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21.17 km · ~627 m ascent · ~5–7 h · linear · 2 summits

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Severe distanceLinearPlanned

Pooley Bridge to Shap

21.17 km
Distance
~5–7 h
Typical time
~627 m
Ascent
2
Summits
Download GPX →Planned route · not yet walked

Key facts

Distance 21.17 km
Ascent ~627 m
Descent ~522 m
Time ~5–7 h
Best season All year. Best in clear weather - the Askham Fell and Moor Divock section is featureless in cloud.
Type Linear
Start Pooley Bridge
A one-way crossing from Ullswater to the edge of the Shap fells: over Heughscar Hill and the old Roman road on Askham Fell, past the stone circles of Moor Divock, then south over open ground to Four Stones Hill before dropping to Bampton and following the valley out to Shap. One real summit, a lot of sky, and a walk that gets somewhere rather than returning to the car.

✎️ Point-to-point, not a loop: you finish 13 km from where you began, so the return by bus is part of the plan rather than an afterthought - see the final stage. A leisure crossing rather than a summit day: it takes Heughscar Hill on the way and passes just under Four Stones Hill without leaving the path. Do not be misled by the modest height - navigation grades Hard, with about 22% of the line on featureless high ground, and Askham Fell and Moor Divock in cloud are harder than 400 m suggests.

✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet. A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.

🧭 The automated detail on this page — distance, climb, pacing and a first-pass difficulty read — is live. Hand-written field notes are being added.

Difficulty profile

LengthSevere21.17 km — a long day out.
SteepnessModerateSteepest sustained pull about 23% around the 14.0 km mark.
TerrainModerateMostly good mountain path — rough/natural surface, ~22% pathless. desk assessment — not field-verified
NavigationHardCare needed in cloud — ~22% featureless high ground, 70 path junctions near the line. desk assessment — not field-verified
ExposureNot assessedExposure (drops, scrambling, how bad a slip would be) can’t be judged from gradient data alone, so we don’t guess. A rating appears once the route is editorially assessed or walked.

Five independent axes, not one score. “Desk” ratings come from maps and guidebooks, not yet walked — treat them as a guide, not a survey.

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.

Why this matters: 78% of Mountain Rescue call-outs come after midday — the day runs out on the way home, not on the way up. See also walking in bad weather and today’s conditions.

OpenTopoMap
Elevation profile, shaded by steepness
Elevation profile Rises from about 149 m to 395 m over 21.2 km, with the summits marked in order. The area beneath is shaded by sustained steepness over a 250 m window, in the same four bands as the route’s steepness rating: Easy under 15%, Moderate 15 to 25%, Hard 25 to 35%, Severe above 35%. 395 m 149 m 0 km 21.2 km 12

1 Heughscar Hill2 Four Stones Hill

Easy 96%Moderate 5%HardSevere

~627 m
Total ascent
395 m
High point
149 m
Start height

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right).

This walk covers about 21.17 km with around 627 m of ascent, taking in 2 summits. The map above shows the line; the elevation profile and stage notes are below.

Access & barriers

Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route? A quick read from the gates and stiles mapped along the way.

Dog
Mostly gates
Buggy
Not buggy-able
Knees
Steep in places
  • Dog: A stile of unmapped type — a dog may need lifting over.
  • Buggy: Stiles or rough going on the route.
  • Knees: A sustained ~23% descent around the 13.8 km mark — a little jarring on tired knees.

On the line: 22 gates · 17 stiles (type unmapped)

These are mapped barriers, from OpenStreetMap — coverage in the Lakes is good but not guaranteed complete. Spotted a stile or gate we’ve missed? Tell us and we’ll fix it. Barrier data as of 2026-08-12. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).

Pacing

SummitCumulativeAscentTime (fast–steady)
1Heughscar Hill2.7 km229 m0:55–1:14
2Four Stones Hill12.3 km465 m3:14–4:18
Finish21.2 km627 m5:17–7:01

Naismith-based estimate — a fast/steady range. Your pace will vary. These use Naismith’s textbook constants (5 km/h, 600 m of ascent an hour). Measured against a pace fitted to 41 recorded Lakeland walks they run about 8% slow, and we have left them that way deliberately: a slow estimate strands nobody.

The walk, stage by stage

  1. 1

    Start → Heughscar Hill (2.7 km, 229 m)

    Climb of about 229 m over 2.7 km (around 8% average).

  2. 2

    Heughscar Hill → Four Stones Hill (9.6 km, 236 m)

    Climb of about 236 m over 9.6 km (around 2% average).

