Cumbria Way

14 Oct 2026

For a nice multi-day that wasn’t too taxing, at the end of September I thought I’d spend a few days walking The Cumbria Way, a relatively low level route from Ulswater to Carlisle, with just two steep bits. I parked at Carlisle, took the train to Ulverston where I spent the night, then as the first 20 or so km were supposedly boring farmland so I thought I’d skip that bit and get the bus from Ullswater to Torver, although that did mean missing out quite a nice section up by Beacon Tarn.

Lakeland hills, all knobbly and grassy, rise up behind a grassy field sprinkled with mature broadleaf trees. There are rocks and sheep in the field. The sky is blue with fluffy clouds

I gave myself three days of around 20km and one day of 13km. The first day, from Torver to Elterwater, was about 20km; I stopped at Coniston to pick up some snacks and lunch. The delightful lady in the Co-op was very excited, and asked if I was doing it for tiktok or instagram. No my webpage no-one reads.

More knobbly hills rising over a large grassy field bordered by broadleaf woodland. The sheep are all black with white faces

More knobbly hills, this time with the broadleaf woodland climbing high up the slopes.

The walk was lovely, without any real challenging bits. The only hoards of tourists were around Tarn Hows, but it was still a really beautiful spot. I took a minor detour to stop at Colwith Force for lunch.

Through the trees in the woodland, a lovely waterfall cascades over dark blocks

As I followed the River Brathay and came into Elterwater, it got busy again, but Elterwater itself was quite quiet. I’d made the Hostel by 2pm, meaning I still had hours of daytime yet.

A row of stone buildings that has been knocked into one, with two floors and 6 windows on teh top floor, and a mix of windows an doors on the ground floor. It is covered in Ivy and surrounded by trees.

At Elterwater Hostel I sat and rested and drank lots of free tea until they came to open up the hostel, dropped my things off in the dorm, had a hot dinner, then went out to look up some nearby cup & ring marked rocks on the Langdale Boulders.

Landgale at dusk, the valley bottom green fields and sheep sprinkled with trees while the knobbly hills rise up

in the dusk light, a few large boulders stand behind an old oak tree and next to an ancient, moss covered wall

Faintly in the rock, we can see lines and concentric circles carved into the rock near the base

Very different to the concentric circles cup & ring marks you find see in Northumberland.

Back at the hostel, there was a few people sitting around chatting in the common room, so I joined them. It was a very lovely evening, with most people either the Cumbria Way, plus two young Australian backpackers. I didn’t sleep brilliantly in a shared dorm, but was up early and had breakfast with one of the Cumbria Way guys before setting off.

I’d realised that I could probably make Keswick (33km) that day, rather than split the walk with a stay in Borrowdale and end up getting into Keswick at 11am the next day with nothing to do. Why not push on? I’d see how I feel.

The gravel path splits here on the valley floor, with steep slopes rising off to the left of the pictures. A wooden directional sign gives the way

The walk along Langdale was beautiful, and the guy from this morning caught up with me. It was really nice to walk with him and chat, a firefighter from Manchester aiming to do the whole Ulverston to Carlisle in 4 days. We reached the foot of the Stake Pass and he forged on ahead, but with him setting the pace for the first 10km I’d made really good time.

A pile of rocks marks the footpath up out of Langdale to the Stake Pass. The way follows a cascading stream coming down the steep slopes, and the tops are cloaked in cloud.

The climb up was steep, but not too bad with plenty of stops. I could see a few other folk making their way along the valley below.

Looking down from near the top of teh pass at the magnificent U shaped valley, brown on the slopes with bracken and grassy on the valley floor with a stream wandering along

The views were stunning, then into an atmospheric landscape at the top of Langdale Comb. Other paths led off to the left and right, tempting me to go off and climb some hills, but I thought best to press on. The other side of the pass was a steep drop down into Borrowdale, with equally stunning views.

Langdale, with bigger, steeper slopes and a larger river winding down it. The tops of the hills are knobbly rocks. it is a vast landscape.

I started to get a painful knee (it’s knee good) but took a painkiller by an energetic waterfall and was fine after that, then I had Borrowdale to myself for a beautiful 5km stroll down to the waterfalls at Langstrath Beck.

I stopped at Rosthwaite’s Flock In Tearoom for a cup of tea and asked if there was a picnic site somewhere in the village where I could eat my sandwiches, they very kindly said I could eat in their cafe’s garden if I tried not to be too obvious about it. After a nice rest and a use of the village facilities, I had just 13km to go to Keswick, mostly along the broad paths by Derwent Water.

The Derwent River before it reaches Derwent Water. It flows between grassy banks with broadleaf trees, the hills rising in the distance are cloaked in fluffy clouds as the sun tries to break through

The paths got a little busy again, I sat and ate some snacks on the shore of Derwent Water and was entertained by an absolutely manic female Mandarin Duck that agressively chased off any mallard that tried to ask me for a crisp. Eventually a Lesser Black-backed gull showed up, I was delighted to see it sported a green colour ring from the North West Gull Project - my friends there told me he’d been ringed as a chick on that very lake, and seen the previous day on the top of Cat Bells.

A gull, white body and grey wings, stands on the rocky lake shore with trees and hills in the distance. A mandarin duck is pecking about at the gravel too.

Eventually I crossed the bridge over the River Derwent and limped to my hostel in Keswick, happily with a nice cosy room to myself after 33km.

