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0.58 km · ~11 m ascent · ~0–0.5 h · linear

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Moderate terrainLinearPlanned

The Bowder Stone

0.58 km
Distance
~0–0.5 h
Typical time
~11 m
Ascent
Download GPX →Planned route · not yet walked

Key facts

Distance 0.58 km
Ascent ~11 m
Descent ~6 m
Time ~0–0.5 h
Type Linear
Start Bowder Stone car park, Borrowdale
A very short, level stroll to Borrowdale's famous balanced boulder — the house-sized Bowder Stone, with a wooden ladder to climb to the top. Maximum reward for minimum effort, and a guaranteed hit with children.
✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet. A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.

🧭 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

LengthEasy0.58 km — a short outing.
SteepnessEasySteepest sustained pull about 4% around the 0.2 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.

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
No barriers
Buggy
Buggy-friendly
Knees
Gentle descent
  • Dog: No gates or stiles on the route — a dog can do the whole walk.
  • Buggy: An off-road pushchair can do this.
  • Knees: No sustained steep descent — kind on the knees.

On the line: No barriers mapped on this line.

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).

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.

OpenTopoMap
Elevation profile, shaded by steepness
Elevation profile Rises from about 101 m to 110 m over 0.6 km, with the summits marked in order. The area beneath is shaded by sustained steepness over a 250 m window, in the same four bands as the route’s steepness rating: Easy under 15%, Moderate 15 to 25%, Hard 25 to 35%, Severe above 35%. 110 m 101 m 0 km 0.6 km

Easy 100%ModerateHardSevere

~11 m
Total ascent
110 m
High point
101 m
Start height

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

This walk covers about 0.58 km with around 11 m of ascent. The map above shows the line; the elevation profile and stage notes are below.

Pacing

SummitCumulativeAscentTime (fast–steady)
Finish0.6 km11 m0:08–0:11

Naismith-based estimate — a fast/steady range. Your pace will vary. These use Naismith’s textbook constants (5 km/h, 600 m of ascent an hour). Measured against a pace fitted to 41 recorded Lakeland walks they run about 8% slow, and we have left them that way deliberately: a slow estimate strands nobody.

The walk, stage by stage

  1. Bowder Stone car park, Borrowdale → Finish (0.6 km, 11 m)

    Undulating section of about 0.6 km.

Getting there & parking

Quay Foot Quarry, Borrowdale (NT, paid) — 0.0 km from the start (straight line)
Old quarry car park below the Bowder Stone and Castle Crag. Fees: £7 up to 2 hours; £8 up to 4 hours; £9.50 all day. Charges apply at all times. Cash at machine; card/phone payment not available in all car parks (NT, checked Aug 2026). Free for NT members (checked Aug 2026). Charges apply at all times. Cash at machine; JustPark app at some car parks; card/phone payment not available in all car parks (NT, checked Aug 2026).
Directions Something changed here?
King's How car park — 0.7 km from the start (straight line)
Nearest fells: King's How - Grange Fell (1.0 km), Castle Crag (1.6 km), Grange Fell (Brund Fell) (1.6 km). Fee not verified — check signage on arrival.
Directions Something changed here?
King's How (layby) — 0.9 km from the start (straight line)
Nearest fells: King's How - Grange Fell (1.0 km), Grange Fell (Brund Fell) (1.6 km), Castle Crag (1.9 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Castle Crag (layby) — 1.0 km from the start (straight line)
Nearest fells: Castle Crag (0.7 km), King's How - Grange Fell (0.9 km), Grange Fell (Brund Fell) (1.0 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Rosthwaite (NT, paid) — 1.6 km from the start (straight line)
Village car park for the central Borrowdale fells and Watendlath ridge. Fees: pay and display (Lake District National Park car-parks directory, checked Aug 2026). The National Trust does not allow overnight parking here (NT, checked Aug 2026).
Directions Something changed here?
If it is full: Stonethwaite (roadside, limited) (1.8 km); Quay Foot Quarry, Borrowdale (NT, paid) (1.8 km); Seatoller (NT, paid) (1.8 km)
🚺 Rosthwaite Village (~389 m straight line) — Free · Accessible☕ The Flock-in

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

Vehicles are left entirely at their owner’s risk. We list places people park; we cannot vouch for any of them. Judge it on the day: take valuables with you, leave nothing on show, and if a spot feels wrong when you get there, park somewhere else.

