Kentmere to Hartrigg
Start Kentmere
Getting here Parking: Kentmere Institute (donation, very limited), 0.1 km from the start (straight line). Parking & buses ↓
Hardest part Moderate navigation: No large featureless ground on the map; carry a map and compass for cloud — 5 path junctions near the line. Moderate – estimated from the map, not checked on the ground
Before you choose
- A stile is mapped on the footpath near the village, passed at about 0.7 km going out and 3.7 km coming back.
- A cattle grid near 2.9 km, and gates to open along the track.
- There is no mobile phone reception in this area, the National Park’s Kentmere route page says: save the route and its map on your phone before you set off (read 4 October 2026).
- No parking at the gateway to Hartrigg: the National Park says you can drive up to it to drop people off, but parking is not allowed there, and parking in the village, by the church and the Kentmere Institute, is limited (the National Park’s Kentmere route page, read 4 October 2026).
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
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
Kentmere → The Hartrigg lane (1.2 km, 44 m)
We have written these directions from the map, not on foot. From the lane by the Kentmere Institute and St Cuthbert's Church, follow the lane north-east, a public footpath. The first 0.3 km is the steepest part of the walk, about 8%, by our measure from the track. At about 0.5 km, through a gate, the line leaves the lane on a public footpath heading north, a track at first, passing a stile mapped at about 0.7 km. The footpath then joins the lane up the valley to Hartrigg at about 1.15 km.
WaypointsThe Kentmere Institute, St Cuthbert's Church, the lane, the gate at about 0.5 km, the stile, the lane to Hartrigg.
Decision pointAt about 0.5 km this line leaves the lane for the footpath. The National Park's step-free route to Hartrigg keeps to the tarmac lane instead.
Easy to get wrongA stile is mapped on the footpath at about 0.7 km.
If you need to get offThe map shows the line on a lane and then a public footpath from Kentmere, and no mapped path from them reaches a road sooner than going back. The exception is at about 1.15 km, where the walk joins the lane to Hartrigg: down that lane, about 750 m south-south-west, is a road at The Nook; never more than about 0.9 km; not walked for this guide.
The Hartrigg lane → Hartrigg (1.1 km, 16 m)
Follow the lane north and then north-west up the valley, through a gate at about 1.55 km, to Hartrigg Farm. The line turns back at about 2.25 km, just short of the farm. The National Park ends its step-free route at Hartrigg Farm, because the rough stone track beyond does not meet its accessible standard.
WaypointsThe lane up the valley, the gate, Hartrigg Farm (the turning point).
If you need to get offThe map shows the way off as back down the lane the way you came; at about 1.15 km, where the walk's footpath leaves it, the lane carries on about 750 m south-south-west to a road at The Nook; never more than about 1.9 km; not walked for this guide.
Hartrigg → Finish (2.2 km, 2 m)
Retrace the lane south down the valley for about 1.05 km. At about 3.3 km leave it for the footpath, past the stile at about 3.7 km, back to the lane above the village, and follow the lane down to the church.
WaypointsThe lane, the footpath, the stile, the lane above the village, St Cuthbert's Church.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
More about this walk
A planned line, drawn from the map. Not a pushchair route as drawn: the footpath out of the village has a stile, passed on the way out and again on the way back. The Lake District National Park’s Miles without Stiles route 3 reaches Hartrigg from the village hall by the tarmac lane instead, graded ‘for some’ for its long slopes. This line is on that lane only from about 1.1 km to Hartrigg and back to about 3.3 km. With a pushchair, or for the simplest way there, keep to the lane both ways: it is the park’s step-free line, with no stile, and the park’s route ends at Hartrigg Farm, where the tarmac ends.
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
1 more place 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.
- Kentmere Institute (donation, very limited) — at the start
- Hollow Moor car park — a 300 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
No bus we hold serves this start. The nearest stop we hold is the 508 at Troutbeck, opposite Limefitt Park, 5.5 km away on foot: a walk of its own, not a way to the start.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival A pay car park is mapped near the start in Kentmere. (OpenStreetMap contributors, Cumbria extract of 24 July 2026, checked 3 October 2026)
- Toilets No toilets are mapped near the line; that does not mean there are none. (OpenStreetMap contributors, Cumbria extract of 24 July 2026, checked 3 October 2026)
- Refreshments No cafe or pub is mapped near the line; that does not mean there is none. (OpenStreetMap contributors, Cumbria extract of 24 July 2026, checked 3 October 2026)
- Limitation A stile on the footpath out of the village: not a pushchair route as drawn. (OpenStreetMap contributors, Cumbria extract of 24 July 2026, checked 3 October 2026)
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
Moderate 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | 4.5 km | 62 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.
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 8%). 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 descent of about 8% around the 4.3 km mark.
- Stiles and gates: A stile of unmapped type at 0.7 km — a dog may need lifting over. (OpenStreetMap, mapped as of 2026-10-03)
- 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: 4 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 2026-10-03. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Kentmere — 0.1 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.
