Blea Tarn (Little Langdale)
Photo: © Lee McCoy
Start Blea Tarn National Trust Parking
Getting here Parking: Blea Tarn (NT, paid), 0.0 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 516 stops at Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel; from there it is 2.4 km and 180 m of ascent to this start. And the same back: about 7.4 km in all, with the walk. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Before you choose
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.
Access & barriers
Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route?
- Buggy: Suspended 28 Sep 2026: the Stile & Gate Census places a stile on this line. It may sit beside the path rather than on it; until the line is checked on the ground, this is not offered as a pushchair route.
- Knees: No sustained steep descent in the track’s height model (steepest 250 m about 3%). Steps, wet rock and the surface underfoot are not assessed; your own knees still matter.
With a dog
Nothing here stands out as hard for a dog.
- 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: Easy – graded by Lee on the ground. Graded on the ground.
- Drops and exposed ground: Easy – graded by Lee on the ground. Graded on the ground.
- 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).
Route map
Blea Tarn
Easy 100%ModerateHardSevere
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
Blea Tarn National Trust Parking → Finish (2.7 km, 34 m)
Undulating section of about 2.7 km.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Walked by Lee, May 2024
Escape routes
There is no shorter way off this walk, and it does not need one: it is a 2.7 km loop and the car park is never much more than a kilometre away, whichever way round you go back.
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.
Getting there and back
Nearest fuel to the parking at Old Dungeon Ghyll: Hills Garage, Ambleside, 11.6 km by road (Mon 07:00-21:00; Tue 07:00-21:00; Wed 07:00-21:00; Thu 07:00-21:00; Fri 07:00-21:00; Sat 07:00-21:00; Sun 08:00-21:00 when checked on 8 August 2026; hours change, so check on the day). Nearest shop: Langdale Co-operative Society, 4.4 km. Both measured along the road from that parking, which is not where this route starts, checked 8 August 2026. Coming in from a particular direction you may pass a closer one — the last petrol before each valley →
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 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.
- Blea Tarn (NT, paid) — at the start
- Side Pike, west (layby) — joins the loop at about km 1.3 of 2.7: a 270 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Side Pike (layby) — joins the loop at about km 1.3 of 2.7: a 70 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
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 516 stops at Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel. From there it is 2.4 km and 180 m of ascent to this start — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 7.4 km in all, with the walk. Last bus: Monday to Thursday 21:10 towards Ambleside (516) and 20:10 towards Kendal (516); Friday 22:30 towards Kendal (516); Saturday 22:30 towards Kendal (516); Sunday 21:10 towards Ambleside (516) and 20:10 towards Kendal (516). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 23 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
The 516 passes this route at 1.4 km (Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel (near), 940 m off the line).
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival Blea Tarn car park (National Trust), beside the start: pay and display; free for National Trust members. 21 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (National Trust, coast and countryside car parks, checked 12 August 2026)
- Toilets No toilets are mapped within 250 m of the start. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Refreshments No café or pub is mapped within 250 m of the start: bring what you need. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Limitation Not offered as a pushchair walk until the mapped stile at about 1.7 km is checked. (our Stile & Gate Census, from OpenStreetMap, checked 25 September 2026)
- Miles without Stiles The first 1.4 km of this line, from the car park past the tarn and into the wood, is the National Park's Miles without Stiles route 12, rated 'challenging'. The rest of the line is off it. (Lake District National Park, Miles without Stiles 12: Blea Tarn, checked 3 October 2026)
No mapped drinking water or shelter on this route — that doesn’t mean there is none, and never drink untreated from a beck. (Facilities data © OpenStreetMap contributors.)
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
Easy overall — hardest: Length, steepness, terrain (graded by Lee on the ground), navigation (graded by Lee on the ground) and exposure (graded by Lee on the ground)
Five independent axes, not one score. Three of the five were set on the ground; the rest 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | 2.7 km | 34 m | 0:35–0:47 |
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.
Places to stay near this start
From Little Langdale: 3 places in Grasmere
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Blea Tarn (Langdale) — 0.3 km from this start
- Walks from Little Langdale — 1.4 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.