The Cumbria Cycle Way

Guidebook to the Cumbria Cycle Way, a 260-mile waymarked cycle route around Cumbria. Being circular it can be started anywhere on the route: Carlisle, the Eden and Lune Valleys, Morecambe Bay, the west coast and Solway Firth. Complete information about facilities and attractions en route, and illustrated with 21 maps.

The Cumbria Cycle Way grew from an idea of the late Wesley Park, Recreation and Amenities Officer of Copeland District Council, Cumbria. It opened in 1980 and was the first of its kind in the United Kingdom. The route has since been improved and waymarked by the County Council, in consultation with the Cumbria Cycling Club, the District Councils and the Lake District and North Yorkshire Dales National Park authorities. Cumbria County Council has also produced a leaflet on the Cycle Way, which is obtainable from the County Planning Department and from tourist information offices. This book is intended to supplement the leaflet, not to replace it.

The Cycle Way is a carefully thought-out route, mostly along minor roads, extending 260 miles in a roughly circular shape (see Map 1). From Carlisle it follows the foot of the escarpment of the northern Pennines to Kirkby Stephen. From there it goes through valleys in the central Pennines as far as Kirkby Lonsdale and then reaches Morecambe Bay at Arnside. After winding around the sheltered recesses of the Bay and the Duddon Estuary it emerges on to the open coast of the Irish Sea. Eventually it reaches the quieter waters and salt marshes of the Solway Firth before returning to Carlisle. Cumbria is not noted for its seaside, yet more than half of the Cycle Way is near the coast. It also reaches 1500 feet above sea-level at the head of the Eden valley. Apart from the diversity of landscape there’s also a great variety of towns: the cathedral city of Carlisle, historic market towns and no fewer than five towns established within the last two centuries.

You don’t have to start at Carlisle, of course. Fortunately much of the route is near to a railway (see Map 2). The London-Glasgow line goes through Carlisle and Lancaster, at both of which you can connect with the west coast line. While the experienced cyclist will probably want to undertake the whole route in one holiday, others may wish to do only part of it. The railways give great flexibility in this respect. Unfortunately, British Rail now seems to be intent on discouraging the carriage of bikes on trains. At a time when cycling is recovering its popularity!

As well as giving information about services and facilities, we have tried to point out things along the way that are likely to catch the cyclist’s eye. These might seem insignificant, such as the type of stone in a wall, but they may lead to a closer understanding of the wider landscape. We have avoided bringing in historical or other facts about anything that cannot actually be seen from the saddle, and have ignored features near to the Cycle Way if you would have to abandon your bikes to see them.

But we have not ignored anything that you might have preferred not to have seen, like the odd chemical works or nuclear reprocessing plant! If it’s there it gets a mention. And because most cyclists are observant and thoughtful folk - unlike some self-testing folks who, heads down and seeing nothing but their feet or front wheel, march or pedal off to “do” a long-distance route - we have tried to foresee their intelligent questions. “Why have a corn mill when we haven’t seen any corn growing?” “Were the hills always so bare?” The Cycle Way isn’t meant for endurance tests or for racing either.

Some things in this guide might clash with long-held assumptions, for example that some villages might never have had much connection with agriculture (contrary to many people’s views, Cumbria has an industrial history dating from the Stone Age); or that it is often the lowest places, not the highest, that seem the least crowded. Without wishing to boast - well, not much - we know that it is not every guide that gets down to such fundamentals.

As in the official leaflet, the Cycle Way is here described in a clockwise direction (although with some attempt to cater for anticlockwise or what we have termed widdershins riders). Going clockwise gives the benefit of following winds beside the Irish Sea, where winds from the southwest are most common. Also it gives only a gradual rise up the long Eden valley compared with a stiffer climb going anticlockwise.

We have used the seven stages described in the leaflet as a convenient basis for dividing our book. The stages link up seven towns, each described at the end of a chapter. Thus Carlisle is described at the end of Stage 7 not at the beginning of Stage 1, because we give priority to the route through the countryside. The stages are suggested in the leaflet as one-day stages for “reasonably fit persons”. Although the route keeps as low as possible there are some very steep bits, such as between Barrow and Millom. People from outside Cumbria and inexperienced cyclists may well be unused to these. It’s easy to overdo it. There’s nothing wrong or “cheating” with using the railway, even if it’s just from one station to the next. There may not, however, always be room for bikes on the trains that run along the branch-lines.

If you like maps and want something to supplement our diagrams, try Bartholomew’s regular series at 1:100,000 scale. The Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 (Landranger) maps will be much more expensive because seven sheets are involved (85, 86, 89, 91, 96, 97, 98). Providing you can manage without a map for the district immediately around Barrow, only two Bartholomew’s sheets are needed (nos. 34 and 38).

The Cumbria Cycle Way has been waymarked throughout (although beware of the occasional sign that has been turned in the wrong direction by some comedian). You’ll develop an eye for them. However, remember that some might be on the other side of a wide main road. In the absence of a sign, keep straight on.

Finally, wherever there is no legal right of way the written permission of the landowner, and tenant if appropriate, for cyclists to follow the route has been obtained by the county council. So you shouldn’t have any trouble.