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Walks from Bowness-on-Windermere

6 routes and 7 fells within about 5 km of Bowness-on-Windermere, nearest first. One walk starts within 1 km of the village: Brant Fell from Bowness, 2.86 km. Route mapping from here is still thin, so the fell list is doing most of the work. Each fell carries today’s conditions and the bus where there is one. Planning the trip? See the full Bowness-on-Windermere guide for parking, buses and where to stay.

I haven't walked any of the five routes from Bowness yet, so all five are planned lines. One starts across the lake: the ferry from Ferry Nab, below Bowness, lands beside the start of the western shore walk.

Starting in Bowness-on-Windermere

One route starts within 1 km of the centre of Bowness-on-Windermere in a straight line, nearer Bowness-on-Windermere than any other village.

Effort is the size of the day, from the distance and the climb; each route’s own page grades the steepness, navigation, exposure and ground underfoot, and names the hardest.

• Brant Fell from Bowness →Start 0.3 km away2.86 km~161 m~¾–1¼ hEasy effort Moderate: steepness and navigationPlannedPark: Bowness, Glebe Road (paid) · Bus: 508 at the startA short loop of about 2.9 km from Bowness Pier to the top of Brant Fell, with about 160 m of climbing: up Brantfell Road, a public footpath and a track to the Post Knott viewpoint, paths to the top, and down past Brantfell Farm on a public footpath that OpenStreetMap maps as part of the Dales Way.

More walking routes within about 5 km

Few routes mapped near this start so far (6); the fells within about 5 km are below.

• Along Windermere's Western Shore →Start 1.7 km away7.57 km~94 m~1½–2¼ hModerate: navigation🏞️ Easy & familyPlannedOut and back · Park: Harrowslack (NT, paid)An out-and-back of about 7.6 km from Ferry House, where the Windermere Ferry from Bowness lands, north along the western shore of Windermere and back: a lane, then a compacted track that is a restricted byway, with about 90 m of up and down.
• Orrest Head →Start 2 km away4.16 km~173 m~1–1½ hModerate: navigation🏞️ Easy & familyPlannedPark: Windermere Station car park (Northern, paid) · Bus: 505 at the startWainwright's first Lakeland summit and still the best short introduction to the fells — a steady wooded climb from Windermere to a rocky crown with a sweeping panorama over the lake to the Coniston and Langdale skyline.
• Windermere Station to Brockhole and Back →Start 2.1 km away9.12 km~153 m~2–3 hModerate effort Moderate: distance🏞️ Easy & familyPlannedOut and back · Park: Windermere Station car park (Northern, paid) · Bus: 505 at the startAn out-and-back of about 9.1 km from Windermere railway station to Brockhole on the shore of Windermere, through Troutbeck Bridge and along the shared cycle path beside the A591, with about 150 m of climbing.
• Wray Castle & the Windermere west shore →Start 4.8 km away9.58 km~114 m~2–3 hModerate effort Moderate: distance🏞️ Easy & familyPlannedPark: Wray Castle (NT, paid) · Bus: 505, 1.6 km walk from Low Wray, at Wray Castle Road EndA roughly 6-mile circular taking in the mock-Gothic Wray Castle and the western shore of Windermere. A varied, low-level day — flat underfoot but a fair distance.Measured from the GPX track: the distance.
• Hawkshead into the woods →Start 4.9 km away7.54 km~283 m~1¾–2¾ hModerate: steepness, terrain and navigation🏞️ Easy & familyPlannedPark: Hawkshead Car & Coach Park (paid) · Bus: 505 at the startA woodland circuit from Beatrix Potter’s Hawkshead that climbs to the great cairn on Latterbarrow — a little fell with a big reward, looking clean down Windermere and across to the Coniston fells — then drops back through the trees. Dappled and dog-friendly, with a proper viewpoint in the middle.

Fells within about 5 km

• Brant Fell →1.3 km away191 mBrant Fell at 191m (627ft) is the rocky little top rising directly behind Bowness-on-Windermere, and among the most accessible of all Wainwright's Outlying Fells.
• Claife Heights →1.9 km away270 mClaife Heights at 270m (885ft) is the long, forested ridge on the western shore of Windermere, giving fine views of the lake through the trees.
• School Knott →2.5 km away232 mAt 232 m (760 ft), School Knott is a listed Lakeland top east of Windermere.
• Orrest Head →2.6 km away238 mOrrest Head at 238m (781ft) is the famous viewpoint above Windermere, the first fell the young Alfred Wainwright climbed when he arrived in Lakeland — and the view that changed his life.
• Unnamed top (School Knott) →2.8 km away247 m
• Grandsire →3.1 km away251 mGrandsire is a low, grassy fell of 251m (823ft) in the gentle country south-east of Windermere, near Ings.
• Latterbarrow →3.9 km away244 mLatterbarrow at 244m (801ft) is a delightful, craggy little summit above Hawkshead, its rocky top — marked by a tall stone obelisk — giving outstanding views of Esthwaite Water and the surrounding wooded country.

None of the fells here are rated good to climb on 27 October — see fells to save for a bad day →
A prediction from our daily fell score, not a guarantee — always check the mountain forecast before you go. Our daily score covers the Wainwrights only, so the 7 Outlying fells here have no rating. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab).

Distances are straight-line from the centre of Bowness-on-Windermere — ‘within ~5 km’ means as the crow flies, not that the walk necessarily starts there. Always plan your own route and check the bus before you travel.