Cycling in Yorkshire & Beyond
Cycling in Yorkshire & Beyond
Stage 2 of the Tour de France 2027 is a 223km hilly stage from Keswick to Liverpool.
The opening kilometres are in the Lake District National Park, passing along the shore of Lake Windemere. The route then heads further south through Carnforth, Morecambe and Lancaster.
Next the Forest of Bowland provides some categorised climbs, including the Côte de Trough of Bowland.
Then Stage 2 goes through Clitheroe and Blackburn; there are a couple more climbs before the riders reach Liverpool.
There's a descent around 1km before the finish line in Liverpool.
Race Details | Poll | Map & Profile | Timings | Videos | Food & Drink | Route Notes | Favourites
| Date | Saturday 3rd July 2027 |
|---|---|
| Stage classification | Hilly |
| Distance | 223km |
| Intermediate sprint | TBC |
| Climbs | Côte de Jubilee Tower Côte de Trough of Bowland Côte de Waddington Fell Côte de Belmont Côte de Parbold |
| Total climbing | TBC |
Vote for one of the main contenders to win Stage 2 (to be added later).
This is a map of the route of Stage 2, Tour de France 2027.
This is a zoom-able map of Stage 2 Tour de France 2027. I have plotted it based on the map image above and I am confident that it is largely accurate, but it is not possible for it be 100% right.
(I'm sure that it is a lot closer to the actual route than other plotted maps I've seen online).
This is the profile of Stage 2 Tour de France 2027.
| Caravan | Fast Schedule | Slow Schedule | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start Time (départ fictif) | |||
| Start Time (départ réel) | |||
| Intermediate Sprint | |||
| Climb | |||
| Finish Line (223km) |
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This is a video of the route of Stage 2 Tour de France 2027.
Stage 2 is a race down the west coast of England, from Keswick to Liverpool. It goes through Lancaster.
Lancashire hotpot is a local speciality. It is lamb and onion topped with sliced potatoes and baked slowly on a low heat.
Potted shrimps are a favourite at nearby Morecambe.
The race grazes the edge of Greater Manchester. Manchester Caviar is actually mushy peas, often eaten with fish and chips.
Eccles cakes are flaky pastry cases filled with currants and topped with sugar. James Birch first sold them from his pastry shop in 1793.
Vimto, originally called Vimtonic, was invented in Manchester in 1908.
There are lots of breweries in Manchester, so the stage is probably best accompanied by beer.
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Liverpool is known for scouse, a meat and vegetable stew that is based on a recipe brought here by Norwegian sailors.
The stage starts in Keswick (départ fictif).
Stage 2 starts in the Lake District town of Keswick. The neutralised section is likely to begin at the Moot Hall in Market Square.
Keswick is a market town and holiday destination at the north end of Derwent Water. Its population is around 5,000.
Keswick's name might be a mixture of Old English and Viking, and mean 'farm where cheese is made'.
Keswick was granted a charter to hold a market by Edward 1 in 1276, and sheep and wool were traded there. The market has been held without interruption from 1276 to the present day.
In the 1500s, copper was mined around Keswick with the expertise of copper miners from Germany. Graphite was mined too, and from the second half of the 1700s it was used to make pencils.
From the 1700s, the Lake Poets' descriptions of the area (Thomas Gray, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey and William Wordsworth) attracted tourists to visit.
Keswick's biggest attractions are the nearby fells, such as Skiddaw, Grisedale Pike and Helvellyn; and Derwent Water for boat trips and water sports.
Visitor attractions include the Theatre by the Lake, the Pencil Museum, the Puzzling Place, and the climbing wall.
The départ réel will be on the outskirts of Keswick.
The riders set off on the A5271 Penrith Road then (climbing Chestnut Hill) the A591 Castlerigg Brow.
The A591 runs along Thirlmere from north to south.
It will be fine for the Tour de France when the road is closed, but is described by one contributor to a Cycling UK forum as 'largely a horrific road' for cycling.
Next Stage 2 passes Grasmere (the village and the lake).
Grasmere is a village and lake in the Lake District.
It is famous as the home of William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy; they lived in Dove Cottage.
Wordsworth and his wife are buried in the graveyard of St Oswald's Church.
Grasmere is known for its gingerbread.
Immediately south of Grasmere village is Grasmere lake.
Next after Grasmere, the race passes Rydal Water and the hamlet of Rydal.
Rydal is a village in the Lake District by Rydal Water.
