Keswick Square to Latrigg
Start Keswick, Central Car Park (paid)
Getting here Parking: Keswick, Central Car Park (paid), 0.1 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 509, 555, X4 and X5 stop at Keswick Park Hotel (opposite), a 250 m walk from this start. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Severe steepness: Steepest sustained climb about 35% around the 2.0 km mark.
Before you choose
Nearby notice, impact not established: A forestry or land-manager restriction on Keswick to Threlkeld trail (the notice’s dates: 17 September 2026 to 12 November 2026; we last read the source on 11 October 2026). It is near where this walk starts. We have not established that the walk uses the path it covers. Every notice we hold.
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 Latrigg
Easy 71%Moderate 15%Hard 14%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 → Latrigg (2.6 km, 299 m)
From the Moot Hall in Keswick the line heads north through the town, crossing the River Greta by a footbridge near 0.4 km, then north-east on a mapped footway and up Spoonygreen Lane, a public bridleway, past Latrigg Woods, and east and north-east on mapped footways to the top of Latrigg (369 m).
WaypointsThe Moot Hall, River Greta, Spoonygreen Lane, Latrigg Woods, Latrigg summit (369 m).
Decision pointThe Cumbria Way follows the same line from the footbridge. A fence beside the lane and the bridleway near 1.1-1.7 km.
Easy to get wrongHard for most of 1.4-1.9 km, Moderate either side. One gate near 2.0 km.
If you need to get offTurn back the way you came, to Keswick.
Latrigg → Finish (3.4 km, 18 m)
East off the top of Latrigg, then south-west and west down mapped footways and a permissive footpath past Whinny Brow to Spoonygreen Lane near 4.7 km, and south through the town, crossing the River Greta, to the Moot Hall.
WaypointsLatrigg, Whinny Brow, Latrigg Woods, Spoonygreen Lane, River Greta, the Moot Hall.
Decision pointA fence beside the line near 4.3-4.9 km.
Easy to get wrongModerate and Hard by turns for the first 700 m off the top. One gate near 4.3 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)
- 1Latrigg369 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.
- Latrigg — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:15, with the sunrise. In late September, about 07:00. It waits longest in midsummer — about an hour after sunrise. In late December, not until about 09:00.
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.
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, Central Car Park (paid) — at the start
- Latrigg (verge) — joins the loop at about km 1.1 of 6: a 430 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Keswick, Crosthwaite Road (paid) — joins the loop at about km 5.5 of 6: a 400 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 509, 555, X4 and X5 stop at Keswick Park Hotel (opposite), a 250 m walk from this start. This walk starts and ends in Keswick, so there is no bus to catch back to the start.
The 509 passes this route at 0.1 km (Keswick Bus Station (K) (Stand 1), 220 m off the line). It passes again at 5.9 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.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Latrigg | 2.6 km | 299 m | 1:01–1:21 |
| Finish | 6.0 km | 317 m | 1:43–2:18 |
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: No mapped stiles, but the ground underfoot has not been assessed; not a buggy line on what we know.
- Knees: A long, steep ~31% drop over 250 m around the 3.1 km mark — hard on the knees.
With a dog
Hardest for a dog here: the steepest stretch, a sustained climb of about 35% around the 2.0 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 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: 2 gates
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 (via Overpass).
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Keswick — 0.0 km from this start
- Walks from Portinscale — 1.7 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.
