Walk · Cumbria

Bitts Park, Rickerby Park and the River Eden

Carlisle · CA3 8UZ

3.4MILES

1h 25mON FOOT

25mCLIMB

CircularSHAPE

The route A-road B-road Lane Track Path Water Woodland

Off-road 80% 20% shares tarmac with cars

Field & moor path 72%Lane & track 8%Road with traffic 20%

Our drawing of the route, over road and path data from OpenStreetMap. It shows where the walk goes and what it goes through. It is not a survey and not a navigation aid — carry OS Explorer on the hill. Off-lead information here is what walkers reported or what signage allows — never our advice. Whether and when a dog is off the lead is the owner’s decision and legal responsibility; keep dogs under control near livestock and follow signs on the day.

Starts at

Bitts Park car park, Dacre Road, behind Carlisle Castle CA3 8UZ

Parking

Council pay-and-display off Dacre Road, roughly 100 spaces. Fills on summer weekends when the splash park is open and on match days at the Sheepmount.

Directions to the start →

The city's standard dog circuit: out of the Bitts Park car park on Dacre Road behind the castle, east along the Eden past the bowling greens, over the Memorial suspension bridge into Rickerby Park, a loop of the park to the obelisk and back down the north bank to Eden Bridge. Rickerby Park is grazed, so there is stock on the grass most of the year and the field gates matter more than the map does. The return leg runs west through Bitts Park to the Sheepmount athletics ground, where the Hadrian's Wall Path carries on along the river. Cumberland Council's PSPO puts no lead requirement on either park, but it does exclude dogs from the fenced play area and skate park, which sit right on the line of the walk.

THE SMALL PRINTSchedule C of the Cumberland Council Public Spaces Protection Order (No. 1) 2024 lists Bitts Park, Dacre Road CA3 8UZ among its closed play areas and skate parks, where dogs are excluded outright. Neither park appears in Schedule B, so no lead requirement applies elsewhere. Rickerby Park is grazed - leads round the stock. Breach of the order is an offence carrying a fine up to level 3 on the standard scale.

House rules, decoded

Livestock — leads on

REGION · CUMBRIA

GRID · 54.8977, -2.9424

SOURCE · HTTPS://WWW.CUMBERLAND.GOV.UK/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/2025-05/APPENDIX%201%20PUBLIC%20SPACE%20PROTECTION%20ORDER.PDF

Bitts Park, Rickerby Park and the River Eden

House rules, decoded

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