The village is a cluster of houses, a hotel and St Mary's Church.
William Wordsworth lived at Rydal Mount from 1813 to 1850.
The route continues to Ambleside.
Ambleside is a village in the Lake District at the head of England's largest natural lake, Windermere. The population is about 2,500.
The Roman fort of Galava (founded 79AD, rebuilt under Hadrian in the early 100s) was sited here and housed 500 Roman auxiliaries. It was linked to a fort on the coast at Ravenglass by a road via Wrynose and Hardknott passes.
A civilian town (vicus) grew up by Galava.
Ambleside got a charter to hold a market in 1650, and wool and other goods were bought and sold at Market Place.
One of Ambleside's famous landmarks is Bridge House.
It was built in the 1600s or 1700s as a summer house and apple store. Since then, it has been a counting house for local mills, a tea room, weaving shop, cobblers, chair-makers and even a family home. Now it belongs to the National Trust.
Ambleside is a base for walking in the fells. There are also 'steamers' - ferries from Ambleside's Waterhead area to Bowness-on-Windermere, and other places around Lake Windermere.
There are two Michelin-starred restaurants in Ambleside.
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Now the race continues on the A591 Lake Road, past the National Trust's Stagshaw Garden (azaleas and rhododendrons), along the shore of Lake Windermere past Brocknhole National Park Visitor Centre, and via Troutbeck Bridge to the town of Windermere.
Windermere was called Birthwaite before the railway came. It grew after the arrival of the railway in 1847, and the Windermere Hotel opened.
Next Stage 2 takes the A5074 the short distance to Bowness-on-Windermere.
Bowness-on-Windermere is a town on the shore of Lake Windermere with a population of about 4,000.
It's name is said to be an evolution from 'Bulnes', meaning the headland where the bull grazes.
There are records of churches here in the 1400s, and a grammar school was founded in 1600.
Bowness grew during the 1800s from a small fishing village to a holiday town. As well as tourism, boat-building was an industry here.
The railway reached Windermere in 1847, the residents of Bowness having opposed a station in their own town.
There's a cable ferry that can carry cars from Bowness to Far Sawrey on the western side of the lake.
In fiction, Bowness is the model for Rio in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons.
Bowness is home to an attraction called The World of Beatrix Potter.
Just north of Bowness is the Windermere Jetty Museum, focused on steamboats.
After passing Windermere Marina, the riders take the B5284 Longtail Hill, then the A5074 Kendal Road up Barker Knott hill.
The road is always up and down with lots of bends: it is a 'grippy' British road. It passes through Winster, then meets the A590 near Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve, where ospreys nest.
Here, the race goes left on the A590, then right on the A6 Princes Way, over the river Kent on Levens Bridge and past Levens Hall.
Still on the A6, Stage 2 continues to Heversham and Milnthorpe.
Just off the main road at Milnthorpe is Dallam Tower country house and deer park.
The A6 continues to Beetham, then past the Lakeland Wildlife Oasis.
A series of three roundabouts take the riders past Pine Lake, then they head on to Carnforth.
Carnforth is a market town that falls within the City of Lancaster, Lancashire. Its name comes from Keerford, a ford of the river Keer.
In the 1800s, it expanded due to the railway and its ironworks (established 1846). Local limestone, used in the smelting process, meant that Carnforth was a good location for the ironworks.
Later, Carnforth was a railway depot, at the junction of three railway lines.
The railway station was the location used to film the David Lean movie Brief Encounter in 1945, written by Noel Coward and starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard.
In the film Carnforth Station was Milford Junction.
There is now a Brief Encounter Refreshment Room, made to look like the film set and with lots of memorabilia.
There's a Heritage Centre too.
The clock that featured in the film was painstakingly restored over a number of years. When it was unveiled, the little curtain they used to reveal it got stuck on one of the hands and broke the mechanism!
This is the film itself.
Stage 2 continues through Bolton-le-Sands and Hest Bank to Morecambe.
The fourth inlet north of Wales has been called Morecambe Bay since Roman times, but the town itself is an amalgamation of three hamlets that came about in 1889.
Morecambe's railway history began in 1848, and the railway was key to a hundred golden years as a holiday resort for the masses.
In recent decades, Morecambe has undeniably been in decline.
It's future could be as a nice, calm seaside resort with attractions including the restored Midland Hotel and the planned Eden Project North.
The race turns left on the A589 Broadway, rather than going to Morecambe proper.
