Loughrigg Terrace & Rydal Water
Photo: © Lee McCoy
Start Ambleside, Rydal Road car park
Getting here Parking: Ambleside, Rydal Road (paid), 0.1 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 555 and 599 stop at Ambleside, at Scandale Bridge; from there it is 1.6 km and 90 m of ascent to this start. And the same back: about 13.9 km in all, with the walk. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Moderate distance: 10.71 km round. 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
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
Rydal Cave
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
Ambleside, Rydal Road car park → Finish (10.7 km, 288 m)
From the Rydal Road car park in Ambleside, follow Stoney Lane and the public footpath south-west, then the public bridleway, climbing steadily to about 195 m at about 2.2 km; mapped stepping stones cross a stream at about 2.3 km. The bridleway descends, and paths and a bridleway lead to Red Bank Road at about 4.5 km. Follow the road north uphill for about 0.6 km, facing oncoming traffic, then take the Loughrigg Terrace bridleway east and north-east along the terrace. From about 6 km paths and a permissive bridleway lead east, across a stream at a mapped ford at about 6.2 km, past Rydal Cave (about 6.9 km) and down to Pelter Bridge at about 8 km. The lane under Loughrigg leads south and south-east back towards Ambleside (near 8.6 km it passes the stepping stones over the Rothay, which the route does not cross), and the public footpath north-east returns you to Rydal Road and the car park.
WaypointsStoney Lane, Loughrigg's southern bridleway, Red Bank Road, Loughrigg Terrace, Rydal Cave, Pelter Bridge, Under Loughrigg, Finish.
Easy to get wrongEntering Rydal Cave means stepping stones in standing water, which are slick; going into the cave is optional. The engineered paths on the terrace can be polished and slippery when wet, and busy in high summer.
If you need to get offLeave the route only by a mapped path from a junction you can identify; the A591 below is a busy main road. If you plan to use the bus (555 or 599), check the stop, the direction and the last bus before you set out.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Walked in part · km 2.3–5.5, km 6.0–7.5 from the map
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.
- Pelter Bridge, Rydal (paid) — joins the loop at about km 8 of 10.7: a 30 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Elterwater, 1.0 km NE (layby) — joins the loop at about km 5 of 10.7: a 460 m walk to the line, climbing about 40 m, and you walk the round from there
- Ambleside, Market Place (4 on-street bays) — a 560 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
The 555 and 599 stop at Ambleside, at Scandale Bridge. From there it is 1.6 km and 90 m of ascent to this start — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 13.9 km in all, with the walk. We haven’t published last buses, Sunday or winter service yet, so check the timetable before you rely on getting back.
The 555 passes this route at 0.2 km (Ambleside, opposite Health Centre, 90 m off the line). It passes again at 8.0 km and 10.7 km. Other services cross it too — 505 at 0.6 km, 516 at 4.6 km.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival Rydal Road car park, Ambleside, beside the start. Pay and display: 1 hour £2.60, 2 hours £4.40, 3 hours £5.80, 4 hours £7.40, 6 hours £8.80, all day £10.60; cash, card or contactless. Charges apply 08:00 to 20:00. (Westmorland and Furness Council, Rydal Road car park, checked 11 August 2026)
- Toilets Public toilets are mapped by the car park, marked wheelchair-accessible, and they charge. 16 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Refreshments The Flying Fleece is the nearest mapped pub, with several cafés in Ambleside within 250 m. Opening hours are not recorded. 71 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Limitation Not a pushchair route. (our Stile & Gate Census, from OpenStreetMap, checked 25 September 2026)
Everything mapped near the start
Mapped as nearby on OpenStreetMap, as of 13 September 2026, within 250 m of where this route starts (information boards within 150 m; benches and shelter within 50 m):
Distances are straight lines from where this route starts, not walking routes. Opening hours are as mapped and change; none of this is checked daily.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (opens in new tab), ODbL.
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: Length and navigation (estimated from the map, not checked on the ground); terrain not assessed; exposure not assessed on the ground
Walked in part. Out to the stepping stones, along Loughrigg Terrace and back under Loughrigg in May 2023, the same way round; that day went over the top of Loughrigg Fell instead of the bridleway past Loughrigg Tarn and Red Bank Road, and along the shore of Rydal Water instead of the path past Rydal Cave, so those two stretches were not walked for this guide.
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 | 10.7 km | 288 m | 2:37–3:29 |
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 14%). 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 climb of about 15% around the 0.8 km mark.
- Stiles and gates: A step-over stile at 4.6 km — a dog may need lifting over. (OpenStreetMap, mapped as of 9 July 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: No path off the line is recorded, but it passes a bus stop where you could end the walk: the 555 at Church for Rydal Mount (near), about 8.0 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: 14 gates · 2 kissing gates · 1 step-over stile
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 9 July 2026. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).
Places to stay near this start
From Ambleside or Grasmere: 11 places
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Ambleside — 0.2 km from this start
- Walks from Stock Ghyll Force — 0.8 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.