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6.88 km · ~341 m ascent · ~1.5–2.5 h · loop · 1 summit

Home / Routes / Aira Force & Gowbarrow Fell
The open top of Gowbarrow Fell above Ullswater
HardLoop

Aira Force & Gowbarrow Fell

6.88 km
Distance
~1.5–2.5 h
Typical time
~341 m
Ascent
1
Summit

Photo: © Lee McCoy

Download GPX →Maps & guidebooks

Key facts

Distance 6.88 km
Ascent ~341 m
Descent ~341 m
Time ~1.5–2.5 h
Type Loop
Start Aira Force National Trust car park
Aira Force's dramatic 65-foot waterfall, climbed on to the open top of Gowbarrow Fell for one of the finest aerial views over Ullswater. Easy-moderate — a steady pull on good National Trust paths above the falls.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass.

🧭 The automated detail on this page — distance, climb, pacing and a first-pass difficulty read — is live. Hand-written field notes are being added.

Difficulty profile

LengthEasy6.88 km — a short outing.
SteepnessHardSteepest sustained pull about 31% around the 2.1 km mark.
TerrainModerateMostly good mountain path. desk assessment — not field-verified
NavigationModerateClear line, hard to stray. desk assessment — not field-verified
ExposureNot assessedExposure (drops, scrambling, how bad a slip would be) can’t be judged from gradient data alone, so we don’t guess. A rating appears once the route is editorially assessed or walked.

Five independent axes, not one score. “Desk” ratings come from maps and guidebooks, not yet walked — treat them as a guide, not a survey.

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.

Why this matters: 78% of Mountain Rescue call-outs come after midday — the day runs out on the way home, not on the way up. 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

Path-repair data © Fix the Fells (National Trust / Lake District National Park). Source.

OpenTopoMap
Elevation profile
Elevation profile Rises from about 164 m to 476 m over 6.9 km, with the summits marked in order. 476 m 164 m 0 km 6.9 km 1

1 Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit)

~341 m
Total ascent
476 m
High point
164 m
Start height

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right).

This walk covers about 6.88 km with around 341 m of ascent, taking in 1 summit. The map above shows the line; the elevation profile and stage notes are below.

Access & barriers

Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route? A quick read from the gates and stiles mapped along the way.

Dog
Gates only
Buggy
Not buggy-able
Knees
Steep in places
  • Dog: Gates and kissing gates only — a dog can do the whole route.
  • Buggy: Not a pushchair route.
  • Knees: A sustained ~21% descent around the 2.9 km mark — a little jarring on tired knees.

On the line: 5 gates

These are mapped barriers, from OpenStreetMap — coverage in the Lakes is good but not guaranteed complete. Spotted a stile or gate we’ve missed? Tell us and we’ll fix it. Barrier data as of 2026-07-09. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).

Pacing

SummitCumulativeAscentTime (fast–steady)
Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit)2.8 km312 m1:05–1:27
Finish6.9 km341 m1:57–2:35

Naismith-based estimate — a fast/steady range. Your pace will vary.

The walk, stage by stage

Aira Force National Trust car park → Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit) (2.8 km, 312 m)

Climb of about 312 m over 2.8 km (around 11% average).

Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit) → Finish (4.1 km, 29 m)

Descent of about 312 m over 4.1 km.

Stage-by-stage field notes coming soon.

Summits bagged (1)

🅿️ Getting there & parking

Aira Force (NT, paid) — 0.5 km from the start (straight line)
For Gowbarrow Fell and the path toward Great Dodd via Dockray.
Directions
Dockray (roadside) — 1.9 km from the start (straight line)
Verge parking for the Dodds and Matterdale Common.
Directions

Positions are approximate. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.

💧 Water, shelter & getting away

💧 possible water source (1 m)💧 possible water source (19 m)🚌 Aira Force - Park Brow Foot (124 m)🚌 Park Brow Foot - Aira Force (127 m)

💧 Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is usually a tap or public supply, but never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock or a carcass upstream and leave you seriously ill. Run it through a filter or purifier (a LifeStraw, Sawyer Squeeze or HydraPak) or bring it to a rolling boil first.

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors — an absent marker does not mean the facility isn’t there.

🚌 Buses

Stagecoach 508 “Ullswater Bus”
Penrith – Pooley Bridge – Aira Force – Glenridding – Patterdale (summer services continue over Kirkstone Pass to Troutbeck and Windermere)
Catch it from: Penrith · Windermere (summer only)
The key route from Penrith for the Eastern and Far Eastern fells: Helvellyn from Glenridding, Place Fell, the Hartsop fells. The summer Kirkstone extension drops you at the pass for Red Screes and Caudale Moor.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before travelling.

⚠️ Safety & conditions

Check live conditions in the “From the fells” panel, on MWIS and the Met Office mountain forecast before you set off.

Make it easier or harder

Easier and harder options coming soon.

⬇️ Download

Download GPX

GPX track for your GPS or phone.

📚 Maps & guidebooks for Aira Force & Gowbarrow Fell

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