Boxing Day and New Year's Day walks
Winter walks
Four for Boxing Day and four for New Year's Day: our picks, each with its distance, climb and time from its route page, and the daylight at its start. The Buttermere lake circuit is on both lists.
Boxing Day had under 1 mm of rain in 3 of the 11 years from 2015 to 2025. In mid-December the sun sets between 15:46 and 15:48 at these starts. Plan for rain and for the dark: every walk below says when to set off by.
Jump to: Boxing Day walks · New Year's Day walks · Short light and icy paths
Boxing Day walks
For Saturday 26 December 2026.
Friar's Crag & the Derwentwater shore
4.22 km · 43 m of climbing · ~¾–1¼ h
Planned route · not yet walked
- December light
- In mid-December, daylight at the start runs from 08:28 to 15:47. At a steady pace this walk takes about an hour: set off by 12:34 to finish with two hours of daylight in hand.
- Start
- Keswick town centre, by Booths
- Parking
- The walk starts in the middle of Keswick. Lakeside long stay car park (Cumberland Council) is beside the walk near the lake, about 640 m from the start. Pay and display: up to 2 hours £3.80, 3 hours £6.50, 6 hours £9.00, 12 hours £11.40.
- Food and drink
- Booths Café is mapped about 30 m from the start, with more than twenty cafés, pubs and restaurants within 250 m.
Aira Force & Gowbarrow Fell
6.88 km · 341 m of climbing · ~1¾–2¾ h
Walked in part · km 3.9–6.4 from the map
- December light
- In mid-December, daylight at the start runs from 08:27 to 15:46. At a steady pace this walk takes about 2½ hours: set off by 11:11 to finish with two hours of daylight in hand.
- Start
- Aira Force (NT, paid)
- Parking
- The main Aira Force car park (National Trust), by the toilets, where the walk starts. Pay and display.
- Food and drink
- Aira Force Tearooms is mapped nearby. Its opening hours are not recorded.
Buttermere lake circuit
7.41 km · 66 m of climbing · ~1½–2¼ h
Planned route · not yet walked
- December light
- In mid-December, daylight at the start runs from 08:29 to 15:48. At a steady pace this walk takes about 2 hours: set off by 11:41 to finish with two hours of daylight in hand.
- Start
- Buttermere village (NT / Syke Farm car parks)
- Parking
- Buttermere village car park (east), where the walk starts. Pay and display, by coins, card or RingGo (location 37311).
- Food and drink
- Croft House Farm Café and Syke Farm Tea Room are mapped in the village. Their opening hours are not recorded.
Castlerigg Stone Circle (from Keswick)
7.26 km · 171 m of climbing · ~1½–2½ h
Planned route · not yet walked
- December light
- In mid-December, daylight at the start runs from 08:28 to 15:47. At a steady pace this walk takes about 2½ hours: set off by 11:28 to finish with two hours of daylight in hand.
- Start
- Keswick town centre
- Food and drink
- Keswick town centre: 23 cafés and 16 pubs are mapped within 250 m of the start.
Part of this walk is closed: the Keswick to Threlkeld trail is shut at the bridge over the River Greta while the bridge is replaced. National Park Authority notice. The route page has the detail.
Buses: the operator’s timetable says the 78 does not run on Boxing Day. We print no bus times for the holidays; check every bus before you rely on it, starting from our bus pages.
New Year's Day walks
For Friday 1 January 2027.
New Year's Day had under 1 mm of rain in 3 of the 11 years from 2015 to 2025.
Buttermere lake circuit
7.41 km · 66 m of climbing · ~1½–2¼ h
Planned route · not yet walked
- December light
- In mid-December, daylight at the start runs from 08:29 to 15:48. At a steady pace this walk takes about 2 hours: set off by 11:41 to finish with two hours of daylight in hand.
- Start
- Buttermere village (NT / Syke Farm car parks)
- Parking
- Buttermere village car park (east), where the walk starts. Pay and display, by coins, card or RingGo (location 37311).
- Food and drink
- Croft House Farm Café and Syke Farm Tea Room are mapped in the village. Their opening hours are not recorded.
Stone Arthur from Grasmere
6.82 km · 528 m of climbing · ~2¼–3 h
Walked by Lee, July 2023
- December light
- In mid-December, daylight at the start runs from 08:27 to 15:47. At a steady pace this walk takes about 3 hours: set off by 10:48 to finish with two hours of daylight in hand.
- Start
- Grasmere Village
- Parking
- Stock Lane Car & Coach Park in the village, about 20 m from the start: pay and display.