    Decision point

    The line stays on the path below Four Stones Hill rather than crossing the top, and that is deliberate: the summit is about 80 m off to the side on rough, pathless ground, and this is a crossing rather than a bagging day. If you want the top it is a short step up and back; in cloud, stay on the path.

    Easy to get wrong

    The midpoint food stop is Bampton, about 1.6 km off the route: the village stores (a cafe, but check the hours - OpenStreetMap has them as 09:00-14:00) or the Mardale Inn. The detour is 3.2 km there and back, so decide before you commit to it.

  3. Four Stones Hill → Finish (8.9 km, 162 m)

    Climb of about 162 m over 8.9 km (around 2% average).

    Decision point

    Getting back to Pooley Bridge. Shap is on the 106 (Penrith - Eamont Bridge - Askham - Shap - Kendal), which runs Monday to Saturday and is infrequent: check the timetable before you set out, not when you reach Shap. Take it to Penrith and change onto the 508 Ullswater Bus (Penrith - Pooley Bridge - Aira Force - Glenridding - Patterdale), which returns you to the start. The 106 also stops at Askham, 3.6 km from Pooley Bridge, which looks like a shortcut on the map; after 21 km it is closer to an extra hour on foot. Change at Penrith unless the timings are clearly against you.

    Easy to get wrong

    There is nothing to eat between Bampton and Shap. The Crown and Mitre at Bampton Grange sits about 1.8 km off the line here, and is the last chance.

Summits bagged (2)

  1. 1Heughscar Hill375 mAround Penrith · Outlying Fell, Birkett, Synge
  2. 2Four Stones Hill415 mFar Eastern · Birkett, Synge

In the order you walk them — the same numbers the elevation profile, the stage notes and the pacing table use.

Getting there & parking

Eusemere Car Park (LDNPA, paid) — 0.0 km from the start (straight line)
Walking base for Heughscar Hill and Arthur's Pike — the 'Heughscar Hill & Arthur's Pike' route starts 71 m away. Fees: £5.50 for 2 hours (aggregator-listed).
Directions Something changed here?
Pooley Bridge (paid) — 0.1 km from the start (straight line)
For Heughscar Hill, Dunmallard Hill, Arthur's Pike and the Roman road onto High Street's north end.
Directions Something changed here?
🚺 Pooley Bridge (~64 m straight line) — Accessible · RADAR key🚺 Public toilets (~1561 m straight line) — Free☕ Secret Garden☕ Pooley Bridge Pier House☕ Granny Dowbekins Tea Rooms🍺 The Sun Inn🍺 Pooley Bridge Inn🍺 Crown Inn🏪 The Barn
Dunmallet, south-east car park (free) — 0.1 km from the start (straight line)
Walking base for Heughscar Hill and Arthur's Pike — the 'Heughscar Hill & Arthur's Pike' route starts 38 m away. Free (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Dunmallard Hill, Pooley Bridge (LDNPA, paid) — 0.1 km from the start (straight line)
Walking base for Heughscar Hill and Arthur's Pike — the 'Heughscar Hill & Arthur's Pike' route starts 105 m away. Fees: pay and display; coins and cards; RingGo ID 37309 (LDNPA, checked Aug 2026).
Directions Something changed here?
Dunmallet, east (layby 2) — 0.2 km from the start (straight line)
Walking base for Heughscar Hill and Arthur's Pike — the 'Heughscar Hill & Arthur's Pike' route starts 195 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). OSM records a 2-hour maximum stay here (24 Jul 2026 extract) - that will not cover the Heughscar Hill & Arthur's Pike walk, which is about 3 hours; 'Dunmallet, south-east car park (free)' is 38 m from the same route start and carries no such limit.
Directions Something changed here?

Positions are approximate. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.

Vehicles are left entirely at their owner’s risk. We list places people park; we cannot vouch for any of them. Judge it on the day: take valuables with you, leave nothing on show, and if a spot feels wrong when you get there, park somewhere else.

Every option near this start, on the parking map →

Water, shelter & getting away

💧 possible water source (60 m)💧 possible water source (60 m)💧 possible water source (88 m)💧 possible water source (102 m)🚺 map (94 m)🚺 map (94 m)🚌 Main Street Co-Op (44 m)🚌 The Crown Hotel (67 m)🚌 Main Street at the Bield (76 m)🚌 Ullswater Guest House (108 m)⛺ New Ing Lodge (216 m)⛺ New Ing Lodge Camping (229 m)

💧 Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is usually a tap or public supply, but never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock or a carcass upstream and leave you seriously ill. Run it through a filter or purifier (a LifeStraw, Sawyer Squeeze or HydraPak) or bring it to a rolling boil first.

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors — an absent marker does not mean the facility isn’t there.

