Gummer's How circuit
Start Gummer's How Car Park
Getting here Parking: Gummer's How car park (free), 0.0 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 6 stops at Fell Foot, at Gummers How; from there it is 1.2 km and 193 m of ascent to this start. And the same back: about 7.1 km in all, with the walk. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Hard navigation: Care needed in cloud — 12 path junctions near the line. Hard – 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.
Route map
1 Gummer's How
Easy 91%Moderate 9%HardSevere
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 → Gummer's How (1.0 km, 115 m)
From the car park, follow the public footpath north, gentle at first and then steep, to the top of Gummer's How (321 m) at about 1 km.
If you need to get offThe map shows no mapped path off the climb that reaches a road sooner than going back, so the way off is back down the public footpath to the car park and the road, never more than about 0.85 km; not walked for this guide.
Gummer's How → Finish (3.8 km, 68 m)
Carry on east off the top on the paths across the moor, crossing a stream at a mapped ford at about 1.5 km, then south-south-east down a public footpath to the road at about 3 km. The route follows the road south-west for about 1.2 km, facing oncoming traffic, to Sow How Lane end, then a public footpath west-south-west back to the car park.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
Summits bagged (1)
- 1Gummer's How321 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.
Getting there and back
Parking
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.
- Gummer's How car park (free) — at the start
- Birch Fell car park — joins the loop at about km 3 of 4.8: a 330 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
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 6 stops at Fell Foot, at Gummers How. From there it is 1.2 km and 193 m of ascent to this start — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 7.1 km in all, with the walk. As timetabled from 27 October to 1 November. Towards Ulverston (6): Tuesday to Saturday 23:36; Sunday 23:39 to Ulverston, 18:13 to Ulverston St Mary's. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 24 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
The 6 passes this route at 0.0 km (Fell Foot, opposite Country Park, 830 m off the line).
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival Gummer’s How car park, beside the start: free, as mapped. No capacity is recorded for it. 18 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (our parking map, from OpenStreetMap, checked 2 August 2026)
- Toilets No toilets are mapped within 250 m of the start. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Refreshments No café or pub is mapped within 250 m of the start: bring what you need. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Limitation One of the shortest walks here: 4.8 km and 183 m, about 1¼ to 1¾ hours. (our route notes (this route's own summary), checked 2 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):
Also mapped within reach: an information board.
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.
No mapped drinking water or shelter on this route — that doesn’t mean there is none, and never drink untreated from a beck. (Facilities data © OpenStreetMap contributors.)
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
Hard overall — hardest: Navigation (estimated from the map, not checked on the ground); 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Gummer's How | 1.0 km | 115 m | 0:23–0:31 |
| Finish | 4.8 km | 183 m | 1:15–1:40 |
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: No sustained steep descent in the track’s height model (steepest 250 m about 18%). Steps, wet rock and the surface underfoot are not assessed; your own knees still matter.
With a dog
Hardest for a dog here: stiles and gates. The steepest stretch is a sustained climb of about 20% around the 0.7 km mark.
- Stiles and gates: A stile of unmapped type at 1.3 km — a dog may need lifting over. (OpenStreetMap, mapped as of 8 August 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: 3 gates · 2 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 8 August 2026. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from High Dam — 3.0 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.