Grecar one

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Grecar here.

I think the prior review was over generous. The connection through to the river Eden is completely wrong. The path off the main road is closed but you don’t know this until you have committed to it and requires a large backtrack and a walk down a busy road.the direction from the next roundabout lead you up a private track where I was accosted by the farmer. The river walk through to Rockliffe is good but the directions at metal bridge are incorrect. Once you do find the way up to the bridge the rest of the walk is roadside with very little in the way of verge or footpath.Altogether not a walk I would recommend or do again.

I’ve given this route 3 stars, not because I didn’t enjoy it – I did – but I have some reservations about safety and accessibility. It is most definitely not wheelchair friendly, and not even very people friendly in 1 or 2 places at this time of year (August 2021).

We walked it from Carlisle to Gretna. The marked route from Carlisle station to the Eden river wasn’t accessible at this time due to a road and path closure. If you’re relying on the lift getting you up to, and down from, the bridge across Castle Way – don’t. It’s not working and I don’t remember the time it last was. It would be better to start this walk by simply walking through Carlisle city centre to the castle and so on from there.

We ran into another problem in Kingmoor sidings. The field which the route should have taken us through to get back to Kingmoor road was fenced off due to a project protecting greater crested newts so we had to find another route which led us back further south than we ideally wanted to go. Also meant we had further to walk on the road with no pavement/path.

Soon after, just past the 2nd roundabout the route indicated a track which was now gated off and marked private. We walked down towards Stainton where we knew there was a foot path to the right which would lead us to the river Eden (after another right turn and a subsequent left turn – neither signposted) and so get us back on track for Cargo and Rockcliffe.

The path through Cargo and Rockcliffe was as described. After we passed Rockcliffe Cross the path was indicated to go across fields along the edge of farmland. This was not accessible due to very high thistles and weeds – no path was even visible. We identified an alternative route to take us to Halltown farm. From there the path was very sketchy with high weeds obliterating the path in places. The nearby fence is electric! I can vouch for that!

We eventually arrived at Metal Bridge. Due to road layout changes you now have to turn right out of Metal Bridge and then sharp left onto the road to take you across the Eden and the Esk. This was trying – 2 miles dead straight to Gretna and the views may have been beautiful but we were totally distracted by the fact that this was a busy road and there was no footpath, just a narrow grass verge.

There were a lot of stiles on this route, a lot of very narrow bridges, lots of steps (mostly minor but crossing the west coast railway line involved a big flight of steps on both sides), a few kissing gates and a field of cows to walk through. There were no water problems but I know from past experience that the Cargo – Rockcliffe path floods sometimes and would have been impassable. You would have to walk along the road instead.

A satisfying walk but not a Sunday afternoon stroll.

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