Friar's Crag & the Derwentwater shore
Photo: © Lee McCoy
Start Keswick town centre, by Booths
Getting here Parking: Keswick Rugby Club car park (paid), 0.2 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 509, 554, X4, X5 and X8 stop at Keswick Bus Station (K) (Stand 1), a 20 m walk from this start. 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: Suspended 23 Sep 2026: the National Park's own Friar's Crag route page currently warns of damage on the approach that makes it unsafe for wheels. Until the actual loop is checked, this is not offered as a pushchair route.
- Knees: No sustained steep descent in the track’s height model (steepest 250 m about 5%). 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 2.4 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 25 September 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. Graded from slope only (~6% max); treat exposure as unverified.
- 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: 12 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
Friar’s Crag
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
Keswick town centre, by Booths → Finish (4.2 km, 43 m)
If you need to get offThe map shows the line on Keswick's streets for its first 0.4 km and its last 0.2 km, and on Lake Road at about 0.9 km and again from about 3.1 to 3.4 km; on the paths between, short paths at about 2.4 km (about 190 m east-north-east, with steps, to the B5289) and at about 2.7 km (about 70 m to Lake Road) reach a road, and elsewhere the way off is back or on, never more than about 0.8 km; 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
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 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.
- Keswick, Bell Close (paid) — at the start
- Lakeside long stay car park, Keswick (paid) — joins the loop at about km 3.3 of 4.2: a 90 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Keswick, Crosthwaite Road (paid) — a 880 m walk to the start
- By bus: buses stop at Keswick Bus Station (K) (Stand 1), a 20 m walk from the start. This walk starts and ends in Keswick, so there is no bus to catch back to the start. For anyone staying elsewhere, the last bus out of Keswick on a weekday: 22:20 towards Workington (X5), 21:55 towards Penrith (X5), 18:00 towards Wigton (554). A bus is not affected by a full car park, but check the timetable before you rely on it.
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 509, 554, X4, X5 and X8 stop at Keswick Bus Station (K) (Stand 1), a 20 m walk from this start. This walk starts and ends in Keswick, so there is no bus to catch back to the start. For anyone staying elsewhere, the last bus out of Keswick: the X5 towards Workington at 22:20 Monday to Friday, 00:15 (after midnight) on Saturday, 20:10 on Sunday; the X5 towards Penrith at 21:55 Monday to Saturday, 18:20 on Sunday; the 554 towards Wigton at 18:00 Monday to Friday, 20:30 on Saturday, 16:10 on Sunday; the X8 towards Windermere: none Monday to Friday, 16:30 on Saturday, none on Sunday. From Keswick Bus Station (K) (Stand 1); checked against the operator's timetable, 7 September 2026; that timetable runs to 1 November. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
The 509 passes this route at 0.0 km (Keswick Bus Station (K) (Stand 2), 20 m off the line). Other services cross it too — 78 at 3.6 km. Seasonal: the 509 does not run from 2 November 2026 to 21 March 2027.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival The walk starts in the middle of Keswick. Lakeside long stay car park (Cumberland Council) is beside the walk near the lake, about 640 m from the start. Pay and display: up to 2 hours £3.80, 3 hours £6.50, 6 hours £9.00, 12 hours £11.40. 641 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (Cumberland Council, Lakeside long stay car park, checked 10 August 2026)
- Toilets Toilets are mapped about 70 m from the start. 68 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Refreshments Booths Café is mapped about 30 m from the start, with more than twenty cafés, pubs and restaurants within 250 m. 31 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 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):
Also mapped within reach: 3 information boards.
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 | 4.2 km | 43 m | 0:55–1:13 |
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 Keswick: 28 places
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Keswick — 0.3 km from this start
- Walks from Portinscale — 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.
