Buttermere lake circuit
Start Buttermere village (NT / Syke Farm car parks)
Getting here Parking: Buttermere village (LDNPA, paid), 0.0 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 77 and 77A stop at Buttermere, outside Court Hotel, a 180 m walk from this start. The 77A runs until 1 November 2026, the last day of its season. Seasonal: the 77 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Moderate navigation: No large featureless ground on the map; carry a map and compass for cloud. Moderate – estimated from the map, not checked on the ground
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: Only part of this suits a buggy, and we have not identified which part: do not plan on it for the whole walk.
- 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
Not every line below has been assessed. The steepest stretch is a sustained climb of about 4% around the 0.9 km mark.
- 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 – estimated from the map, not checked on the ground. Low-level path — set from the route’s own description on 24 Sep 2026, not walked for grading.
- Drops and exposed ground: Not assessed on the ground; the map suggests Easy. No mapped crags on or beside the line.
- Ways off early: No path off the line is recorded, but it passes a bus stop where you could end the walk: the 77 at Gatesgarth, at Mountain Rescue Point, about 3.8 km. The buses section says which bus and when.
- 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: 16 gates · 5 kissing 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
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
Buttermere village (NT / Syke Farm car parks) → Finish (7.4 km, 66 m)
If you need to get offThe map shows no path from the south-west shore to a road until the line meets the B5289 at Gatesgarth at about 3.8 km, so before that the way off is back or on; on the north-east shore, at about 5.1 km and before the tunnel, a public footpath climbs about 220 m east-north-east to the same road; not walked for this guide.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
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 this start: Oakhurst, Cockermouth, 17.0 km by road (24h daily when checked on 8 August 2026; hours change, so check on the day). Nearest shop: Lorton Village Shop, 10.1 km. Both measured along the road from the parking we publish at Buttermere village, 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.
Of the pay-and-display machine tickets sold at Buttermere from 17 August 2024 to 31 March 2026, 15% were bought before 10am (our count of FOI/2026.500 ticket data). Contains public sector information provided by the Lake District National Park Authority and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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 a fallback here, but it is a weak one. Some of the 3 below tend to fill for the same reasons at the same time. Treat the list as one-and-a-bit options rather than 3.
- Gatesgarth Farm, Buttermere (paid) — joins the loop at about km 3.8 of 7.4: a 80 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Buttermere village, by the Bridge Hotel (roadside, free) — at the start
- Hassness (free) — joins the loop at about km 5.2 of 7.4: a 250 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- By bus: buses stop at Buttermere, outside Court Hotel, a 180 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 77 and 77A stop at Buttermere, outside Court Hotel, a 180 m walk from this start. The 77A runs until 1 November 2026, the last day of its season. Seasonal: the 77 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day. It returns on 22 March 2027. Confirmed with the operator: its last day on 29 August 2026, its return on 16 October 2026. Last bus: Monday to Friday 19:23 towards Cockermouth (77A) and 18:20 towards Keswick (77); Saturday 19:23 towards Cockermouth (77A) and 18:20 towards Keswick (77); Sunday 18:20 towards Keswick (77). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 12 September 2026; that timetable runs to 1 November 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
The 77 passes this route at 0.1 km (Buttermere, outside Court Hotel, 10 m off the line). It passes again at 3.8 km.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival Buttermere village car park (east), where the walk starts. Pay and display, by coins, card or RingGo (location 37311). (Lake District National Park car-parks directory, checked 10 August 2026)
- Toilets Public toilets are mapped by the car park, and they charge. 33 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Refreshments Croft House Farm Café and Syke Farm Tea Room are mapped in the village. Their opening hours are not recorded. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Limitation Only part of this walk suits a pushchair, and we have not identified which part: do not plan on it for the whole walk. (our Stile & Gate Census, from OpenStreetMap, checked 25 September 2026)
- Miles without Stiles From the village, the first 3.8 km of this line, along the western shore and through Burtness Wood, is the National Park's Miles without Stiles route 25: rated 'for all' to the footbridge at about 0.8 km, and 'for some' beyond. (Lake District National Park, Miles without Stiles 25: Buttermere Lakeshore, checked 3 October 2026)
Everything mapped near the start
Mapped as nearby on OpenStreetMap, as of 13 September 2026, within 250 m of where this route starts (information boards within 150 m; benches and shelter within 50 m):
Distances are straight lines from where this route starts, not walking routes. Opening hours are as mapped and change; none of this is checked daily.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (opens in new tab), ODbL.
Water, shelter & getting away
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
Moderate overall — hardest: Navigation (estimated from the map, not checked on the ground); 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | 7.4 km | 66 m | 1:36–2:07 |
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
- Bridge Hotel (opens in new tab) hotelabout 0.0 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 Moss Force — 2.0 km from this start
- Walks from Scale Force — 2.3 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.