Rydal Water & Rydal Caves
Start Pelter Bridge
Getting here Parking: Pelter Bridge, Rydal (paid), 0.0 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 555 and 599 stop at Rydal, at White Moss Common; from there it is 2.3 km and 121 m of ascent to this start. Or start the round at the stop: the loop passes it at 3.5 km. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Moderate steepness: Steepest sustained climb about 16% around the 3.7 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
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: Not a pushchair route.
- Knees: No sustained steep descent in the track’s height model (steepest 250 m about 9%). 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 16% around the 3.7 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 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 Rydal, at White Moss Common, 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: 10 gates · 1 kissing gate
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).
Route map
Easy 98%Moderate 3%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
Start → Finish (6.5 km, 216 m)
From Pelter Bridge, follow the lane and then the path west along the south side of Rydal Water, up to Rydal Cave; the route makes a short there-and-back to it. Go back a little way, then drop north through White Moss Common Wood to cross the River Rothay near the west end of the lake, and come out by the White Moss car parks. Cross the A591 there, at about 3.5 km. Climb to the old Coffin Route, a bridleway along the lower slopes of Nab Scar above the road, and follow it east into Rydal. At the bottom of the lane, cross the A591 again, at about 5.7 km, and go back over the river to the lane and Pelter Bridge.
WaypointsPelter Bridge, path on the south side of Rydal Water, Rydal Cave, White Moss Bridge (River Rothay), White Moss car parks and the A591, Coffin Route below Nab Scar, Rydal, A591 at Rydal, Pelter Bridge.
Decision pointThe expanse of Rydal Water sits in the center of the valley and serves as a continuous visual handrail for the entire loop. The cave itself is an enormous, distinctive quarry mouth right on the upper path, the Coffin Route is a bridleway, and the path to the cave is a quarry track.
Easy to get wrongWhile this is a low-level and immensely popular route, the floor of Rydal Cave is permanently flooded; going into the cave means balancing on a series of jagged, often submerged stepping stones in low light, which are notoriously slick. Going in is optional; if the stones are under water, stay at the entrance. Outside, the slate-pitched paths near the cave become highly polished from heavy foot traffic and are remarkably greasy after a classic Lake District downpour.
If you need to get offThis is a low-level circular walk hugging a small lake. If you need to bail, the A591 road parallels the entire northern shore of Rydal Water, with bus stops on it towards Ambleside and Grasmere. We have not checked the pavement along its whole length.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Walked by Lee, May 2023
More about this walk
One of my first walks in the region with the family: I did this one with the kids and some friends, the same day I went up Loughrigg Fell.
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.
- Loughrigg Fell (layby) — joins the loop at about km 3.7 of 6.5: a 1.3 km walk to the line, climbing about 80 m, and you walk the round from there
- Rydal Hall (paid, for visitors) — joins the loop at about km 5.5 of 6.5: a 100 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Nab Scar car park (paid) — joins the loop at about km 3.5 of 6.5: a 80 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
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 Rydal, at White Moss Common. From there it is 2.3 km and 121 m of ascent to this start — or start the round at the stop: the loop passes it at 3.5 km, 70 m off the line. As timetabled from 27 October to 1 November. Towards Kendal (555): Tuesday to Saturday 23:07; Sunday 20:07 to Windermere, 19:37 to Kendal. Towards Bowness on Windermere (599): Tuesday to Sunday 19:20 to Bowness on Windermere, 17:30 to Bowness on Windermere Braithwaite Fold Car Park. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 24 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival Pelter Bridge car park, where the walk starts. Pay and display, by coins, card or RingGo (location 37305). (Lake District National Park car-parks directory, checked 11 August 2026)
- Toilets No toilets are mapped within 250 m of the start. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Refreshments The Badger Bar is the nearest mapped pub. Its opening hours are not recorded. 221 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)
- Miles without Stiles Two stretches of this line, about km 0.6-1.7 and 2.8-3.5, are on the National Park's Miles without Stiles route 45 between White Moss Common and Steps End, rated 'for some'. (Lake District National Park, Miles without Stiles 45: White Moss Common to Steps End, checked 3 October 2026)
Everything mapped near the start
At Pelter Bridge, Rydal (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 | 6.5 km | 216 m | 1:39–2:12 |
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.
Places to stay near this start
From Rydal: 8 places in Ambleside
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Ambleside — 1.9 km from this start
- Walks from Stock Ghyll Force — 2.4 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.