Every option near this start, on the parking map →

Water, shelter & getting away

🚌 Bowder Stone (S bound) (40 m)🚌 Bowder Stone (52 m)🚌 Kings How (S bound) (54 m)🚌 Kings How (N bound) (58 m)⛺ Hollows Farm Campsite (364 m)

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

Buses

The 78 stops at Grange, at Bowder Stone, 80 m from this start. Last bus: Monday to Friday 19:48 towards Seatoller (78) and 18:51 towards Cockermouth (77A) and 16:51 towards Keswick (77A); Saturday 19:48 towards Seatoller (78) and 18:51 towards Cockermouth (77A) and 16:51 towards Keswick (77A); Sunday 19:48 towards Seatoller (78) and 16:51 towards Keswick (77A). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

The 77 passes this route at 0.1 km (Grange, at Bowder Stone, 20 m off the line).

Stagecoach 78 “Borrowdale Rambler”
Keswick – Lodore – Grange – Rosthwaite – Seatoller
Catch it from: Keswick (connect via 555 or X4/X5)
Year-round, frequent in season. Serves all the Borrowdale starts — Glaramara, the Scafells and Great Gable via Seathwaite (alight Seatoller, 20 min walk up the lane).

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.

Download

Download GPX

GPX track for your GPS or phone.

Places to stay near this start

Seatoller House B&B guest house

about 3.2 km from the start, in a straight line

Two large family rooms are named on the rooms page — Rabbit and Stag — so a family can ask for a specific room rather than hoping. It is also the only guest house here that cooks a set dinner at a fixed time, which matters at the head of the valley where the alternative is a drive; the catch is that Wednesday has no dinner and it must be booked 48 hours ahead if you did not book direct.

Worth knowing: “Well behaved dogs are allowed, they are not allowed in the dining room at any time,Please clean and dry all dogs on entering Seatoller via the back door.”

The house is 400 years old and has been taking paying guests for more than a century — and it still shuts for the winter, opening early March to the end of November, so a February walking weekend is out.

  • Dogs “Well behaved dogs are allowed, they are not allowed in the dining room at any time,Please clean and dry all dogs on entering Seatoller via the back door.”
  • Family rooms “Rabbit Large Family room, Private bathroom directly opposite, great views of garden & Fells”
  • Evening meal “dinner is a set menu served at 7.00pm with the exception of Wednesdays, when Dinner is not served”
  • Parking “There are 10 bedrooms all with private bathrooms, a large award winning garden surrounding the house and ample private car parking.”

Also nearby, but not independent

YHA Borrowdale hostel

about 2.6 km from the start, in a straight line

The cluster's only cot, highchair, evening meal, packed lunch, shared drying room and wheelchair-accessible room, all in one place — and the only one that will feed a family cheaply ('Under 10s eat for £1'). But the age rules are the thing to read first: a family with a child under 12 must book a private room, not the cheap dorm.

Worth knowing: “Pets are not permitted at YHA Borrowdale, except in our Camping & Cabins accommodation. Assistance dogs are welcome - please notify us at the time of booking.”

The hostel lists 'No mobile coverage' as one of its own facilities — it sits at Longthwaite where there is no signal, so a family should agree a meeting plan before splitting up on the fells.

  • Drying room “Shared drying room”
  • Family rooms “Cot available”
  • Evening meal “With tasty breakfasts, packed lunches and evening meals, groups are sure to find something delicious to eat at YHA Borrowdale”
  • Packed lunch “With tasty breakfasts, packed lunches and evening meals, groups are sure to find something delicious to eat at YHA Borrowdale”
  • Parking “Charges apply though overnight guests benefit from a discounted rate of £5 per vehicle for 24 hours.”
  • Children “Under 12s are not permitted in dorm rooms.”

What each place says about itself, quoted from their own site. We have not stayed at any of them, and there are no prices, no booking and no affiliate links. Distances are straight lines from the route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap.

Appears in these collections
Dog-friendly walksPushchair-friendly walksEasy walks