A588
From Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki
| A588 | ||||||||||
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| From: | Poulton-le-Fylde (SD347390) | |||||||||
| To: | Lancaster (SD478609) | |||||||||
| Via: | Hambleton | |||||||||
| Length: | 19.4 miles (31.2 km) | |||||||||
| Meets: | A586, A585, A6 | |||||||||
| Former Number(s): | A586 | |||||||||
| Primary Destinations | ||||||||||
| Blackpool • Lancaster • | ||||||||||
| Highways Authorities | ||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||||||||
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Route : Poulton-le-Fylde - Lancaster
The A588 is the most direct route from Blackpool to Lancaster, however it is a rural road with many twists and turns, therefore the bulk of the traffic between these places use the M6/M55 or A6 and A586, leaving the A588 a very quiet road, and a pleasure to drive. It mostly travels through the rural fields of Over Wyre and travelling east you have a fantastic backdrop of the Forest of Bowland Moors in front of you.
The A588 starts on the A586 in two different places in Poulton-le-Fylde and heads north, meeting itself twice before reaching the A585 at Skippool as a single road. It heads east along the A585 for a short distance before regaining its number and heading north. The A588 crosses the river Wyre estuary on a bridge built around 1992 replacing the now demolished Shard Bridge toll bridge which finished next to the pub on the east bank. Toll bridges (being privately owned) were not given road numbers in the original 1922 Road Lists, so the A588 originally started in the middle of nowhere at this point.
The road continues through the Over Wyre villages of Hambleton and Stalmine, bypassing Preesall and continuing on a flat S2 through fields of cows and sheep (the saltmarsh lamb around here is the best tasting lamb by far!). In the distance is the moorland, to the north, not far away, are far reaching views across Morecambe Bay to the mountains of the Lake District, on a clear day without a deadline to meet you cannot get better motoring than this...
At Cockerham the road turns north and through undulating fields with a very Celtic feel to the area, over salt marsh near Glasson Dock, past a lovely pub "the Stork" and into the older suburbs of Lancaster, crossing over the Lancaster canal before meeting up and ending at the roundabout with the A6 just outside the city centre.
Original Author(s): norfolktolancashire
