Pooley Bridge to Shap
Start Pooley Bridge
Getting here Parking: Eusemere Car Park (LDNPA, paid), 0.0 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 508, 509, UB1 and UB2 stop at Pooley Bridge Inn, a 90 m walk from this start. The UB1 and UB2 run until 1 November 2026, the last day of their season. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Hard distance: 15.4 km — a long day out. Hard navigation: Care needed in cloud — ~15% featureless high ground, 33 path junctions near the line. Hard – estimated from the map, not checked on the ground
Before you choose
- Check the current timetable for the 106 bus from Shap for the day you walk before setting out, or arrange a lift.
- Food on the way: Bampton, at about 8.7 km, has Bampton Valley Stores (a shop and cafe) and the Mardale Inn, and the Crown and Mitre is in Bampton Grange, about 150 m off the line half a kilometre further on. Check opening times before you rely on any of them; we list nothing between Bampton Grange and Shap.
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 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
Pooley Bridge → Finish (15.4 km, 382 m)
Decision pointFrom Roehead the line climbs the byway onto Askham Fell. Where it meets the High Street bridleway at the top, The Cockpit stone circle is about 500 m south along that bridleway, a short detour if you want to see it; the line itself carries on east-south-east to a junction of tracks on Moor Divock and then south-east past the Cop Stone. It crosses a minor road at about 4.4 km and reaches a lane at about 5 km: follow the lane east to the Helton road and turn right, south, through Butterwick to Bampton. Cross Haweswater Beck into Bampton Grange and turn right onto the lane south-east to Rosgill Bridge. There the line leaves the lane for the Coast to Coast path, which runs south beside the river rather than over the bridge, then past Shap Abbey and into Shap. Getting back to Pooley Bridge. Shap is on the 106 towards Penrith; check the current timetable for the day you walk, before you set out. Take it to Penrith and change onto the 508 Ullswater Bus (Penrith - Pooley Bridge - Aira Force - Glenridding - Patterdale), which returns you to the start.
Easy to get wrongMoor Divock in cloud. Several tracks and bridleways meet where the byway from Roehead tops out and again at the junction on Moor Divock, and the moor has few features. The line is the track heading south-east from that junction; the Cop Stone, a single standing stone, is beside it about 1.3 km on, and if you reach the stone you are on the right line. At Rosgill Bridge the lane carries on over the bridge to Rosgill; the Coast to Coast path does not cross it.
If you need to get offThe map shows the line off-road from Roehead (about 1.4 km) over Askham Fell and Moor Divock, crossing a minor road at about 4.4 km, to the lane at about 5 km, and on the Coast to Coast path from Rosgill Bridge (about 11.4 km) to the lane near Shap Abbey at about 13.9 km; on those stretches no mapped path reaches a road sooner, so the way off is back or on, never more than about 1.5 km; most of the rest of the line is on roads; not walked for this guide.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
Make it easier or harder
Harder: For a summit and more open fell. Our earlier line for this crossing left the byway above Roehead for Heughscar Hill (375 m) and went south over the open fell past Four Stones Hill and down by Burnbanks to Rosgill Bridge: about 21 km and 630 m of climbing, against 15.4 km and 380 m here, with no food on the line before Shap.
Why this direction: Walked south-east, Pooley Bridge to Shap. Most of the climbing comes first - about 180 m in the first 2.9 km, up the byway from Roehead onto Askham Fell - and from Bampton Grange the last 6 km to Shap rise gently, about 145 m of climbing spread over them. It also puts the bus at the finish rather than the start.
More about this walk
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 stage notes. A low-level crossing rather than a summit day: the only moorland is the first 5 km over Askham Fell and Moor Divock, and from there the line follows minor roads to Rosgill Bridge and the Coast to Coast path into Shap. Do not be misled by the modest height: in cloud, Askham Fell and Moor Divock are featureless and crossed by several tracks, and harder going than 330 m suggests.
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 Pooley Bridge (Eusemere) from 17 August 2024 to 31 March 2026, 7% 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 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.
- Pooley Bridge, Finkle Street car park (free) — at the start
- Pooley Bridge, High Street (layby) — joins the route at about km 0.5 of 15.4: a 130 m walk to the line; the route does not come back here
- Sunnyside Car Park (paid) — at 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 508, 509, UB1 and UB2 stop at Pooley Bridge Inn, a 90 m walk from this start. The UB1 and UB2 run until 1 November 2026, the last day of their season. This walk ends somewhere else, and we hold no checked last bus from where it finishes. 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, 0 m off the line).
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival Eusemere car park, about 20 m from the start: pay and display, coins and cards. Dunmallard Hill car park is about 140 m away (pay and display, RingGo 37309). The walk is one-way and finishes in Shap. 22 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (Lake District National Park car-parks directory, checked 10 August 2026)
- Toilets Toilets are mapped about 60 m from the start. 60 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Refreshments Granny Dowbekin’s Tearoom (about 60 m), the Crown Inn and the Pooley Bridge Inn (about 85 m) are mapped near the start. Check opening hours before you rely on them. 59 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Limitation One-way and 15.4 km: check the 106 bus from Shap for the day you walk, or arrange a lift. For food on the way, Bampton (at about 8.7 km) has a shop and cafe and a pub; we list nothing between Bampton Grange and Shap. (our route notes (this route's own warnings), checked 4 October 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):
Also mapped within reach: 2 benches, 3 information boards.
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
Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is not proof the water is drinkable, so carry your own or use a supply you know is safe. Never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock upstream and leave you seriously ill. Use a treatment method suited to what might be in the water, and follow the device’s own instructions. Boiling and ordinary filters do not make water with dissolved metals or chemicals safe: where that is possible, choose another source.
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
Hard overall — hardest: Length and navigation (estimated from the map, not checked on the ground); 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 | 15.4 km | 382 m | 3:43–4:57 |
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: No sustained steep descent in the track’s height model (steepest 250 m about 11%). 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 12% around the 1.7 km mark.
- Stiles and gates: Stiles of unmapped type at 11.7, 12.4, 12.6, 12.7, 13.3, 13.6, 13.9 and 14.4 km — a dog may need lifting over. (OpenStreetMap, mapped as of 12 August 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: Moderate – estimated from the map, not checked on the ground. Tracks and byways over Askham Fell and Moor Divock for the first 5 km, then mostly minor roads to Rosgill Bridge and the Coast to Coast path into Shap.
- 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: 12 gates · 8 stiles (type unmapped)
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 12 August 2026. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).
Places to stay near this start
- Hillcroft Park (opens in new tab)about 0.8 km
- Ullswater House (Hillcroft Park) (opens in new tab)about 0.1 km
We have not stayed at any of them. We take no bookings or affiliate fees. Distances are straight lines from the route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Pooley Bridge — 0.1 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.