Chalk Beck rises close to Wavergillhead and runs north, meeting Iron Gill and proceeding through a wooded clough to Chalkfoot, helping define the western edge of Inglewood Forest.
[10] At Biglands, it is joined by Bampton Beck, and continues to Wampool farm and grange.
From this point, it runs parallel to the River Eden, demarcating the Bowness peninsula.
It then joins the River Waver to form Moricambe Bay and flows past Anthorn into the Solway Firth.
For much of its length the river forms the boundary between the parishes of Woodside to the west and Thursby and Aikton to the east and north.