A footbridge over the river. Trees border the river bank seperating it from a grassy field, and of course the hills beyond.

After fish and chips in town for tea, I slept like the dead then was up nice and early. The hostel was deceptively large, an american man pointed me about 2 miles down a corridor to find the common room, a vast and empty dining hall.

The weather was drizzly and wet as I left Keswick, beginning the second climb of the trip up to the fells behind Skiddaw.

Through the drizzle and grey cloud, looking back at Keswick behind trees to the fells on the far horizon

The path heads along the side of a V shaped valley, far above the stream below. The hillsides are brown and yellow with grass and bracken

Once the path was out of the woods it followed the steep valley of the Glenderaterra Beck. Although my knee had been absolutely fine since yesterday, at some point here I distinctly heard my achilles go “twang” and wow did I feel it. I tried a few more paces, every 6th or so was the worst sharpest pain in my ankle I’d ever felt. This wasn’t very good. Would I need to get Mountain Rescue? I stopped and ate a banana, then had an ibuprofen and did some stretching.. and it was fine. It twinged a bit more, but after a few minutes there was no more pain. How weird!

A terraced row of what was once three or so pebbledashed houses, with the window lintels painted green. Would not look out of place on a council housing estate.

I reached the top of the Beck and the famous Skiddaw House Hostel, the highest in England and with no road access. What a wonderful place! It was extremely cosy with the kitchen left open for self-serve tea, coffee and snack.

Inside, an extremely cosy kitchen with armchairs around a low coffee table and a substantial wood burning stove.

A chalkboard reads 1550 ft Sessions Acoustic Music Gigs with photographs of musicians who have played at the hostel

The weather began to clear as I followed the River Caldew. I came across three men dangling wires into the bog, they turned out to be sound artists from Full Of Noises, an artists collective I worked with a bit in Cumbria years ago.

A river rushes past through grassy gentle slopes and patches of bracken. The sky is blue with white clouds.

I ate lunch by the river, and carried on until I reached the foot of Grainsgill Beck. I’ve been here before, last year I took a walk up this steep valley to climb a few of the Cadlbeck Fells up above. It’s a steep climb past the ruins of Carrock Fell Mine, a Wolfram (tungsten ore) mine that was last operational in the 1970s. The climb was a bit steep but eventually Lingy Hut loomed over me on the horizon..

Up the grassy slope, a square hut stands on the horizon

Run by the MBA since 2017, this immaculate bothy is a fine place to stop and rest a while. An old mining hut relocated up here and used as a shooting box, a school outdoor base, an open shelter, then managed by the National Park before MBA took it over.

Inside, the wooden hut, the walls and rafters painted pale green while wooden sleeping benches run along the far wall and part of the side walls. A wooden chair sits at a shelf and there is a window providing ample light

As with all bothies, they ask you to clear your litter out and leave no food so mice aren’t attracted…

In the pale green rafters, a little wooden model of a mouse has been carved

I reached the summit of High Pike, the highest point on the Cumbria Way.

A stone trig point, a pillar about 1m tall, stands next to the pile of stone that is the ancient cairn on the top of high fell.

Here, I took a detour to the north-east, following old mine tracks past fenced-off shafts and through disused quarries to reach Hudscales, where I had booked a space in the camping barn there.

A view over the hills, gently sloping here but vast, with patches of sunlight

A circular depression in the ground, fenced off, is filled with crystal clear blue water, an old mine shaft

Hudcsale Camping Barn, an old agricultural barn now looking lovely with a very neat gravel area in front, trees either side and a red door

The barn was perfect, even with a £1 meter for the electricity. The farmer brought round a vast tub of firewood for the woodburner and after my 25km, I slept very well.

The next day was 20km to Torver Train station. I had intended to skip the last 8km to Carlisle, as it wasn’t suposed to be very good. In fact, the whole day was a bit of a let down after three marvellous days in the fells. Caldbeck was a lovely village, but after that the path followed the River Caldew through what felt like amenity woodland, with very muddy paths, or along muddy field edges. Still, it was nice to follow the River for so many miles.

A huge arable field with a single oak tree in the middle

At least the weather was good! After a while the signage sort of gave up, which made it quite difficult in a few places where lots of Rights of Way met - it wasn’t always clear which was to go and I got annoyingly lost at one point, walking round in circles trying to find the route past houses with angry dogs and no entry signs. Helpfully, I realised someone had written “CW” in marker pen on the finger posts.

Wooden directional sign pointing in three directions for Public Footpaths and Bridleways, to Rose Bridge, Holmhill, Dalston and Gaitsgill. On two of them the letter CW and an arrow have been scrawled.

I realised I was going to miss my train by about 20 minutes, so didn’t bother rushing to try and make it. Instead I picked up some snacks at Dalston co-op, and pressed on to Carlisle, where I’d parked. After Dalston the path, still following the Caldew, passed factories and housing estates, before entering Carlisle.

Behind a large metal fence, a large Nescafe factory towers into the blue sky

A broad path follows the broad River Caldew, with trees on both sides

I saw the last “Cumbria Way” waymarker about 500m before the path just sort of stopped at a car park behind the rail line.

A wooden fence seperates the path from a near empty car park in an industrial estate

Not a very inspiring finish, but a really great walk. I feel that (apart from random knee and ankle injuries that never returned) I have a good measure of my fitness now for multi-day hikes, and I’m very keen to do another one soon.

Map of route taken