Bay Birthday Bimble

Celebrating the Bay Cycle Way's 10th birthday by taking on the 130km route in a oner on what turned out to be a wet, windy and wild weekend in July. Pretty standard summer conditions for Morecambe Bay, to be honest.

It's been on the list to ride the Sustrans Route 700 (aka "The Bay Cycle Way") for almost as long as the route itself has existed. So Route 700's 10th Birthday falling in 2025 was a great incentive to get a group together and ride from Walney Island to Glasson Dock.

As usual, rather than bore you with descriptions we'll let the photos of our ride do the talking. We divided the ride broadly into three sections after taking the train to Barrow-in-Furness and riding to the start in Walney Island:

• 50km to Cartmel for a pint and some sticky toffee pudding at the Royal Oak,

• another 25km to a resupply at Levens Village Shop; and

• then the 50-ishkm roll through to the finish in Glasson Dock.

There's some hints and tips under the photos too.

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Getting to the Start:

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Walney to Cartmel:

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Cartmel to Levens:

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Levens to Glasson Dock:

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Some Hints and Tips from our ride

Here's a few things we learned about the route from riding it:

• It's a big day out! Whilst there isn't an insane amount of climbing, it certainly undulates and the major summits are squeezed into the first half, so the fatigue is accumulated in that first 80km or so;

• WIND! We were lucky to have an enormous tail wind for the first half of our ride - but if it's anything other than a prevailing SW-ly you'll want to consider that wind;

• The surfaces are mixed. We had plenty in our group on gravel bikes, many on road bikes and even a mountain biker. The gravel set up is ideal, but honestly any bike except the fanciest narrow-clearance roady should be fine!

• We took the train from Carnforth to Barrow for the start, but hadn't really factored in the 10km back to Lancaster Station from Glasson Dock - so think of it as a 140km route. On that line you don't need a reservation for your bike on the train but worth considering busy times like Cartmel Races or commuter trains to Barrow in the week;

• There are LOADS of alternative spots to refuel, resupply, use public facilities and the like - we had originally planned our second stop for Silverdale, then mid-ride changed that to the OSB in Warton and then after getting soaked we changed to the Cartmel-Levens-Finish plan. It's a route you can adapt nicely to suit your preferences;

• There's only one notable climb (Bigland Hill is a b******d) but the route does include some short sharp stabs worth being (mentally) prepared for;

• Yes, you really are riding through the car park of a Morrisons on the way out of Barrow. It's fine, trust the GPX/Blue Signs!

Here's the route profile and you can download the GPX file here - but bear in mind that you won't need it because the ride is expertly signed by Sustrans with those lovely Route 700 blue signs.

We have been in regular contact with the Morecambe Bay Partnership who help to manage the Bay Cycle Way together with Sustrans and are actively supporting their fundraising efforts. 

By taking part in your own BCW ride, you’ll have fun biking the Bay and raise vital funds to protect Morecambe Bay’s spectacular nature and precious heritage. You’ll also support community projects that help everyone access the Bay’s coast and countryside. So please do check out the great work that MBP do in our area: https://www.morecambebay.org.uk/