Lodore Falls Hotel to Bowder Stone and Watendlath
Start Surprise View (NT) (paid)
Getting here Parking: Surprise View (NT), 0.5 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 78 stops at Borrowdale, opposite Lodore Hotel, a 30 m walk from this start. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Severe steepness: Steepest sustained climb about 38% around the 4.8 km mark.
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
Easy 86%Moderate 9%Hard 3%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
Start → Finish (11.1 km, 395 m)
From the Lodore Falls Hotel the line heads west on public footpaths across the valley floor, over the River Derwent by the Chinese Bridge near 0.5 km and beside the shore of Derwent Water, then south on lanes into Grange. It crosses the River Derwent again at Grange, follows the valley road south, mapped as a secondary road, and a public bridleway past the Bowder Stone near 4.0 km. Near 4.7 km it turns north-east up a public footpath, then east on mapped paths past Jopplety How to Watendlath and its tarn near 7.2 km. From Watendlath it heads north on a public footpath beside Watendlath Beck, crossing it several times, and north-west down past Lodore Falls to the road and the hotel.
WaypointsLodore Falls Hotel, the Chinese Bridge, River Derwent, Derwent Water, Grange, the Bowder Stone, Jopplety How, Watendlath, Watendlath Tarn, Watendlath Beck, Lodore Falls.
Decision pointWatendlath Beck is beside the line for most of 7.2-9.2 km, with a wall for most of 7.8-9.4 km.
Easy to get wrongThe steep part is the climb from the valley road: Hard and Severe for most of 4.3-4.9 km, where OSM grades the footpath (near 4.7-5.1 km) as demanding mountain hiking. Moderate near 6.3-6.5 km and on the way down near 9.9-10.4 km. The line is on the valley road near 3.0-3.5 and 4.2-4.5 km. Twenty gates and stiles; two stiles near 5.4 and 6.3 km.
If you need to get offWatendlath, near 7.2 km, is about two-thirds of the way round; back the way you came from there is the longer way. Before the climb near 4.7 km, the valley road leads back north towards Grange.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
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.
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
If the first one is full, these overlap least in our model. The 3 below sit in different places or are different kinds of parking, so a busy morning at one does not mean a busy morning at all of them.
- Watendlath (NT, paid) — joins the loop at about km 7.3 of 11.1: a 130 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Grange village car park (by the chapel) — joins the loop at about km 2.8 of 11.1: a 60 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Kettlewell, Derwentwater (NT, paid) — a 550 m walk to the start, climbing about 30 m
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 78 stops at Borrowdale, opposite Lodore Hotel, a 30 m walk from this start. We haven’t published last buses, Sunday or winter service yet, so check the timetable before you rely on getting back.
The 77 passes this route at 2.6 km (Grange Village Caf (near), 0 m off the line). Other services cross it too — 78 at 3.5 km. Seasonal: the 77 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | 11.1 km | 395 m | 2:53–3:50 |
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: A sustained ~27% descent over 250 m around the 10.3 km mark — a little jarring on tired knees.
With a dog
Hardest for a dog here: stiles and gates. The steepest stretch is a sustained climb of about 38% around the 4.8 km mark.
- Stiles and gates: Stiles of unmapped type at 5.4 and 6.3 km — a dog may need lifting over. (OpenStreetMap, mapped as of 31 October 2026)
- Drops and exposed ground: Not assessed on the ground; the map suggests Moderate. 1 mapped crag feature(s) near the line — check the airy sections.
- Rock and scrambling: Ground underfoot: Not assessed.
- Ways off early: No path off the line is recorded, but it passes a bus stop where you could end the walk: the 77 at Grange Village Caf (near), about 2.6 km; the 78 at Grange, at Bowder Stone, about 3.5 km. The buses section says which bus and when.
- 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: 13 gates · 5 kissing gates · 2 stiles (type unmapped)
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 Lodore Falls — 0.2 km from this start
- Walks from Grange-in-Borrowdale — 1.8 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.