Glenridding Dodd from the Inn on the Lake
Start Beckside Car Park (paid)
Getting here Parking: Beckside Car Park (paid), 0.1 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 508, 509 and 559 stop at Glenridding, at Bus Shelter, a 230 m walk from this start. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Severe steepness: Steepest sustained climb about 35% around the 0.9 km mark.
Before you choose
Conditions on this route
We score every Lakeland Wainwright each morning on cloud, wind, rain and underfoot, and this route crosses 1 of them. The worst summit governs the verdict — a route is only as kind as its roughest top.
Modelled guidance — not a substitute for the mountain forecast or your own judgement. See how every fell ranks today →
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.
Route map
1 Glenridding Dodd
Easy 58%Moderate 16%Hard 25%Severe 1%
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
- 1
Start → Glenridding Dodd (1.5 km, 287 m)
From the Inn on the Lake the line heads west on a public footpath past High Glenridding, then north-west and north-east up a mapped path past The Rake to the top of Glenridding Dodd (442 m).
WaypointsThe Inn on the Lake, High Glenridding, The Rake, Glenridding Dodd summit (442 m).
Easy to get wrongSteep from about 0.3 km: Hard for most of 0.4-1.0 km, with a few metres of Severe near 0.65 km. Mapped rock lies close to the line from about 0.8 km. Four kissing gates and a gate in the first 0.5 km.
If you need to get offTurn back the way you came, to the Inn on the Lake.
Glenridding Dodd → Finish (2.3 km, 10 m)
North-west off the top, then east down a mapped path, crossing Mossdale Beck near 2.4 km, to the main road at Stybarrow near 3.0 km. The line follows the road for about 120 m, then takes a permissive footway south beside Ullswater to near 3.6 km, and the road's pavement back to the Inn on the Lake.
WaypointsGlenridding Dodd, Mossdale Beck, Stybarrow, Stybarrow Crag, the lakeside footway, Ullswater, the Inn on the Lake.
Decision pointA wall beside the line near 3.0-3.4 km. The footway runs beside the road from about 3.1 to 3.6 km.
Easy to get wrongHard for most of 2.2-2.6 km on the way down. About 120 m of the line, near 3.0-3.1 km, is on the main road, mapped as a primary road with no pavement; no mapped path joins the Dodd's path to the lakeside footway without it. Steps on the footway near 3.6 km. A stile near 2.8 km.
If you need to get offThis stage is itself the way off.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
Summits bagged (1)
- 1Glenridding Dodd442 m
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.
When the sun reaches the tops
Not sunrise — the moment the sun clears the skyline from that summit, which on a fell with high ground to its east can be a good deal later.
- Glenridding Dodd — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:45, about a quarter of an hour later. In late September, about 07:15. It waits longest in late December — about half an hour after sunrise.
How to read these times
The two equinoxes are shown because they fall in the walking season, and late December too wherever a top keeps you waiting then; the clock gap between the equinoxes is British Summer Time, not the hill. Rounded to the nearest quarter hour and meant as a general idea, not a schedule.
Modelled from a 30 m elevation model against each summit’s own skyline — the same figures the fell pages carry, never observed. Cloud is not in it.
Getting there and back
Parking
2 more places to park near the start
Positions are approximate.
Of the pay-and-display machine tickets sold at Glenridding from 17 August 2024 to 31 March 2026, 34% 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 no real plan B by car 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. The bus below is the exception: it is not limited by car-park space, though it runs to a timetable and can be full.
- Beckside Car Park (paid) — a 180 m walk to the start
- Glenridding Dodd (layby) — joins the loop at about km 3 of 3.9: a 620 m walk to the line, climbing about 30 m, and you walk the round from there
- Glenridding, by St Patrick's Boat Landing (car park) — a 540 m walk to the start
- By bus: buses stop at Glenridding, at Bus Shelter, a 230 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 508, 509 and 559 stop at Glenridding, at Bus Shelter, a 230 m walk from this start. The last bus is 17:05 towards Penrith (508), every day it runs. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 20 October 2026; that timetable runs to 21 March 2027. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
The 508 passes this route at 3.0 km (Ullswater Stybarrow Crag (near), 10 m off the line).
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
At Beckside Car Park (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.
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
Severe overall — hardest: Steepness; terrain not assessed; 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Glenridding Dodd | 1.5 km | 287 m | 0:47–1:03 |
| Finish | 3.9 km | 297 m | 1:16–1:41 |
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.
Access & barriers
Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route?
- Buggy: Stiles or rough going on the route.
- Knees: A long, steep ~45% drop over 250 m around the 2.6 km mark — hard on the knees.
With a dog
Hardest for a dog here: stiles and gates. The steepest stretch is a sustained climb of about 35% around the 0.9 km mark.
- Stiles and gates: A stile of unmapped type at 2.8 km — a dog may need lifting over. (OpenStreetMap, mapped as of 31 October 2026)
- Rock and scrambling: Ground underfoot: Not assessed.
- Drops and exposed ground: Not assessed on the ground; the map suggests Easy. No mapped crags on or beside the line.
- 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: 1 gate · 4 kissing gates · 1 stile (type unmapped)
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 31 October 2026. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (local extract).
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Glenridding — 0.1 km from this start
- Walks from Patterdale — 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.
