rd can get very congested at its junction with Park Rd, so it is better to take the 3rd left Lane Head, and turn right into Thornthwaite Rd and on to its junction with Park Rd, much quieter.
Turn left up Park Road, and just after the nearby crest go left up the short and steep start of Lickbarrow Rd (blue bike sign). This is the start of the rural bit of the ride
Continue on the nice undulating road, past Matson Ground, bearing right at a Y junction (sign Bowness) and soon straight over the B6284 Kendal to Bowness Rd onto pleasant Lindeth Lane – unsigned apart from “single track road”.
Lindeth Lane eventually comes out, going left, on the A5074 road, by the Winster village sign. In a few minutes the route goes right by the Brown Horse (Bowland Bridge/ Winster Church sign).
After a left and quickly right dogleg a couple of miles further on, the ride reaches a main road, where it goes right to Bowland Bridge (shop and pub here) and onwards.
From Bowland Bridge there is a steep but short ascent to the Masons Arms at Strawberry Bank. On leaving, take the Bowness road, on the lower side of the pub. The following 2 miles is very much continuous up and down, some quite steep, before arriving at a scissor crossroads and crossing over on the Bowness/ Storrs road.
From here the route drops down past Ghyll Head to the main A592 road. Here go right and simply follow this main road past Storrs and back to Bowness.
To return from Bowness to Windermere railway station there are 2 suggested choices:-
1 - At the mini roundabout in Bowness go straight over, taking the main and busy road to Windermere up the short sharp hill and then up the gradually rising road to Windermere town centre, following the signs to the railway station.
2 - Alternatively (for a slower but more relaxed and interesting end to the ride) at the end of Bowness Promenade, after passing the steamer pier, fork left in front of the Old England Hotel, then turn left down the side of the hotel into Fallbarrow Road.
Continue on this road, keeping left / straight on at any junctions, passing a large car park on the right to join Rayrigg Road (A592).
Turn left here, past the garage, then just before the Steamboat Museum, turn right up the recently resurfaced Millbeck Stock (short steep climb).
At the top of this road, turn left (signs say “Private Road”, but is well used by cyclists and pedestrians). The road climbs steadily through woods, large houses set well back, with a short rougher section after the last house leading to a gate, which opens onto Beemire Lane (good tarmac again). Note – the map shows this section up to Birthwaite Road as all being “Longlands Road” - this is a Google error, and cannot be corrected. The route is obvious on the ground.
There is a gentle climb to turn right onto Birthwaite Road, which ends at a staggered crossroads, turning left to join the main road through Windermere town centre and to the railway station (signed).
Note about Lakeland locked gates
If the gates are locked at the station end (ie starting the ride after 1900 hours), there are 2 suggested ways to rejoin the route – go along the Station Approach road, and at the end stop and cross the Approach road by the Railway/ Booths sign and turn hard right onto the footpath to push the bike up the 150 yard A591 footpath to Thwaites Lane, there going down it to the railway bridge mentioned above, and joining the route.
An alternative way is to go down into town (left from Station Approach), and then near the end of the one - way Crescent Rd shops bear left (effectively straight on) into Oak St and then left into Droomer Drive. The aforementioned Claife Avenue comes in on the left, the route now being rejoined, and continues on to Limethwaite Rd mentioned above.
Note about off- road possibilities from Limethwaite Rd.
1 - A Byway (legal to cycle on) runs behind houses on the left hand side of Limethwaite Rd up to Lickbarrow Rd. To access it, take the immediate 1st left on Limethwaite Rd (School Knott Drive) to soon reach Mill Beck Close, the Byway sign being at the end of the quite small tarmac track on the right (easy to miss).
To start the track is quite narrow and the tarmac a bit uneven, but soon, after a couple of gates, it becomes easier and better, passing a gate with a BOAT sign and soon joining (going left) the public road and the route just after the steep start to Lickbarrow Rd. The Byway is ½ mile in length.
2 – The BOAT (Byway Open to All Traffic) from the aforementioned gate goes up to Cleabarrow, ¾ mile away. The surface is rock, but reasonably smooth and quite ok for touring tyres. It may be slippery if wet.
Just after the nearby 1st gate is a small beck, which has to be crossed by a narrow rock slab bridge or riding across, followed by a short uphill which may need pushing.
The track is then again rideable, and after 4 gates becomes a public road, with proper tarmac, to Cleabarrow, just by the start of the gated road.
