High Snockrigg from Buttermere
Start Buttermere village
Getting here Parking: Buttermere village (LDNPA, paid), 0.2 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 77 and 77A stop at Buttermere, outside Court Hotel, a 110 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. Parking & buses ↓
Hardest part Hard steepness: Steepest sustained climb about 28% around the 0.8 km mark.
Before you choose
- The first and last 0.4 km are on the road: the B5289 through the village, then the Newlands Pass road, both mapped with no pavement.
- OpenStreetMap maps a crag edge about 25 m north of the path at about 0.7 km, passed again at about 3.3 km on the way down.
- The last 0.3 km to the top follows paths OpenStreetMap does not record as a public right of way; the rest is road and public footpath. That is a map-data note, not a ruling on access: check the access land and rights of way maps before relying on this stretch.
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 High Snockrigg
Easy 27%Moderate 31%Hard 43%Severe
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
Buttermere village → High Snockrigg (2.0 km, 404 m)
We have written these directions from the map, not on foot. From the start in Buttermere village, by the Bridge Hotel bus stop, walk east-north-east up the road: the B5289 for about 0.1 km, then the Newlands Pass road, both mapped with no pavement. Where there is no pavement, the Highway Code (rule 2) says to keep to the right, facing oncoming traffic, close to the side and in single file, and to cross before a sharp right-hand bend so drivers can see you. At about 0.4 km a public footpath leaves the road and climbs east up the fellside. This is the steepest climbing of the walk, about 28% sustained near 0.8 km. The footpath carries on east to about 1.7 km; there the line leaves it for a path south-south-west, which OpenStreetMap does not record as a public right of way, to High Snockrigg's top at about 2.0 km.
WaypointsThe Bridge Hotel bus stop, the Newlands Pass road, the public footpath, High Snockrigg's summit (526 m).
Easy to get wrongOpenStreetMap maps a crag edge about 25 m north of the footpath at about 0.7 km.
If you need to get offThe map shows the line on the road to about 0.4 km, then on the public footpath up the fellside and a path to High Snockrigg's top. Where the line leaves that footpath, at about 1.7 km, a public footpath leads north-east down to the Newlands Pass road, but it passes mapped crag and ground steeper than 35 degrees. So the way off is back down the way you came: never more than about 1.6 km to the road, then about 0.4 km along it to the village; not walked for this guide.
High Snockrigg → Finish (2.0 km, 0 m)
Turn round at the top and walk back the way you came: north-north-east to the public footpath at about 2.3 km, west down the footpath to the Newlands Pass road at about 3.6 km, and west-south-west down the road to the finish in Buttermere village; the Newlands Pass road and the B5289 are both mapped with no pavement. Where there is no pavement, the Highway Code (rule 2) says to keep to the right, facing oncoming traffic, close to the side and in single file, and to cross before a sharp right-hand bend so drivers can see you. The steepest descent is on the footpath, about 30% sustained near 3.2 km.
WaypointsHigh Snockrigg's summit, the public footpath, the crag edge north of the path at about 3.3 km, the Newlands Pass road, Buttermere village (finish).
Decision pointThe way back is the way out.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
Summits bagged (1)
- 1High Snockrigg526 m
More about this walk
A planned line, drawn from the map; not yet walked. It climbs the same path to the top as our longer walk over High Snockrigg, Eel Crag & Lad Hows, and turns round there.
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.
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
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.
- Buttermere village (LDNPA, paid) — a 290 m walk to the start
- High Snockrigg, north-west (layby) — joins the loop at about km 0.4 of 4: a 180 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- High Snockrigg (layby) — joins the loop at about km 0.4 of 4: a 30 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- By bus: buses stop at Buttermere, outside Court Hotel, a 110 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 110 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 0.0 km (Buttermere, outside Court Hotel, 60 m off the line).
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
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
Hard 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1High Snockrigg | 2.0 km | 404 m | 1:05–1:26 |
| Finish | 4.0 km | 404 m | 1:29–1:58 |
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 buggy or dodgy knees manage this route?
- Buggy: No mapped stiles, but the ground underfoot has not been assessed; not a buggy line on what we know.
- Knees: A sustained ~30% descent over 250 m around the 3.2 km mark — a little jarring on tired knees.
On the line: No barriers mapped on this line.
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 2026-10-12. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Moss Force — 1.9 km from this start
- Walks from Scale Force — 2.4 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.
