| Graham’s Walks | 📌 |
|---|---|
| Distance | 2.5 miles |
| Difficulty | Moderate |
| Map | 🗺️ |
| GPX | 📁 |
| Graham’s Cafe | Chesters by the River |
I like to plan walks with a reward half-way around, in today’s walk that reward is the opportunity to swim in a beautiful tranquil tarn.
We start this walk in Skelwith Bridge. If you can, park on the Langdale road (B5343) near to the Skelwith Bridge Hotel. There’s also the option of using the car park another 0.4 mile further up the road or some spaces in the ground of the old slate-works. Don’t park in the hotel car park, or in the Chesters by the River car park.
This is one of those walks where to get a parking space you have to understand the rhythm of tourism in the Lake District. If you arrive on a sunny day in the middle of the morning through to the middle of the afternoon you aren’t likely to be able to park, especially if it’s a school holiday or a weekend. You may be fortunate, but you can’t rely upon it. Arrive earlier, or later, than that and you’ll have a much better chance of getting parked, these are also the times with the best light and hence the best views.
For us this is either an early morning walk with lunch back at Chesters by the River, or it’s an afternoon, into the evening, walk with a picnic tea.
We normally take our time on this walk, it’s a tramp, it’s not a route-march.
Opposite the Skelwith Bridge Hotel is a kissing gate with an easily identifiable path up the hill to another gate. Here the path is more narrow and uneven, it’s only for a short distance but is the reason I mark this route as Moderate. There’s something soothing about walking in the dappled light of a wood especially when the birds are singing.
Soon you’ll come out into the Neaum Crag holiday park where the route through is reasonably well marked. You are heading straight across, past the pool and up the hill which veers to the left. This is where, in the winter, this walk can get a bit icy.
At the top of the hill there’s another gate out into open countryside. Soon you’ll be rewarded with views of Loughrigg Fell and the Langdales in the distance followed shortly afterwards by views of the tarn. In the spring you’ll be greeted by Bluebells, in the summer by Bracken. The path traverses a bank, downwards towards the road past a quintessentially Lake District farm at Loughrigg Fold.
Once you’ve reached the road follow it to the left for a short distance before you arrive at a stile on the right. The path around the lake is quite clear here, across the field, through another gate, across another field right alongside the tarn.
If you are planning to swim there are numerous options here, some have shade, some in the open. The further round you go the better your view across the tarn and back towards the Langdales. These views are particularly magical at sunset. A favourite swimming spot for many is marked by a lone tree that bends out over the tarn.
In the spring and early summer, Cuckoos and Woodpecker can often be heard in the woods nearby. The Waterlillies are gorgeous in the summer and so is the cruely named Bogbean.
Fortunately, this place of beauty is remote enough to avoid being overcrowded. We’ve never been when it has resembled the more popular tourist locations just a few miles down the road. There are often a few other groups, but each of them respecting the tranquillity of the place.
Please note that you aren’t allowed to take craft or inflatables onto the tarn, this isn’t Bowness.
Once you’ve finished your swim, picnic, yoga, contemplations, or whether it is you do in such a place, continue on the path towards a small gate in the fence by the lane. Through the gate turn right. Take the lane around to the road, and then the road back to Loughrigg Fold. The road is generally quiet, but please remember, you are sharing the space with vehicles.
From Loughrigg Fold retrace your route up the lane, into Neaum Cragg Holiday Park and eventually back down to your vehicle.
There are some variations on this walk:
If you have parked in the car park below Neaum Crag, you can take a different path up and over to the tarn. This path brings you down to Loughrigg Fold from where the route is the same as above. Alternatively, you can cross the road and down onto the Elterwater path. If you take a left you can follow the river down towards the waterfalls at Skelwith Force and into the slate-works, from where you can join the path as described. The waterfalls are worth a visit at any time, but especially if the river is high.
If you just want do a circuit of the tarn without all the uphill and downhill bits there are a few car parking spaces just at the point beyond Loughrigg Fold where the path crosses the field. There are only a few and please park sensibly.
You could also extend your walk just a very small amount by incorporating a visit to Chesters by the River, a long time Lake District favourite.
You could massively extend the walk by adding in a trip to the top of Loughrigg Fell but that would make it a completely different walk with a different name.
Header Image: Loughrigg Tarn looking up toward Loughrigg Fell.
Graham Chastney 