The best traffic-free bike rides around Carlisle

Stamp point for your passport. Inside the Sands Centre.

Different outlook on different days, with clear skies good views of the Lakeland fells

This is a great cycling stretch of road with good views out over the Solway Firth. It's as flat as anything, and you can get a good bit of speed up. A super nice highway to ride all the way to Carlisle.

A noteworthy fact about Burgh Marsh is that it was the place where Edward the First, one of the most formidable English monarchs, died when he developed fever during a campaign against the Scots. Where he is supposed to have died on the Marsh is marked by a rarely visited monument that is well worth a visit. It is a tranquil and peaceful place.

Burgh Marsh is a vast salt marsh on the Solway Firth, where nature, history, and mystery converge. Located near Burgh by Sands, the area forms a key part of the Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. King Edward I died here in 1307 during his campaign against Scotland, an event marked by a monument in the middle of the marsh. Bordering the western section of Hadrian's Wall, Burgh Marsh also bears traces of the Roman presence. Today, Burgh Marsh stands as a silent witness to centuries of frontier history, with a landscape that invites reflection and exploration.

Carlisle Castle, built in 1092 by William II, is an imposing medieval fortress on the edge of Carlisle city center, near Hadrian's Wall. The castle played a key role in the Anglo-Scottish conflict, withstanding at least seven sieges between 1174 and 1461. In 1568, Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here, and during the Jacobite Rising of 1745, it was the last English fortress to be besieged. Visitors can explore the 12th-century gatehouse, the Tudor gun platform, and the keep with its 15th-century carvings. Also within its walls is Cumbria's Museum of Military Life, which chronicles 300 years of military history.

Carlisle Cathedral, founded in 1122 as an Augustinian priory and elevated to cathedral status in 1133, is one of England's oldest and smallest cathedrals. The building combines Norman and Gothic architecture, with its striking east window—the largest example of Flowing Decorated Gothic in the country. Inside, you'll find medieval choir stalls with misericords, a 14th-century star-studded ceiling, and a chapel for the Border Regiment. Built in red sandstone, the cathedral also houses a phratry (refectory) dating from around 1500, a Prior's Tower with a painted ceiling, and a gatehouse dating from 1527. Despite damage during the English Civil War and restorations in the 19th century, Carlisle Cathedral remains a spiritual and cultural center.

The patronage of this place of worship, the Episcopal Church (Cathedral) in Carlisle, has been entrusted to the care of the "Holy and Indivisible Trinity." The following words come from the late Pope Benedict XVI (1927 to 2022) about that mystery of faith, which we, in the various denominations of Christianity, jointly worship as the ONE God in THREE Persons: "On the Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Through the Holy Spirit, who helps us understand the words of Jesus and guides us into all truth, believers can, so to speak, gain knowledge of the innermost being of God and discover that He is by no means infinite solitude, but a communion of light and love, life given and received in an eternal dialogue between the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit—lover, beloved, and love, to use the words of St. Augustine." (Address by Pope Benedict XVI, at the Angelus on 11 June 2006)