Читать книгу The Lancashire Cycleway. The tour and 17 day rides онлайн

8 страница из 45

The Northern Loop is entirely on tarmac. Apart from the (unofficial) Lancaster Link, which exploits a dedicated and well-surfaced cycle track, all of it is on public roads, mostly minor roads and quiet lanes.

The Southern Loop also has a few fairly short sections on surfaced cycle tracks, but otherwise the route again mainly follows quieter roads and lanes. There are a couple of urban sections, through Rawtenstall and Haslingden and also around Adlington. Generally these are not excessively busy, but school run and peak commuting times are best avoided if possible.

This book describes both loops in a clockwise direction, but of course they can be tackled either way and are signed accordingly. At first sight doing the route anti-clockwise would seem to mean more left turns and fewer right turns. Left turns are easier when there’s traffic about, which may be a consideration if you are nervous about tangling with cars. In fact, with such a complex route, there’s little difference between the overall numbers of lefts and rights. Tackling the loops clockwise, however, takes greater advantage of the prevailing south-west wind for the flat sections, and generally means that the biggest climbs are taken from their easier side.