Cumbria Ways Day 12 - Bowness on Solway to Carlisle

Distance: 16.5 miles
Ascent: 150m
Weather: much cloudy and windier than yesterday
Friendly cows, little lambs, bunnies, heron, goldfinches

We left Bowness (and its friendly cats) by the road to Port Carlisle then went along a private road along the estuary where walkers are welcome. But not cyclists.

Along the way, we met Signpost man, who was very chatty and wanted to make a sign post up for us with the distance to wherever we wanted, but frankly we just wanted to leave. He was a bit confused that we weren't doing the Hadrian's Wall path, and also that the walk we said we were doing doesn't actually go anywhere near here. Which is perhaps understandable. (We were lacking in accommodation options, so added a detour to bring us up to the Wallsend guest house, where we stayed last night and can heartily recommended.)

The path leaves the track to follow the Vallum (less sheep poo than the last section we did on the Pennine Way) and near Drumburgh we rejoined the Cumbria Coastal Way.

For a long, straight, Roman-inspired while we walked on an embankment by the side of the road, which was a disused railway line, and before that a canal.

Along here, the Parish council of Brough-on-Sands have provided a shelter, so we stopped at it for elevenses, watching the cows, lost motorhome drivers and a speeding lorry.

It started to warm up a bit during the afternoon when sun came out, and we followed a detour around the (much eroded and repaired) bank of the River Eden in Grinsdale.  We were practically there, when the path was completely blocked by fallen tree. Luckily there was a track behind the church which led into the village, near World of Chicken.

A pleasant path took us through a wood lined with buttercups, pignut, forget me nots, pink campion, stitchwort, herb robert, dog violets, bluebell, vetch and oxeye daisies. There were also a lot of less pleasant flies.

Carlisle suffered a lot this winter with floods and the riverside path and bridge was a victim, so we needed to detour into town, taking a public footpath beside the power station into an industrial estate, before emerging by the castle.

Here we leave the Cumbria Coastal Way, as we are not doing the last twelve miles into Gretna. Instead, tomorrow we turn south onto the Cumbria Way.