Tag: Tarn

Tarn Hows Circular via Tom Gill from Glen Mary Bridge | Graham’s Guides

A beautiful walk when you don’t want to be out too long.

Graham’s Walks📌
Distance2.6 miles
DifficultyModerate
Map🗺️
GPX📁
Graham’s CafeNot on this one.

Tarn Hows is a popular destination. If you want a walk where you don’t see anyone, this is not the place. This popularity isn’t anything new, Charabanc would travel up from Ambleside and Windermere in the 1890s. That said, I’ve never known the tarn to be over-run with people; there’s plenty of space to spread out and there’s probably less public transport now than there was in the days of the charabanc.

The walk starts from the Glen Mary Bridge car park, a name that was given to the local area by John Ruskin who thought that the name Tom Gill wasn’t picturesque enough. It is a picturesque. It’s a National Trust car park making it free for members. Much of the land around here is owned and operated by the National Trust including the tarn itself, I’ll talk a bit more about that later.

(It’s worth noting here that a “gill” is a local Cumbrian name for a valley with a stream in it, with Scandinavian roots. A “glen” is a Scottish name for the same thing.)

If Glen Mary car park is full, which it can do, there are a few other parking spaces just off the main road alongside Yew Tree Tarn from where you can also begin this dainty walk.

This is a walk of two halves. The first part takes you rambling up through an ancient wood alongside a cascading stream, it’s not hard but it is uneven in places. The second part is around the tarn which is more like a promenade than a ramble. The main path around the tarn is flat, wide and well paved.

From the car park there’s a footbridge across the stream which is your guide to the tarn. There aren’t any decisions to make on this route, you follow the well worn path on the ground which follows the general route of the stream. There are several delightful waterfalls on your way up the hill, some you explore via short detours.

Part way up the hill, through a small gate, the cutting narrows significantly, the walking gets a bit more tricky, you’ll struggle to get lost though.

The stream takes you to the tarn where it flows out via a small dam. There used to be three small tarns in this area, the dam raised the water level to join them together into the larger expanse of water we see today. Much of what people assume is natural in the Lake District has been tinkered with by humans.

The tarn is banded by a circular route which brings you back to the dam. On your way around there are several places to drift off the main path to see something of interest, or get a better view. This is a great place to let children explore, there are still plenty of trees to climb even though the area has been heavily impacted by storms over recent years.

The promenade is very picturesque with photo opportunities around many of the corners.

It’s traditional for us to go clockwise around the tarn, so we head left, but could just as easily head right. The end of the tarn is marked by a bridge which is accompanied by a seat with glorious views along the full length of the tarn.

Having promenaded down one side it’s time to do the same along the other.

At the other end of the tarn there’s another car park operated by the National Trust, you could use this as a start to the walk, but where’s the fun in that. There are some toilets at the car park, if you are fortunate there will also be an ice-cream van.

From the ice-cream van head back down to the dam and onto the path back to Glen Mary Bridge.

On the other side of the road from Glen Mary Bridge is Yew Tree Farm which is notable for several reasons. The farm is part of an estate of land known as Monk Coniston which stretches all the way down to the shores of Coniston, and included Tarn Hows. When this land was put up for sale in 1930 a local couple Mr and Mrs Heelis, him a solicitor, her an author and illustrator who is better known as Beatrix Potter, purchased it. They were determined that the estate shouldn’t be broken up or developed. The National Trust wasn’t the large organisation it is today and weren’t in a position to buy the land. Beatrix later donated the land to the National Trust, but with a stipulation, the local Herdwick sheep were to continue on the land, each farm being allocated a minimum headcount.

The Herdwick allocation probably saved the breed from extinction in this area of the Lake District, but it hasn’t always been easy, the wool is course and they develop slowly so you can’t use the lamb meat. In recent years, however, the farmers at Yew Tree farm have found a way of making the Herdwick profitable and now have over 1,000. Sue and I recently spent a wonderful day at the farm on a Herdwick Experience where they tell you about the history of the sheep, about the resulting hogget which is used in several Michelin Starred restaurants in the area and can be purchased from the farm. They also, as part of the experience, take you to meet a group of the sheep who like to be petted. You sit in a field and they join you, sitting alongside you as you scratch their backs.

(A lamb is a sheep that is less than a year old, a hogget is a step between one and two years.)

Oh, yes, also, Yew Tree Farm is one of the main locations for the ‘Miss Potter’ film with Rene Zellwigger and Ewan McGregor.

What about variations?

There aren’t many options for variant walks through the woods along the stream, you can sometimes venture closer to the stream, but that’s about it.

Once you get to Tarn Hows there are a few more options to add in extra distance and difficulty. Near the beginning you can head off to Tom Heights from which there are good views of the surrounding hills (it’s been a few years since I’ve been up there so I’m hoping the views are still there). You can join the Tom Heights path on to the walk up to Black Fell. Black Fell is one of the smaller, and easier, Wainwrights, so you can get an easy tick.

Another route up to Black Fell is from a stile at the end of the Tarn via the Iron Keld Plantation. The path to Iron Keld Plantation can also be used to access a route that circles the tarn from higher up. The higher route gives better views of the surrounding hills and is less well travelled.

From the car park at Tarn Hows there’s a different route back to Glen Mary Bridge, I’ve never walked it so can’t comment.

Glen Mary
Tom Gill Waterfall
Tarn Hows
Tarn Hows near to the car park
Yew Tree Farm
One of the friendly Herdwicks

Loughrigg Tarn Circular from Skelwith Bridge | Graham’s Guides

A wonderful walk, fabulous views and one of the best outdoor swim spots in the country.

Graham’s Walks📌
Distance2.5 miles
DifficultyModerate
Map🗺️
GPX📁
Graham’s CafeChesters 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.

Loughrigg Tarn
Loughrigg Tarn
Loughrigg Fell from Loughrigg Tarn
Loughrigg Tarn