Gilpin Bridge is the hamlet by the old bridge. Here you will find a pub, a caravan park, a couple of houses and you can even buy a Jaguar car or shiny new tractor! The bridge is also the NTL point or normal tidal limit on the Gilpin. A pumping station behind the garage, lifts the water in the main drain up to the river. Until the drainage scheme was created the Lyth Valley was marshland and often underwater. This was one of the reasons people and goods crossed the sands of Morecambe Bay.
Eventually roads were constructed and the river constrained. Then when the new A590 was built it left Gilpin Bridge detached like an 'oxbow lake'. It also left a long section of old road to the west, heading to Witherslack, which is now good for quiet cycling. To join the two sections of old road a new tarmac cycle path and a new bridge have been built. The cycle bridge crosses another major drain heading for Foulshaw.
This is a roadside cache but obviously don't stop on the dual carriageway! Park on the old road by the cache or at the pub for a short stroll. A little bit of scrambling about is needed so fine work shoes and suits aren't a good idea. Area is wheelchair accessible but the cache isn't. Good views up the Lyth Valley and of White Scar on Whitbarrow.