Aira Force & Gowbarrow Fell
Photo: © Lee McCoy
Start Aira Force (NT, paid)
Getting here Parking: Aira Force (NT, paid), 0.0 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 508, 509, UB1 and UB2 stop at Matterdale, opposite Aira Force, a 150 m walk from this start. The UB1 and UB2 run until 1 November 2026, the last day of their season. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Hard steepness: Steepest sustained climb about 27% around the 2.2 km mark.
Before you choose
- Aira Force plunges some 65 ft through a steep, narrow gorge with sheer sides, slippery rock and stone steps, and few natural viewing points or barriers. It's a busy honeypot — keep children and dogs close, stay behind railings and back from wet edges, and don't clamber for a better view of the falls.
Conditions on this route
We score every Lakeland Wainwright each morning on cloud, wind, rain and underfoot, and this route crosses 1 of them. The worst summit governs the verdict — a route is only as kind as its roughest top.
Modelled guidance — not a substitute for the mountain forecast or your own judgement. See how every fell ranks today →
Daylight & turnaround
Daylight is short from October to February — check today’s sunrise and sunset before you set off, and carry a head-torch and spare batteries. On short days, decide your turn-back time before you start.
See also walking in bad weather and today’s conditions.
The path beneath your boots
The gentle path around Gowbarrow didn’t happen by accident. Fix the Fells has repaired it since 2013 — around 570 ranger-days and £114,000 over five years, plus 233 volunteer-days and monthly drain-clearing — rebuilding boggy, widening sections as buried aggregate paths, with stone pitching on the steeper pulls, to protect fragile ground where Grass of Parnassus (Cumbria’s county flower) still grows.
Notice underfoot: the neat stone cross-drains that take water across the path, not down it — please don’t block them, and leave stray stones where they are; they belong in the path.
Fix the Fells built and maintains this path. How a fell path is made → · Give back (opens in new tab)
Path-repair data © Fix the Fells (National Trust / Lake District National Park). Source (opens in new tab).
Route map
1 Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit)
Aira Force
Easy 81%Moderate 15%Hard 5%Severe
Heights on this chart and its high point are read from the track itself (a terrain model sampled along the line, or a GPS recording), so a top can differ from its listed height, usually reading lower.
Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
The elevation profile is under the map; the stage notes follow.
The walk, stage by stage
- 1
Aira Force (NT, paid) → Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit) (2.8 km, 312 m)
Leave the main Aira Force car park (National Trust) and follow the woodland trails climbing alongside Aira Beck, past the falls of Aira Force. Cross Aira Beck by the footbridge beside High Force, about 0.3 km above Aira Force, and continue ascending. At about 1.6 km, cross a side stream by stepping stones and go through a gate, then climb on until you clear the tree line. Go through the gate onto the open moorland and follow the grassy, ascending path north-east up the steep slope to the rocky outcrop of Airy Crag, the true summit of Gowbarrow Fell.
WaypointsAira Force car park (NT), Aira Force waterfalls, the footbridge by High Force, stepping stones and gate (about 1.6 km), moorland boundary gate, Airy Crag (Gowbarrow Fell summit trig point).
Decision pointThe woodland section is heavily signposted by the National Trust. Once on the open fell, the path is wide and obvious, leading directly to the trig point perched on the highest rock.
Easy to get wrongThe climb through the woods beside the falls is gentle; the steep part is above the gate, on the open fell, up to about 31% around 2.1 km. The stone steps around the waterfalls are heavily trafficked but can be exceptionally slick from the spray and constant tree canopy shade. Once on the open fell, the grassy ground can become muddy and braided after rain.
If you need to get offTurn around at any point during the ascent and use the secure, well-maintained woodland paths to return quickly to the car park.
Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit) → Finish (4.1 km, 29 m)
From Airy Crag, head east and then south to pick up the terrace path that contours around the southern flank of the fell. Walk along the path high above Ullswater, passing Yew Crag and the memorial seat. The path eventually slopes downward, dropping back into the woodland and joining the lower trail network that leads directly back to the car park.
WaypointsAiry Crag, eastern descent, southern terrace path, Yew Crag, Memorial Seat, Aira Force lower woodlands, car park finish.
Decision pointThe terrace path is continuous along the side of the fell.
Easy to get wrongThe terrace path is stony and narrow in places, with steep, bracken-covered slopes dropping sharply away to the left. The descent just off the top, near 2.9 km, is the steepest of the day, about 21% and hard on tired knees. On the terrace, care is needed on the loose stones—especially as it is very easy to get distracted by the views of the lake.
If you need to get offContinue along the terrace path back to the woods.
© Lee McCoy · 2 photographs
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Walked in part · km 3.9–6.4 from the map
Summits bagged (1)
Conditions and timing
Check live conditions in the “From the fells” panel, on MWIS (opens in new tab) and the Met Office mountain forecast (opens in new tab) before you set off.
When the sun reaches the tops
Not sunrise — the moment the sun clears the skyline from that summit, which on a fell with high ground to its east can be a good deal later.
- Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit) — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:15, with the sunrise. In late September, about 07:00. It waits longest in late December — about a quarter of an hour after sunrise.
How to read these times
The two equinoxes are shown because they fall in the walking season, and late December too wherever a top keeps you waiting then; the clock gap between the equinoxes is British Summer Time, not the hill. Rounded to the nearest quarter hour and meant as a general idea, not a schedule.
Modelled from a 30 m elevation model against each summit’s own skyline — the same figures the fell pages carry, never observed. Cloud is not in it.
Getting there and back
Parking
2 more places to park near the start
Positions are approximate.