Buses

The 508 stops at Pooley Bridge Inn (at), 90 m from this start. The last bus is 19:20 towards Windermere (508) and 18:36 towards Troutbeck (UB1) and 16:32 towards Aira Force (UB2), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

The 508 passes this route at 0.1 km (Pooley Bridge Inn (at), 0 m off the line).

Stagecoach 508 “Ullswater Bus”
Penrith – Pooley Bridge – Aira Force – Glenridding – Patterdale (summer services continue over Kirkstone Pass to Troutbeck and Windermere)
Catch it from: Penrith · Windermere (summer only)
The key route from Penrith for the Eastern and Far Eastern fells: Helvellyn from Glenridding, Place Fell, the Hartsop fells. The summer Kirkstone extension drops you at the pass for Red Screes and Caudale Moor.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before travelling.

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 if one is full the others usually are too. Worth starting early, or having a different walk in mind before you set off.

  • Sunnyside Car Park (paid)
  • Dunmallet, east (layby)
  • Dunmallet, south-east car park (free)

Worked out from the parking we hold within walking reach of this route and the other walks each place serves — two places that serve the same walks fill for the same reasons. We are not saying whether anywhere has spaces today, and we never will: this is what exists, not what is free.

Safety & conditions

  • The 106 bus from Shap is Monday to Saturday only and infrequent - confirm the timetable before setting out, or arrange a lift.
  • No food or water between Bampton (about 10 km) and Shap.

Check live conditions in the “From the fells” panel, on MWIS and the Met Office mountain forecast before you set off.

Make it easier or harder

Harder: For a view of Haweswater. The crossing stays deliberately low and never looks down the reservoir. Wallow Crag (433 m) is the nearest top that does - it stands about 600 m from the water above the dam end, looking the length of the lake to Mardale, and lies roughly 1.3 km off the line near the 13 km mark. Reaching it means going through Naddle Farm, so treat access as the first question rather than an afterthought. Out and back adds about 3 km; taking in the full Naddle horseshoe over Hugh's Laithes Pike and Wallow Crag adds nearer 8 km and pushes the day past eight hours, which is why it is a variant and not the route.

Why this direction: Walked south-east, Pooley Bridge to Shap. The climbing is front-loaded - 229 m in the first 2.7 km onto Heughscar Hill - and the last 9 km fall gently to Shap, which is the right way round at the end of a long day. It also puts the bus at the finish rather than the start.

Short version: turn back at about 9.2 km — roughly half the distance.

Download

Download GPX

GPX track for your GPS or phone.

Places to stay near this start

Hillcroft Park

about 0.8 km from the start, in a straight line

The only property in the whole 4.83 km radius with a drying room named for wet boots and outdoor gear, which is the single fact that matters most to a party coming off Heughscar Hill in the rain. It is also the only one pairing that with a dedicated laundry room, a dog shower and a toddler-through-older-child play area, so a walking family and a non-walking family are both answered by one row. Ranked above four closer properties on usefulness, per the selection rule; 0.78 km is still a walk into Pooley Bridge village.

The guest drying room is code-locked and you collect the code from Reception; the shower block was built with a dog wash built into it, and the on-site shop sells local sausages, eggs, bacon and bread.

  • Drying room “There is also a drying room available to guests for wet boots and outdoor gear”
  • Dogs “we also included an area just for dogs; so get out into the fells altogether then wash the mud off them with our doggy shower”
  • Children “Our play area is set just up from the entrance and features a toddler area plus more daring slides and swings for older ones.”

Ullswater House (Hillcroft Park)

about 0.1 km from the start, in a straight line

The nearest bed to the start at 100 m, and the answer for a large party: 14 people across six en-suite bedrooms, one of them a designated family room, with cots and high chairs available to hire and parking for several cars in the grounds - the group problem that no cottage or B&B in this cluster solves. Two bedrooms are on the ground floor, which matters after a long day. It shares an operator and an email with Hillcroft Park (rank 1) but not a purpose: that one is a park with a boot drying room, this is a house in the middle of the village.

You collect the keys from Hillcroft Park up the hill rather than at the house itself, and the hot tub's bathrobes are provided for adults only.

  • Family rooms “1 family en-suite bedroom (super-king, single and pull out single bed).”
  • Parking “Garden area with furniture, ample parking in the grounds for several cars.”
  • Children “Cots and high chairs are available to hire.”

What each place says about itself, quoted from their own site. We have not stayed at any of them, and there are no prices, no booking and no affiliate links. Distances are straight lines from the route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap.

Related routes

Similar routes nearby

All routes →
Heughscar Hill & Arthur's Pike
11.68 km · ~436 m
Pinnacle Howe and Four Stones Hill
7.26 km · ~262 m