Day 1 – FSL250 Kendal Cycle

Cycle Day One

It was dry when we arrived at Kendal, the birthplace of our first headmaster, John Gough. We were greeted by the local Friends who hosted a short meeting for worship, and after a quick viewing of the Quaker tapestry and a cup of tea, we got the bikes ready for the journey south. It started to rain – fairly lightly at first but by the time we had completed our detour to Windermere, it was just very, very wet. The cloud was low, so views weren’t what we’d hoped for, but things started to get better as we looped round and headed south. We encountered some tricky lanes and after a coffee stop, the route took us east of the M6 and through some beautiful lanes and bleak hillsides.

We reached the highest point of the day at Street, which was a nice climb, and then began the descent to a late lunch in Bilsborrow. From there, there was a maze of cycle lanes through Preston and various towns and villages between there and Southport. Shortly after a brief stop, we met Old Scholar Peter McIlhagger, who took some drone footage of our endeavours. By this stage we were behind schedule, so we took the most direct route to Liverpool, with excellent teamwork and fast changes getting us to the Liver Building with time to spare. Or so we thought – but it seemed to take forever to find the entrance to the Queensway tunnel, which is open to bikes after 8 o’clock. Going through the tunnel was unexpectedly fun and very fast, but we were leaving it a bit tight to get to the ferry.

Tom, who had been a stalwart as support driver all day, brought us fish and chips to the docks. We were very glad of them and once we had the bikes loaded we were able to join the queue and enjoy some replenishment. John Gough may or may not have boarded a vessel across the Irish Sea at Liverpool, and we know for sure he didn’t travel by bike. He probably didn’t have as much fun as us either, but fair play to him for making the journey – I’m sure he had a bit of an adventure too.

Travel Day

Tomorrow we’ll head to John Gough’s birthplace in Kendal, but the focus today was on George Fox, the founder of the Quaker movement, who was born 400 years ago. David Smith very kindly met us at Brigflatts Meeting House, which has been home to Quakers in Sedbergh since 1675, and gave us an insight into life here in the seventeenth century.

From there we headed to Fox’s Pulpit on Firbank Fell, where Fox had preached in the open air to crowds of Seekers. We’re hoping the rain will have passed through tomorrow before the journey down to Birkenhead. We’re delighted to have former Bursar, Tom Hendry, with us as driver and looking forward to getting under way!