The Cumbria Way Takes 5 days to complete

Day 1

Ulverston- Coniston 15.5 miles

Ulverston is home to the Laurel and Hardy museum as as Stan Laurel was born in Ulverston, the route starts from the Cumbria way Marker at the Gill from there The Cumbria Way heads out over rolling farmland then a climb  on to the Blawith Fells  then onto Beacon Tarn from there you head across moorland descending into woodland along side the shore line of  Coniston Water, the Lake is the 3rd largest in England and was the scene of Donald Campbell World Record attempt in BlueBird tragically the attempt was not successful and he lost his life during the attempt that was in 1967, the route  continues along the shore for 4 miles and takes you into the village of Coniston, the village is often used as a starting point to climb the old man of Coniston 803 metres high [2635ft] the views from the summit are breath taking if you have time then Coniston Launch does cruises around the lake, the area is also know for its copper mining, John Ruskin a leading art critic of the Victorian  era lived in the area  at Brantwood until his death in  1900, Coniston has plenty of amenities’, The Black Bull Inn do good evening meals they even have there own micro brewery, Old man ale and Bluebird bitter are are good pints

Day 2

Coniston-Dungeon Ghyll 12.5 miles

The route climbs out of Coniston to the popular Tarn Hows with fantastic mountain panoramas to the Coniston fells then a number of Riverside walks and a waterfall brings the route to the delightful village of Elterwater then we continue to the village chapel Stile   with views to the stunning Langdales Pikes  then onto Dungeon Ghyll in the Langdale valley, The Old dungeon Ghyll pub do nice meals or there is the New Dungeon Ghyll heading back  along the road

The Langdale Valley is a u shaped glaciated valley , it takes it name from the old norse term long valley, one thing that it does not have is a lake which is unusual for a Lakeland valley of this size but it does have fine mountain such as Bowfell, Crinkle Craggs and The Landales pikes, the area is also know for its slate industry

Day 3

New Dungeon Ghyll- Keswick 16 miles

The Route sets of along the wild flat rugged valley  of mickleden  before a steep zigzag climb up the packhorse route of Stakes pass, at the top of the pass at a height of 480 meters  there are fine mountain views over the wild rugged mountain scenery, from there we carry on in the rugged landscape in true mountain country  then descend via the steep engineered zigzags into the wild  secluded valley of Langstrath  heading towards Stonethwaite  Beck joining the Coast to Coast path from there the route heads to the quaint village of Rosthwaite then goes through a nice scenic  riverside walk through woodland to the village of Grange, there is a nice café in Grange that do homemade cakes from there we follow the road for a short while then take a wooded path a long Derwentwater with fine views cross the lake we reach Portinscale then on to the adventure capitial of Northern Lakeland Keswick which is at the foot of Skiddaw 4th Highest mountain in the Lakes at 931 meters high, Keswick is a large market town as you would expect there are plenty of amenities

Day 4

Keswick-Caldbeck 14.5 miles

The route starts of we a steep climb along the flanks of Latrigg along the edge of a forest to Latrigg car park the route climbs steady below Lonscale Fell to Skiddaw House an independent hostel it was built as a gamekeepers lodge in the 1800’s fell into disrepair then the yha took it over then it became independent from the yha, the only way to reach it is by foot it is totally of grid and is self catering only but does have a well stocked shop, hostel is 1550 feet in altitude from here there is a choice of high or low level routes the high level route follows the river Caldew towards Mosedale then climbs alongside Grainsgill beck going past Lingley Hut then from there we climb High Pike which is the highest point on the walk at 658 metres high then you head down following a grassy track then you hit the road following it to Caldbeck, the low level route is longer from the hostel you follow the track straight on with the Slopes of Skiddaw on your left going past Whitewater dash waterfall then going through rolling country side with views to the Lake District following paths, tracks and road to Caldbeck, the village is small with one pub it is in the Lake District park Chris Boddington live in the village

Day 5

Caldbeck- Carlisle 14.5 miles

We leave the Lake District behind today  the route start of with delightful scenery with rolling countryside going through wooded path then onto open farmland the terrain/landscape is like the first day we also have the River Caldew for  company  when reaching Dalston we are also joined by the railway line with fine views of Carlisle the route reaches a road and we follow that into Carlisle which makes a fitting end to the walk with its Castle and Cathedral, the early history of the city is marked as a roman settlement  established to serve the forts on Hadrian’s Wall, Carlisle is on the Hadrian’s wall  National trail which is a long distance walk that goes from Wallsend to Bowness on Solway, as you would expect from a city it has all the amenities you need

The Cumbria Way make a great walking holiday Northern Guiding do a guided walking holiday along the trail go to our webpage

https://www.northernguiding.co.uk/cumbria-way-guided-walking-holiday

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