The ‘Needs to Know’
Distance: 5 miles (8.05km)
Time to walk: About 2.5 hours at a leisurely stroll, but on a summer’s day you could easily spend a whole day here
Difficulty: Flat, easy & on hard surfaces
Dog Friendly?: Yes
Parking: Try & park up one of the roads in a spot for free otherwise you’ll pay £9 for the day in Buttermere village although, if you wish to wizz round 4 hours will be fine
Postcode: CA13 9XA
what3words: kick.spearhead.covertly
Public toilets: In the car park at the start & end of the walk, or at Gatesgarth Farm
Map of the route:
Buttermere Lake is a stunning glacial ribbon lake managed by the National Trust in the Lake District. Roughly 1.25 miles long & 0.5 miles wide, it’s flanked by dramatic peaks including High Stile, Red Pike, Fleetwith Pike, & Haystacks
Connected to nearby Crummock Water via the Buttermere Dubs stream, both lakes once formed a single larger body of water before being split by alluvial deposits
1. This low level walk is ideal to when the weather is poor, but it did improve as we went along
From the car park in Buttermere village, walk out & turn immediately right past the white building & through the gate…
Follow the well defined path
2. Have a look across to the right to see the waterfall where you are heading…
Pass through the gate, bear right & just enjoy the view along the lake
3. Walk across the bridge & then up to have a closer look at the waterfall…
The trail is really easy to follow as it passes through the woods & the fells on the other side are spectacular
4. There’s lots of benches along here to just stop & relax for a while to take it all in…
Pass through the gate & keep heading to the southern end of the lake…
5. More waterfalls come down from your right as you approach the end of the lake. At the end you have Haystacks (Wainwright’s favourite fell & where his ashes are scattered on Innominate Tarn) & Fleetwith Pike on the left. It forms a truly wonderful bowl
As I was once coming down from ‘knobbly’ Haystacks, I bumped into the wife of the farmer from Gatesgarth Farm as his 4 dogs were herding a flock of about 100 Herdwick Sheep down from the fell. She explained this was for a multitude of reasons such as late shearing, health checking & getting ready for tupping
I asked what was the size of their flock & she said 2,000. I asked where the rest were & she just pointed to the fells & said “Somewhere”
Every day she & her husband & dogs will be searching for them & bringing them down off the fells until they are all found
To watch the dogs working in tandem was very special & I have nothing but serious respect for these people
6. Bear left through the gate & continue towards the farm…
Take a moment to look up the lake to your left
7. At the end of the path is a cafe on the right if you fancy some refreshments. To continue turn left & carefully walk along the road for a short while. As the road bends right & then left the path starts again & crosses a bridge
Just follow the track around the tree – this really is a beautiful walk
8. And now, as you start to head north the views really start to open up…
Cross the next bridge & bear left…the path climbs slightly away from the shore
9. Carefully walk along the narrow path & pass through the unexpected tunnel…
Now to complete the walk follow the path around the lake before turning right & then left through a farmyard back to the start
This is simple easy walking on decent paths although there is one small part before the tunnel that wheelchairs etc would find very difficult. It’s also good for when the weather isn’t great for high level walking
Go Walk!