It then takes the B5321 Torrisholme Road before coming back to the A589 to cross the river Lune on Skerton Bridge. The riders are now in Lancaster.
Lancaster is a city on the river Lune and the Lancaster Canal. It has a population of around 52,000 in the city itself.
It started out as a Roman fort, and the castle on that site has remained important over the centuries.
The Port of Lancaster thrived from trade in spices and slaves.
In Lancaster the race takes the A6 North Road, then turns left on Nelson Street. Lancaster Town Hall is at the corner of North Road and Nelson Street.
Nelson Street crosses the Lancaster Canal then becomes East Road.
Stage 2 forks right on Wyresdale Road, which goes past Lancaster Royal Grammar School and Williamson Park. It is a steep-ish hill.
The Ashton Memorial is in Williamson Park.
Wyresdale Road/Langthwaite Road takes the race under the M6, then over the river Conder to Quernmore.
From Quernmore, the riders tackle the first categorised climb of the stage, the Côte de Jubilee Tower.
The Côte de Jubilee Tower is steep at first, but more undulating further up. It is 3.8km at 6.1%.
The road descends to cross the river Grizedale and the Tarnbrook Wyre at Lee.
At a hamlet called Marshaw, the race joins Trough Road. After following the Marshaw Wyre river, it ascends to the Trough of Bowland.
The Trough of Bowland is a U-shaped high valley in the Forest of Bowland.
The Côte de Trough of Bowland is 1.9km at an average 5.2%.
There's a descent by Langden Brook to Dunsop Bridge.
From Dunsop Bridge, the riders head east along the river Hodder to Newton. There they turn right, going south on the B6478 Hallgate Hill towards Waddington Fell.
This is the next categorised climb, the Côte de Waddington Fell.
The Côte de Waddington Fell is 3.4km at an average 6.4%.
The race continues south on what is now called Slaidburn Road to Waddington and Clitheroe.
Clitheroe is a town in the Ribble valley of around 16,279 people.
It has a Norman castle keep, one of the smallest in England. Jet engines for aircraft were developed and tested by Frank Whittle in Clitheroe during World War II.
The quarry and cement company Heidelberg is one of the biggest local employers.
The race leaves Clitheroe on Whalley Road, heading for Whalley, where it crosses the river Calder.
Still on Whalley Road, Stage 2 goes through Billington and Langho to reach Blackburn.
The race seems to take the A666 in Blackburn. It crosses the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and the river Darwen.
The riders leave Blackburn/Ewood going south on Heys Lane/Tockholes Road, up to Bog Heights, then down to Ryal Fold near Upper Raddlesworth Reservoir.
Stage 2 joins the A675 Belmont Road which goes along the side of Belmont Reservoir and through Belmont.
Then there's a right turn on Rivington Road, up the Côte de Belmont.
The Côte de Belmont is 2km at an average 4% gradient.
The descent on Sheep House Lane takes the peloton over Rivington Reservoir.
The race then seems to join the A673 Chorley Road to Chorley.
From Chorley, the riders are on the A581 Dawber's Lane, then the B5250 Lydiate Lane across the river Yarrow to Eccleston.
Now the race is approaching the next climb, the Côte de Parbold.
This climb appears to be from Parbold on the A5209 Sparrow Hill.
The Côte de Parbold is 1.8km at an average 5.6%.
Next the riders are on the B5375 Appley Lane North to Appley Bridge, over the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and the river Douglas, and on Appley Lane South to Bank Top and Roby Mill.
It then goes through Upholland and Higher End before taking Crank Road to Crank, Millbrook Lane through Windle and Eccleston, and passing Knowsley Park.
Now the race goes through Prescot and Huyton, and is approaching the finish in Liverpool.
The Stage 2 finish is in Liverpool.
The route after crossing the M62 is along Roby Road/Bowring Park Road, then Rocky Lane.
There's a left turn onto the A5058 Queens Drive, followed by a right turn onto the A562 Smithdown Road/Allerton Road.
Then it's left on Greenbank Drive into Sefton Park.
In the park, the riders turn right on Mossley Hill Drive, then they leave the park on the B5175 Croxteth Road/Princes Avenue/Princes Road.
The parcours is then left on the A562 Parliament Street, and right on the A5040 Chaloner Street/Wapping/Strand Street to finish in front of the Royal Liver Building.
Stage 2 is hilly, but with the last climb 40km before the finish. It could be a day for a breakaway.
Who do you think will win Stage 2 of the 2027 Tour de France?
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