NCN 6 Kendal to Carlisle
Hesket Newmarket, Cumbria
Stage 9
Kendal to Carlisle
This really is the most delightful route and makes use of the old roads and paths around the central lakes of Windermere, Rydal Water, Grasmere and Thirlmere. As you’d expect, the views are glorious throughout, and the riding hilly! There’s even a ferry ride across Lake Windermere and a visit to Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage in Grasmere. The official route of the NCN 6 finishes in Threkeld, a small village in the northern Lakes. However, this wonderful extension takes you around the edge of the Northern Fells using NCN routes all the way to Carlisle Castle, which seems a fitting end for a grand ride up from London.
Ride details
Distance: 98km
Start: Preston Town Hall and Harris Museum
Finish: Kendal Market Place
Nearest Mainline station: Preston
Nearest Mainline to the finish: Oxenholme
Time needed: 1 day. (riding time approx. 5 hours) Lancaster, Levens Hall and'/or Sizergh Castle south of Kendal make good stops.
Difficulty: Moderate/Hard. The riding is over punchy hills and with a laden touring bike these can be quite testing.
Traffic and Surfaces: Shared paths, quiet country lanes, canal and railways paths. Some of the roads can have a lot of loose gravel. Care needed on corners and descents.
Cycle Paths: NCN 6, NCN 622 (The Guild Wheel, a 21 mile circular ring of Preston), NCN 69 (The Way of the Roses)
Recommended Bike shop; Lancaster; The Edge Cycle works, 2 Chapel St, Lancaster LA1 1NZ (a super bike shop who provide excellent service for bikes which are beginning to tire after the long ride up from London)
Recommended café/restaurant stops; Kendal; The Restaurant - a teaching restaurant, where chefs and waiting staff are learning their skills. It is only open in term times.
Recommended Stay;
What to see: Mrs Kirkham’s Dairy and farm shop, wonderful views, Dallam Tower
What to visit (£): Kendal; Sizergh Castle, Levens Hall, Castle
Links to Stage 8
Kendal to Grasmere.
It’s a bit of an uphill haul out of the town along quiet lanes until Staveley. Thereafter, you ride on a separate cycle track beside the A591 which positively roars with traffic. Over 47 million people visit the Lake District every year and it seems in high season as if they are all on this road. However, it is only a short (6km) section before you freewheel down through Windermere to the ferry across the lake. Mountains and glorious views are everywhere.
Lake Windermere and Stony Cove Pike
The Way to Grasmere
Once back on dry land, you ride through the Wray Castle estate on an excellent cycle path bordering Lake Windermere through trees and rough pasture. The route by-passes the centre of Ambleside, which whilst pretty, is drowning in the waves of its popularity. Fortunately, there is an excellent traffic-free road, Under Loughrigg, takes you towards Rydal Water, where an off road track circuits the lake and continues to Grasmere passing on the way, Dove Cottage, William Wordsworth’s home. The views are classic Lake District - glistening lakes, high mountains, Herdwick sheep grazing green fields, dry stone walls and dark stone cottages. Grasmere too is burdened by mass tourism, but is a pretty place. If you have time, a stop at the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop is highly recommended for a good mid-ride snack.
Rydal Water
Grasmere to Carlisle
There are no signs northwards for the NCN6 from Grasmere, despite the official route finishing a further 16km further on in Threkeld. This small village, on a junction of the popular C2C cycle route across Northern England seems as bizarre a place to finish an epic ride as the canal bridge in Cowley was to begin the journey, particularly since there is no onward transport for the cyclist.
The route described below is not part of the official Sustrans NCN 6 route, but despite a few km on the busy A591, the way up to Carlisle is one of the highlights of the whole route from London.
Thirlmere
There are some pretty and quiet back roads out of Grasmere before riding the next 4km on the busy A591 up the hill to Dunmail Raise. Traffic is fast, but the road is wide and the cyclist is given plenty of space. Once over the top of the Raise, there’s a left turn to a delightful forest road which takes you around Thirlmere, a water reservoir for Manchester. (At the time of riding (2022), United Utilities, a private company which owns the lake and road have closed the road. They claim to be ‘working hard’ to clear about a dozen fallen trees, but nine months after the storm nothing had been done. It is nigh on impossible - as well as an act of trespass - to pass the fence which closes the road, so whilst this situation persists, there is unfortunately no option but to continue along the A591. Please use the comments section below to update readers on the latest situation.)
St. John’s in the Vale
The Northern Fells
After Thirlmere, you take the B5332 to Threkeld where you join up with the popular C2C cycleway, the UK’s most popular cycle route, linking Whitehaven to Sunderland. The riding is wonderful along a gated road across moorland on the edge of the remote northern fells. At Mungrisdale, follow the signs to Mosedale, where in summer the Quaker Chapel serves delicious lunches, teas, snacks and coffees. Even better, the profits go towards the Northern Fells Charity, working to help people who live in the isolation of the fells.
Northern Cumbria
At Hesket Newmarket, one of the prettiest villages of the whole route up from London, the way to Carlisle joins NCN route 10. You leave the glorious fells behind and ride through tranquil pastures filled with grazing cattle and sheep. The lanes are narrow and deserted, the country richly green and rolling. At Raughton Head, there is a perfectly acceptable track across a grassy field, (or you can follow the NCN 7/10 signs to Dalston and stay on roads). At Dalston you ride on an excellent track beside the river Caldew, where there are said to be otters. The ride into Carlisle is serene and traffic-free on a superb cycle-way.
Raughton Head
Carlisle
The route finishes at the entrance to Carlisle Castle, a mighty fortress built in dark red sandstone. Nearby is the wonderful little cathedral, (the second smallest of Britains’s ancient cathedrals), a pedestrianised town and the Tullie House Museum, which houses many treasures including a lot of Roman artefacts from the nearby Hadrian’s Wall. It is a lovely thing to sit beside the walls of the Castle and look across the Solway Firth to Scotland thinking that you have just cycle the length of England. And what a super adventure it was too!
Carlisle Cathedral.
Every route on this website has been carefully researched as well as ridden. However situations on the ground can change quickly. If you know of changes to this route, or cafes, pubs and the like which you think other cyclists need to know about, feel free to share your thoughts below.
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