It’s peaceful on the Preston Guild Wheel today, there is no wind. Very few people out, not even many dog walkers. I cycle slowly round, not having been on the bike for nearly two months. I’m in no rush and have time to see what Spring is bringing to the route. The woods have greened up since my last visit and bird song is everywhere. It is in the woods, Red Scar in particular on the early part of my circuit, that the floral display has changed. The celandines are fading to be replaced by the spreading sea of bluebells. Wild garlic is looking fresh, and its white flowers are opening up. Patches of cowslips and cuckoo flowers light up more open spaces. The green hawthorn has started to flower, it’s probably time I cast a clout, but the fickle weather changes day by day. 
The notoriously muddy section at the bottom of the hill as you enter Brockholes Reserve has been drained and a decent hardcore surface created. I call in at the first hide to see what’s happening on the water. I’m not carrying binoculars, but I make use of the shop selling binoculars and telescopes. Their equipment is so much better than my antiquated items. Maybe time for an upgrade, but the assistant baffles me with his enthusiastic technical sales talk. At least I checked out the lake with his powerful scope.
On alonside the Ribble, through the parks and then the docks. The long drag alongside Blackpool Road went on forever as I pass the nearly finished junction for the Western Link Road. The Guild Wheel now goes under the bridge carrying this road. 
My favourite café, The Final Whistle on the University’s playing fields, is surprisingly closed. I have to make do with one of their benches for a sit down with some water and a banana. I find the ‘hilly’ sections through Fulwood a bit of a chore and have a few spells of walking. Just over 21 miles in Spring sunshine.
Good to see the bluebells.
They will be better in about a week.
The woods are looking great just now, full of promise.
More to come. Everywhere is so green at present. Arguably the best time of the year.
That’s true. It keeps tempting me to cast a clout, but I’ve not done it yet.
I got ‘lost’ at that junction coming back from Lytham in February, the cones sent me the wrong way and I ended up on the road to Southport but I knew where I was so turned off just before Riverside and got back onto Blackpool Road. I like the swan, but then swans are always worth a photo or two.
It’s not far off from being open. The junction at the Northern end of the Western Distributor where it links with the M55 is taking longer. At the end of the day it wont make much difference because there has been a vast amount of new housing on the western side of Preston which will flood that road with cars. I often get ‘lost’ driving in the Riversway area.