A Grade C ride of 46 miles starting from Chapel Street at the main entrance to Southport railway station to Ormskirk railway station via Preston and Leyland.
The route goes out along the promenade by the Marine Lake and then along the coast road and NCR62 to Banks, Mere Brow and Sollom. The morning break is at ten miles by Lock Lane Bridge next to the Rufford branch of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, then on through Brotherton, Longton and Lower Penwortham before lunch at the Pavilion Cafe in Avenham Park by the River Ribble in Prestonafter 23 miles. Then across the Ribble, past Bamber Bridge, through the Cuerden Valley park to Buckshaw Village, and on to the afternoon break for coffee and cake after 32 miles at the Folly Coffee House in Worden Park. On Sundays there is a model railway society with a kilometre of tracks in the park. The return trip goes via Eccleston, Mawdsley and Lathom to Ormskirk Railway station where trains back to Liverpool are at 7 mins and 37 minutes past the hour. Here is the route on Komoot where you can download a GPX file if you want one: Southport to Ormskirk via Preston and Leyland
The route is comparatively flat along mostly quiet country lanes, with good surfaces even through the country parks, although there a quite a few short sharp rises in Preston and on the way back to Ormskirk. There is a stretch of about 500m on a dirt track (part of NCR 62 around Crossens).
46 miles, Grade C
Created by John Hampson