Lanty's Tarn and Glenridding Beck
Start Glenridding
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 170 m walk from this start. Parking & buses ↓
Hardest part Moderate steepness: Steepest sustained climb about 18% around the 0.9 km mark. Moderate navigation: No large featureless ground on the map; carry a map and compass for cloud. Moderate – estimated from the map, not checked on the ground
Before you choose
- At the start and finish the line crosses Glenridding Beck on the A592 road bridge, about 40 m where OpenStreetMap maps no separate footway.
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.
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: No sustained steep descent in the track’s height model (steepest 250 m about 15%). Steps, wet rock and the surface underfoot are not assessed; your own knees still matter.
With a dog
Not every line below has been assessed. The steepest stretch is a sustained climb of about 18% around the 0.9 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 2026-10-08)
- Rock and scrambling: Ground underfoot: Not assessed.
- Drops and exposed ground: Not assessed on the ground; the map suggests Easy. Graded from slope only (~18% max); treat exposure as unverified.
- 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
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 2026-10-08. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (local extract).
Route map
Easy 91%Moderate 10%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
Glenridding → Lanty's Tarn (1.2 km, 124 m)
We have written these directions from the map, not on foot. From the start in Glenridding, follow the service road to the A592 and cross Glenridding Beck on the road bridge, about 40 m where OpenStreetMap maps no separate footway. Just over the bridge, take the public bridleway up the valley of Glenridding Beck for about 0.3 km. At about 0.5 km leave it for the public footpath on the left, along a private drive at first, and climb south to a path junction at about 1.0 km: this is the main climb of the walk, and the steepest part by our measure from the track. From the junction a short path leads to the north end of Lanty's Tarn at about 1.2 km, where this line turns back.
WaypointsThe service road, the A592 bridge over Glenridding Beck, the public bridleway, the public footpath uphill, the path junction, Lanty's Tarn (north end).
Decision pointAt about 0.5 km the line leaves the bridleway for the public footpath uphill; the bridleway carries on up the valley, and the walk comes back down it at the end.
If you need to get offThe map shows the line on the road through Glenridding to about 0.3 km, then on the bridleway and footpath up to the tarn; no mapped path reaches a road sooner than going back, so the way off is back the way you came, under 1 km; not walked for this guide.
Lanty's Tarn → Mires Beck (0.8 km, 0 m)
Walk back on the same path to the junction at about 1.45 km, then take the public footpath west-north-west, and from about 1.65 km a public footpath down north-north-west to Mires Beck at about 2.0 km.
WaypointsLanty's Tarn, the path junction, the public footpath downhill, Mires Beck.
Easy to get wrongOpenStreetMap maps gates on the line at about 1.45, 1.6 and 1.8 km.
If you need to get offThe map shows no shorter way down from the tarn than back or on: back to the path junction and down the way you came, or on down to Mires Beck and the bridleway, where at about 2.1 km a public bridleway leads about 110 m north-east, over a bridge, to a lane; never more than about 0.9 km; not walked for this guide.
Mires Beck → Finish (1.1 km, 2 m)
Past Mires Beck, join the public bridleway at about 2.1 km and follow it east back down the valley of Glenridding Beck to the A592. Cross the road bridge and return along the service road to the start.
WaypointsMires Beck, the public bridleway, the A592 bridge, the start.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
More about this walk
A planned line, drawn from the map; not yet walked. The last 0.2 km to Lanty’s Tarn is walked out and back on the same path, to the tarn’s north end.
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 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.
- Ullswater Steamers Glenridding Pier car park (paid) — a 380 m walk to the start
- Glenridding, by St Patrick's Boat Landing (car park) — a 290 m walk to the start
- Beckside Car Park (paid) — at the start
- By bus: buses stop at Glenridding, at Bus Shelter, a 170 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 170 m walk from this start. The last bus is 19:41 towards Windermere (508) and 17:55 towards Penrith (508) and 17:45 towards Grasmere (559) and 17:29 towards Patterdale (509) and 16:00 towards Keswick (509) and 15:04 towards Hartsop (509), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026; that timetable runs to 1 November 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
The 508 passes this route at 0.1 km (Glenridding, at Bus Shelter, 50 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.
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
Moderate overall — hardest: Steepness and 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 | 3.1 km | 126 m | 0:50–1:06 |
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.
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Glenridding — 0.1 km from this start
- Walks from Patterdale — 1.3 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.
