For a few years now Sarah and I, and a few others, have recced the rides for the upcoming SCCC club weekend rides. This year, our club weekend will be at Lancaster University. So, for our opening cycle ride, we arrived at a car park just outside Pilling ready for a journey out to Knott End.

The weather on the way to the start had been rotten, so we were just hoping not to get too wet. Thankfully, it was dry when we set off.

We began by joining local network route 90.

It wasn’t dry for long though … it started to rain as we made our way through the village of Scronkey.

After a few miles we turned into Union Lane and left local network route 90. We headed towards the coast, or, to be more accurate, the River Wyre estuary.

This took us across some open fields.

A further change of direction took us into Sow Carr Lane.

Then, after turning into Staynall Lane we tackled our only (little) climb of the day. Towards the top, we had views out over the estuary, all the way to Heysham Power station. Glorious!

While the power station may not be great viewing, the rest of the landscape as we cycled along Barrows Lane was lovely.

It had, mercifully, stopped raining now.

Though, as we entered Knott End along Lancaster Road, the rain returned.

At Knott End, we reached the esplanade and cycled to the far end.

We were heading for Knott End Cafe. We tested the food, and it was fine, ideal for the club ride on the weekend.

While we were in the cafe there was a downpour! So thankfully we missed it. Following the food we headed out on to the promenade. It was a favourite painting spot for L.S. Lowry apparently.

We then cycled out along the ferry slipway to take a closer look over the estuary at Fleetwood. 

Returning along the esplanade, we made our way through Knott End and joined the coastal path.

It proved a great little path with fine views out over the coast.

We followed the coastal path for a few miles.

Before leaving the coast and heading back towards Pilling.

At Pilling, we took a little detour to take some photos by an old mill (without its sails). We had seen this in the distance on our arrival.

Our Knott End route had been a nice flat 17 miles. We are sure the club riders are going to really enjoy cycling it. Let’s just hope it is drier on the day of the actual ride.

You can view our Knott End route below: