Mixed bag of walking today as we made our way to the city of Carlisle. We were prepared for a bit of road slogging but did not appreciate how hard it would be on our feet and legs. Expecting only the grey of the roads, we were surprised therefore when we had a couple of nice stretches off road.
The first nice off-road section was at Port Carlisle where you are diverted on to a nice kind of woodland walk. It goes through what was the location of the Port Carlisle / Carlisle canal. Although there is little left off the canal to see it was a nice little diversion. Exiting this section, to remove ourselves from the main road, we took the diversion that runs out to Glasson and then cross-country to just beyond Drumburgh before re-joining the main road. What follows was a slog on the main road, broken up by a coffee stop in a field where brewed up and enjoyed a box of biscuits we were carrying. A major part of this section we walked on the raised seabank to the right of the road.
With recollections of our previous walk on this route we looked forward to the River section which is accessed at Beaumont. Unfortunately,this section is now re-routed on to another, albeit smaller road through to Kirkandrews. From there the river route is finally accessed at Grinsdale. It is an up and down section and, after the road walking, fairly challenging on the feet and legs.
We enjoyed another break here sitting on a log and taking the weighting the feet. It was a very warm day and it was nice just to sit by the River in the afternoon sunshine. We came off the path just below the Carlisle district of Willow Home to access the town centre and our accommodation for the next two nights. After completing ninety miles in our first week back after lockdown we look forward to a restful day off.