Crummock Water shore circuit
Start Buttermere village
Getting here Parking: Buttermere village (LDNPA, paid), 0.1 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 77 and 77A stop at Buttermere, outside Court Hotel, a 190 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 distance: 13.17 km round.
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: Not a pushchair route.
- Knees: No sustained steep descent in the track’s height model (steepest 250 m about 16%). 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 13% around the 9.3 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: Not assessed.
- Drops and exposed ground: Not assessed on the ground; the map suggests Easy. Graded from slope only (~16% max); treat exposure as unverified.
- 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 Lanthwaite Crummock Water car park (near), about 3.2 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 · 7 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 → Finish (13.2 km, 191 m)
From Buttermere village, follow the public and permissive footpaths north-west across the fields towards Crummock Water. At about 1.5 km the public bridleway climbs over Buttermere Hause (about 140 m). From about 2.1 km the route follows the B5289 north for about 1.2 km, past the Rannerdale bus stop, to the Crummock Water car park at about 3.2 km: walk facing oncoming traffic. Leave the road there on the permissive and public footpaths along the eastern shore, north-west to the foot of the lake at about 5.1 km, and cross the outflow. Turn south along the western shore on public footpaths for about 3.5 km; the western shore can be boggy. At about 9 km the public bridleway climbs south-west and west towards Scale Force, reaching about 200 m at about 9.7 km, then comes back down north-east and east, across the fields at the head of the lake, to Buttermere village.
If you need to get offThe map shows the eastern shore path close below the B5289 from the Crummock Water car park, with short paths up to the road at about 3.6, 3.8 and 4.2 km; just across the outflow at the foot of the lake (about 5.1 km), a public footpath and bridleway lead about 720 m north-north-west to the road at Scale Hill. On the western shore no path leads to a road, so the way off is back to the foot of the lake or on to Buttermere village, up to about 3.5 km; at about 8.8 km a path of about 400 m cuts across to the bridleway the walk rejoins at about 10.9 km, missing the climb towards Scale Force; not walked for this guide.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Not yet personally 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
If the first one is full, these overlap least in our model. The 3 below sit in different places or are different kinds of parking, so a busy morning at one does not mean a busy morning at all of them.
- Buttermere village (NT, paid) — joins the loop at about km 0.4 of 13.2: a 390 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Grasmoor (verge) — joins the loop at about km 4.3 of 13.2: a 370 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Rannerdale Knotts, south (layby) — joins the loop at about km 1.3 of 13.2: a 70 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- By bus: buses stop at Buttermere, outside Court Hotel, a 190 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 190 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 3.2 km (Lanthwaite Crummock Water car park (near), 10 m off the line). It passes again at 13.1 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), about 65 m from the start. Pay and display, by coins, card or RingGo (location 37311). 67 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (Lake District National Park car-parks directory, checked 10 August 2026)
- Toilets Public toilets are mapped beside the start, and they charge. 16 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Refreshments The Buttermere Court Hotel (about 75 m), Croft House Farm Café (about 120 m) and Syke Farm Tea Room (about 200 m) are mapped in the village. Opening hours are not recorded here. 73 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Limitation Long rather than hard: about 13 km round the lake, and boggy in places along the western shore. (our route notes (this route's own summary), checked 1 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: Length; terrain not assessed; exposure not assessed on the ground
Five independent axes, not one score. This route has not been walked yet, so none of them was set on the ground: one of the five is our judgement from the map and the route’s record, and 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 | 13.2 km | 191 m | 2:57–3:56 |
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.