Stone Arthur from Grasmere
Photo: © Lee McCoy
Start Grasmere Village
Getting here Parking: Stock Lane Car & Coach Park (LDNPA, paid), 0.0 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 555 stops at Grasmere, at School, a 120 m walk from this start. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Hard steepness: Steepest sustained climb about 27% around the 2.5 km mark.
Before you choose
Conditions on this route
We score every Lakeland Wainwright each morning on cloud, wind, rain and underfoot, and this route crosses 1 of them. The worst summit governs the verdict — a route is only as kind as its roughest top.
Modelled guidance — not a substitute for the mountain forecast or your own judgement. See how every fell ranks today →
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
1 Stone Arthur
Easy 30%Moderate 62%Hard 8%Severe
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
- 1
Start → Stone Arthur (3.3 km, 472 m)
You can start from the laybys on the A591, but the true trail begins just beside the Swan Hotel in Grasmere. Head up the walled track next to the hotel, which quickly leads to a gate opening out onto the fellside. Immediately after passing through this gate, take the left fork and begin the steep climb up the rocky path running alongside the dry stone wall. The path will eventually veer to the right before bringing you back around for the final rocky push to the summit.
WaypointsThe Swan Hotel (A591), walled track, fellside gate, Stone Arthur summit.
Decision pointThe route is well signposted from the valley floor. Look for the public footpath sign by the Swan Hotel, and a clear wooden signpost pointing left to "Stone Arthur" at the fork just after the fell gate.
Easy to get wrongDo not let the short distance fool you—this is a steep, strenuous slog with a 14% average gradient that feels like a staircase in places. The lower slopes are often heavily covered in bracken during the summer months, but the route itself is not too difficult mechanically. The terrain transitions from grass and dirt to noticeably more rugged, rocky ground as you approach the top. The climb from Grasmere is steep with loose gravel and rocky steps, and high bracken can hide the line lower down.
If you need to get offBecause this is a direct ascent, turn around and retrace your steps down the path back to the main road.
© Lee McCoy · 2 photographs Stone Arthur → Finish (3.5 km, 56 m)
Leave the summit and simply retrace your exact ascent route. Descend the rocky staircase, follow the path alongside the wall back down to the fell gate, and walk the walled track back down to the A591 by the Swan Hotel, then through the village to Stock Lane.
WaypointsStone Arthur summit, fellside gate, The Swan Hotel, Stock Lane finish.
Decision pointThe path leads back down to the gate and walled track.
Easy to get wrongThe descent is the reverse of the climb, and the steepness can put a lot of pressure on tired knees.
If you need to get offYou are on the main exit route; simply continue descending to the main road.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Walked by Lee, July 2023
Summits bagged (1)
- 1Stone Arthur504 m
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.
When the sun reaches the tops
Not sunrise — the moment the sun clears the skyline from that summit, which on a fell with high ground to its east can be a good deal later.
- Stone Arthur — in late March the sun reaches it around 07:00, about an hour later. In late September, about 07:45. It waits longest in midsummer — about an hour after sunrise. In late December, not until about 09:15.
How to read these times
The two equinoxes are shown because they fall in the walking season, and late December too wherever a top keeps you waiting then; the clock gap between the equinoxes is British Summer Time, not the hill. Rounded to the nearest quarter hour and meant as a general idea, not a schedule.
Modelled from a 30 m elevation model against each summit’s own skyline — the same figures the fell pages carry, never observed. Cloud is not in it.
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
There is no real plan B by car 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. The bus below is the exception: it is not limited by car-park space, though it runs to a timetable and can be full.
- Red Bank Road, Grasmere (W&F, paid) — joins the loop at about km 6.5 of 6.8: a 190 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Stone Arthur (layby) — joins the loop at about km 5.2 of 6.8: a 450 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Nab Scar (layby) — joins the loop at about km 0.5 of 6.8: a 60 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- By bus: buses stop at Grasmere, at School, a 120 m walk from the start. This walk starts and ends in Grasmere, so there is no bus to catch back to the start. For anyone staying elsewhere, the last bus out of Grasmere on a weekday: 20:46 towards Keswick (555). A bus is not affected by a full car park, but check the timetable before you rely on it.
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 stops at Grasmere, at School, a 120 m walk from this start. This walk starts and ends in Grasmere, so there is no bus to catch back to the start. For anyone staying elsewhere, the last bus out of Grasmere: the 555 towards Keswick at 20:46 Monday to Saturday, 18:36 on Sunday. From Grasmere, at School; checked against the operator's timetable, 12 September 2026; that timetable runs to 1 November. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
The 555 passes this route at 1.4 km (Dunmail Raise, at Winterseeds, 560 m off the line). It passes again at 6.7 km.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival Stock Lane Car & Coach Park in the village, about 20 m from the start: pay and display. 22 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (our parking audit, from OpenStreetMap, checked 12 August 2026)
- Toilets Toilets are mapped about 25 m from the start. 26 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Refreshments Goody Blakes (about 85 m) and The Distiller’s Arms (about 115 m) are the nearest mapped, with more cafés in the village. Opening hours are not recorded here. 86 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
Everything mapped near the start
At Stock Lane Car & Coach Park (LDNPA, 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.
Mapped as nearby on OpenStreetMap too, as of 13 September 2026, within 250 m of the start and not already listed above:
Also mapped within reach: an information board.
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
Hard overall — hardest: Steepness
Five independent axes, not one score. Three of the five were set on the ground; the rest 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Stone Arthur | 3.3 km | 472 m | 1:27–1:55 |
| Finish | 6.8 km | 528 m | 2:15–2:59 |
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: No mapped stiles; terrain Moderate – graded by Lee on the ground, but the going for wheels is not recorded; not a buggy line on what we know.
- Knees: A long, steep ~31% drop over 250 m around the 4.6 km mark — hard on the knees.
With a dog
Hardest for a dog here: the steepest stretch, a sustained climb of about 27% around the 2.5 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 20 July 2026)
- Rock and scrambling: Ground underfoot: Moderate – graded by Lee on the ground. Graded on the ground.
- Drops and exposed ground: Easy – graded by Lee on the ground. Graded on the ground.
- 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: 3 gates · 2 kissing gates
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 20 July 2026. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).
Places to stay near this start
From Grasmere: 11 places
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Grasmere — 0.4 km from this start
- Walks from Elterwater — 2.7 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.
