Elterwater riverside loop
Start Elterwater Village
Getting here Parking: Elterwater (NT, paid), 0.0 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 516 stops at Elterwater, opposite The Britannia Inn, a 90 m walk from this start. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Moderate terrain: Riverside path plus lanes; can be muddy. Moderate – our judgement from the map and the route’s record; not walked yet
Before you choose
- Riverside paths flood after rain and get muddy.
- Lanes through the village — take care with traffic.
- Livestock in the fields; keep dogs on a lead near stock.
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 11%). 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: Easy and short. (Lee) (set by hand)
- Rock and scrambling: Ground underfoot: Moderate – our judgement from the map and the route’s record; not walked yet. Riverside path plus lanes; can be muddy.
- Drops and exposed ground: Easy – our judgement from the map and the route’s record; not walked yet. Low-level throughout; no real exposure.
- 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: 6 gates
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 25 September 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
Start → Finish (4.3 km, 91 m)
From the start, cross Great Langdale Beck by Elterwater Bridge and take the public bridleway north-west up the valley, with the beck close on your right. After about 0.7 km, cross the beck again on a wooden bridge and come out on the B5343 at Chapel Stile, by the post office; the line is on the road for about 80 m before a public footpath leaves it. Follow public footpaths west across the fields, then turn south over Great Langdale Beck by a bridge. Past a cattle grid, a track follows the beck west, then turns south and crosses Baysbrown Pool. A lane then climbs south-east past Baysbrown Wood to about 134 m, the steepest part of the walk at about 11% near the 2.5 km mark, before lanes drop back down into Elterwater and over Elterwater Bridge to the finish
WaypointsElterwater Bridge, the bridleway beside Great Langdale Beck, the wooden bridge, the B5343 at Chapel Stile, the bridge back over Great Langdale Beck, Baysbrown Pool, the lane past Baysbrown Wood, Elterwater
Decision pointGreat Langdale Beck is on your right from Elterwater Bridge to the wooden bridge, and again on the track after the bridge at about 1.5 km. After Baysbrown Pool the route leaves the beck and follows lanes back to Elterwater
Easy to get wrongThe riverside paths flood after rain and get muddy. The route crosses the B5343 at Chapel Stile and uses lanes at the start, the finish and on the climb past Baysbrown Wood. There is a cattle grid on the track at about 1.55 km
If you need to get offFollow the route's own line to the finish
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
More about this walk
About the easiest walk in Langdale — short, and by the water for much of the way.
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
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.
- Elterwater (NT, paid) — at the start
- B5343, 0.5 km E of Elterwater (layby) — a 600 m walk to the start
- Elterwater Common (free) — a 480 m walk to the start
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 Elterwater, opposite The Britannia Inn, a 90 m walk from this start. We haven’t published last buses, Sunday or winter service yet, so check the timetable before you rely on getting back.
The 516 passes this route at 0.0 km (Elterwater, opposite The Britannia Inn, 50 m off the line). It passes again at 4.3 km.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival Elterwater’s National Trust car park, beside the start: pay and display, free for National Trust members. 12 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (Lake District National Park car-parks directory; National Trust, the Langdales, checked 11 August 2026)
- Toilets Toilets are mapped about 45 m from the start. 47 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Refreshments Slates Coffee and Kitchen (about 75 m) and the Britannia Inn (about 95 m) are mapped by the start. Opening hours are not recorded here. 76 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Limitation Riverside paths flood after rain and get muddy, and the lanes through the village carry traffic. (our route notes (this route's own warnings), checked 2 October 2026)
Everything mapped near the start
At Elterwater (NT, paid), the closest parking we hold to where this route starts:
Distances are straight lines from the car park, not walking routes. Opening hours change; none of this is checked daily.
Mapped as nearby on OpenStreetMap too, as of 13 September 2026, within 250 m of the start and not already listed above:
Also mapped within reach: 2 information boards, a shelter.
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: Terrain (our judgement from the map and the route’s record; not walked yet)
Five independent axes, not one score. This route has not been walked yet, so none of them was set on the ground: three of the five are 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 | 4.2 km | 91 m | 1:00–1:20 |
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 Elterwater: 5 places in Grasmere
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Elterwater — 0.1 km from this start
- Walks from Little Langdale — 2.2 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.