- Food and drink
- Goody Blakes (about 85 m) and The Distiller’s Arms (about 115 m) are the nearest mapped, with more cafés in the village. Opening hours are not recorded here.
Place Fell and The Knight
7.28 km · 547 m of climbing · ~2¼–3¼ h
Planned route · not yet walked
- December light
- In mid-December, daylight at the start runs from 08:27 to 15:46. At a steady pace this walk takes about 3 hours: set off by 10:37 to finish with two hours of daylight in hand.
- Start
- Patterdale
- Parking
- The Patterdale Hotel’s car park, about 25 m from the start: pay and display.
- Food and drink
- The Patterdale Hotel (about 45 m) and the White Lion Inn (about 140 m) are the nearest mapped. Opening hours are not recorded here.
Birketts around Grisedale Pike
11.7 km · 750 m of climbing · ~3½–5 h
Planned route · not yet walked
- December light
- In mid-December, daylight at the start runs from 08:29 to 15:47. At a steady pace this walk takes about 5 hours: set off by 09:01 to finish with two hours of daylight in hand.
- Start
- Whinlatter - Forestry Commission Car Park
- Parking
- Whinlatter visitor centre car park (Forestry England), about 25 m from the start: the first 20 minutes free, £2.90 for the first hour, then 70p per 15 minutes, £14 all day; free for members. Pay on exit, by card at the machine or cash at the visitor centre.
- Food and drink
- Café Ambio is mapped about 60 m from the start. OpenStreetMap gives its hours as 09:30 to 16:00 on weekdays and 09:30 to 16:30 at weekends: check before you rely on them.
Buses: the operator’s timetable says the 78 does not run on New Year's Day. We print no bus times for the holidays; check every bus before you rely on it, starting from our bus pages.
Short light and icy paths
Before you set off
December days are short. Every walk above gives the time to set off by to finish with two hours of daylight in hand; leave earlier than that if you can, and carry a head torch.
Paths can be icy in December, low down as well as on the tops. If the ground is frozen or snow lies on steep ground, choose a lower walk or turn back.
More on walking in the short days: Winter on the fells, walks that fit a short winter day and walks for poor weather and low cloud. Check the fell weather on the morning. What the volunteer rescue teams are called out for: Lake District Mountain Rescue: the data report.
Questions
Is Boxing Day usually dry in the Lake District?
Not usually. On the ERA5 record for the central Lakes, Boxing Day had under 1 mm of rain in 3 of the 11 years from 2015 to 2025. That is a record of past years, not a forecast.
Do buses run on Boxing Day and New Year's Day?
Not all of them. The operator’s timetable says the 78 does not run on Boxing Day and New Year's Day. We print no bus times for the holidays; check every bus before you rely on it.
How early does it get dark in the Lake District in December?
In mid-December the sun sets between 15:46 and 15:48 at the starts of the walks on this page, by the almanac for a flat horizon. In a valley the sun can leave the path well before then; the daylight still lasts until sunset.
Where the figures come from
The walks are our picks for the two days, chosen with the rest of our December walks. Distance, climb and time are each route’s own figures, the same as its route page; the time runs from a fast to a steady pace, walking time only, so stops add to it. December light is the almanac sunrise and sunset at the start, for a flat horizon, on the December day with the earliest sunset there, and the set-off time leaves two hours of daylight in hand at a steady pace. Parking and food lines are the ones on each route page.
Rain on the day is from the ERA5 reanalysis (ECMWF), read through the Open-Meteo historical weather API for the grid cell at 54.5°N, 3.0°W, 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2025, read on 1 November 2026. A day counts as dry with under 1 mm of rain. Climatology, not a forecast. Eleven years is a working baseline and not a 30-year normal.
| Year | Boxing Day | New Year’s Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 33.6 mm | 24.2 mm |
| 2016 | 1.0 mm | 1.3 mm |
| 2017 | 2.6 mm | 6.9 mm |
| 2018 | 0.0 mm (dry) | 3.1 mm |
| 2019 | 1.8 mm | 0.0 mm (dry) |
| 2020 | 14.5 mm | 0.0 mm (dry) |
| 2021 | 5.1 mm | 0.0 mm (dry) |
| 2022 | 3.9 mm | 2.6 mm |
| 2023 | 1.4 mm | 13.7 mm |
| 2024 | 0.0 mm (dry) | 11.6 mm |
| 2025 | 0.0 mm (dry) | 11.1 mm |
Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0).