[a] The river rises high up on the northern flanks of Skiddaw, in the Northern Fells area of the English Lake District, and flows in a northerly direction until it joins the River Eden on the north side of the city of Carlisle.

[1][b] The Cumbria Way follows most of the course of the river, from its early stages in the Skiddaw Forest to Carrock Fell and again from Caldbeck through to the centre of Carlisle.

[4] Candleseaves Bog is an area of wetland between Skiddaw and Great Calva that contributes to the flow of the river in its early stages.

At Hutton Roof, the river emerges from the dale and turns sharply northwards, a course taking it through the settlements of Hesket Newmarket, Sebergham, Buckabank and Dalston.

The river enters the suburbs of Carlisle north of Cummersdale flowing over a weir in Denton Holme at the site of a large Victorian mill.