← Kirkbride Marathon·1 night

Bowness-on-Solway: A Night at the End of the Wall

A night in a small village on the marathon's own coastal circuit, with a flat reserve walk to a bird hide and a pub that serves food daily.

Duration1 night
TransitPrebooked taxi or car, roughly 20 to 30 minutes from Kirkbride
DepartsKirkbride

After the Kirkbride Marathon: Bowness-on-Solway

The Route: Kirkbride → Bowness-on-Solway → Carlisle → Newcastle Airport Logistics: A short road transfer, a night in the village, then a taxi or bus to Carlisle and a train east. Everything depends on a booked lift at each end. Marathon Month: June Duration: 1 night

Kirkbride ──(20 to 30 mins by road)──> Bowness-on-Solway
                                            │
                                  (road to Carlisle)
                                            │
Newcastle Airport (NCL) ◄──(Metro)── Newcastle Central ◄──(about 1h35 Northern)── Carlisle

The Kirkbride Marathon runs through Bowness-on-Solway on its longer coastal circuit, so the village is one you have already seen, probably with a headwind. It is also the western end of Hadrian's Wall, which gives the Monday a reason beyond rest.

June at Bowness means long light and a good chance of wind. Sunrise is around 04:35 and sunset close to 22:00 in nearby Carlisle, so a late evening stroll is possible. The Solway offers no shelter from weather, so carry the waterproof you ran in.

Book a car or taxi from Kirkbride, and allow 20 to 30 minutes as a planning figure. Do the same for the leave-taking: the village has no railway station.

Night One: Bowness-on-Solway

Wallsend Guest House has five rooms, some of them twins, with breakfast included. With so few rooms it can fill without the area selling out, so book early and ask for a ground-floor room if stairs are a worry. The Kings Arms also has accommodation and serves food daily, with booking essential. It sells homemade takeaway pizza, which suits a night when nobody wants to sit upright. There is also Lindow Hall, a bunk-style hostel for up to 16 with no card payments.

For a gentle walk, RSPB Campfield Marsh, near the village, has a flat surfaced route of 800 metres to the hide, which is 1.6 kilometres out and back. In June it is a summer reserve of breeding birds, dragonflies and bog plants. The winter geese and ducks that the reserve is known for are not here in June. Check the opening times for the facilities before setting out.

Getting home

There is no easy public route out of Bowness. A taxi to Carlisle, then a Northern train to Newcastle Central in about an hour and a half, then the Metro to Newcastle Airport (NCL) in around 25 minutes, is the ordinary way. Check which train you can make, and book the taxi from the guesthouse the evening before.