Vehicles are left at their owner’s risk: we list places people park and cannot vouch for any of them. Take valuables with you and leave nothing on show.
If the parking is full
There is no real plan B by car here. Every place we know beside this route serves the same walks and sits close together, so expect them to fill on the same mornings. Worth starting early, or having a different walk in mind before you set off. The bus below is the exception: it is not limited by car-park space, though it runs to a timetable and can be full.
- A592, Gowbarrow Park shore (verge, west) — a 1.3 km walk to the start, climbing about 60 m
- High Cascades (NT, paid) — joins the loop at about km 1.3 of 6.9: a 440 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Round How (layby) — joins the loop at about km 0.6 of 6.9: a 330 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- By bus: buses stop at Matterdale, opposite Aira Force, a 150 m walk from the start. A bus is not affected by a full car park. Its return times are under Buses.
We never say whether anywhere has spaces today. Walks to the line are measured along mapped paths (OpenStreetMap), not in a straight line. How we choose these places.
No signal when you get there? RoutePark keeps this list on your phone: choose this walk’s GPX at home, keep it, and it opens offline.
Buses
The 508, 509, UB1 and UB2 stop at Matterdale, opposite Aira Force, a 150 m walk from this start. The UB1 and UB2 run until 1 November 2026, the last day of their season. The last bus is 18:02 towards Penrith (508) and 17:15 towards Martindale (UB1) and 15:15 towards Lowther (UB2), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026; that timetable runs to 1 November 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
The 508 passes this route at 0.0 km (Matterdale, opposite Aira Force, 120 m off the line). It passes again at 5.0 km.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
By train: Penrith station, on the West Coast Main Line. The 508 leaves from outside the station at 10:50 and 14:50 every day (and at 18:55) and reaches this start in about 45 minutes, or from Penrith Bus Station, a 7-minute walk away, at 11:02, 15:02 and 19:02. The last bus back towards Penrith is 18:02. The Lake District by train →
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival The main Aira Force car park (National Trust), by the toilets, where the walk starts. Pay and display. (Lake District National Park car-parks directory, checked 11 August 2026)
- Toilets Public toilets are mapped by the car park. 20 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Refreshments Aira Force Tearooms is mapped nearby. Its opening hours are not recorded. 86 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Limitation A sustained descent of about 21% over 250 m near the 2.9 km mark, hard on tired knees. Not a pushchair route. (our steepness model, from the route's own track, checked 25 September 2026)
Everything mapped near the start
At Aira Force (NT, paid), the closest parking we hold to where this route starts:
Distances are straight lines from the car park, not walking routes. Opening hours change; none of this is checked daily.
Water, shelter & getting away
Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is not proof the water is drinkable, so carry your own or use a supply you know is safe. Never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock upstream and leave you seriously ill. Use a treatment method suited to what might be in the water, and follow the device’s own instructions. Boiling and ordinary filters do not make water with dissolved metals or chemicals safe: where that is possible, choose another source.
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors — an absent marker does not mean the facility isn’t there.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Planning detail
How each grade on this page is set, and the timings stage by stage.
Difficulty profile
Hard overall — hardest: Steepness; terrain not assessed; exposure not assessed on the ground
Five independent axes, not one score. None of them was set on the ground: they are computed from the recorded track and the map, which measures the line rather than surveying the ground.
How we grade: each axis is Easy, Moderate, Hard or Severe, and a route between two bands takes the higher one. Length: under 8 km, 8–14 km, 14–20 km, over 20 km. Steepness, the steepest 500 m of the track: under 15%, 15–25%, 25–35%, over 35%. Terrain, navigation and exposure are judged rather than measured, and each note says why. How we grade.
Pacing
| Summit | Cumulative | Ascent | Time (fast–steady) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit) | 2.8 km | 312 m | 1:05–1:27 |
| Finish | 6.9 km | 341 m | 1:57–2:35 |
A fast–steady range from Naismith’s rule, deliberately on the slow side. Breaks, weather, rough ground and the slowest person in your party all add to it. How we time walks.
Access & barriers
Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route?
- Buggy: Not a pushchair route.
- Knees: A sustained ~21% descent over 250 m around the 2.9 km mark — a little jarring on tired knees.
With a dog
Hardest for a dog here: drops and exposed ground (estimated from the map). The steepest stretch is a sustained climb of about 27% around the 2.2 km mark.
- Drops and exposed ground: Not assessed on the ground; the map suggests Moderate. Graded from slope only (~31% max); treat exposure as unverified.
- Stiles and gates: Only gates and kissing gates are mapped: no stile a dog can’t get through. That is the barriers alone; check the route’s steep or rocky ground before you bring a dog. (OpenStreetMap, mapped as of 9 July 2026)
- Rock and scrambling: Ground underfoot: Not assessed.
- Ways off early: None recorded for this route.
- Livestock, shade and water: Not recorded for this route yet. We never call a stream safe for a dog to drink, so carry enough for both of you. The lead rules, and what to do around cattle, are on dogs on the fells.
On the line: 5 gates
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 9 July 2026. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).
Places to stay near this start
- Lowthwaite Bed and Breakfast (opens in new tab) guest houseabout 3.9 km
- Low Gale (opens in new tab) self-cateringabout 4.4 km
We have not stayed at any of them. We take no bookings or affiliate fees. Distances are straight lines from the route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Aira Force — 0.5 km from this start
- Walks from Glenridding — 3.3 km from this start
Straight-line distance from this walk’s start. Those lists hold the routes we have mapped and every Wainwright and Outlying fell within about 5 km of the town, ranked nearest first.
