Elterwater and Loughrigg Tarn
Walk date – 6th November 2026
Distance – 5.8 miles
Weather – dull and overcast, no wind, no rain, no sun (not even a glimmer), chilly at start but gradually milder
This seemingly endless weather cycle is boring. You look out of the window each morning only to see that nothing has changed since yesterday, or the day before and for several days before that. However we were encouraged outdoors by a half decent forecast of a dry and wind free day so we decided to go to Elterwater on the basis that there might be a chance of occasional sunshine in the west. Obviously, as you will see from the photos, we didn’t go far enough west, although I doubt we’d have had anything better if we’d been standing on St Bees Head.
Route
Elterwater National Trust car park – road walk to Colwith – footpath to Skelwith Bridge via Low Park, Park Farm, Park House/Cottage – Skelwith Bridge – public footpath via Neaum Crag caravan park to Loughrigg Fold – road south of Loughrigg Tarn – Skelwith Bridge – Skelwith Force – footpath back to Elterwater
We decided to get the road walking bit over and done with first so here we are walking along the road between Elterwater and Colwith. We passed the Eltermere Hotel and the turn off leading up to Dale End, (which leads eventually to the paths for Lingmoor Fell and Little Langdale) a few minutes after crossing the bridge in Elterwater. There was still a morning chill in the air but the road was dry and there was not much traffic.
Another shot of the road walk section but further along, roughly somewhere between Fletcher’s Wood (R) and Carr Howes (L). We had passed a couple of signs indicating footpaths through Fletcher’s Wood, which avoided any road walking, but they looked very damp and were knee deep in soggy leaves so we stuck to the dry road instead.
Eventually we arrived in Colwith where the road curves around between two sets of signposted steps. The higher set leads over to Colwith Force, (see this walk for details – https://www.wainwrightwalking.co.uk/waterfalls-and-quarries/ ) but we weren’t going to Colwith Force today so we walked a little further down the road until we came to the stile in the above shot. This path leads over to Skelwith Bridge.
After crossing the stile and walking the flat path for a short distance it then begins to rise quite steeply. In the shot above J is getting one of his walking poles adjusted. The link, posted above to our 2015 walk, when we did part of this walk in reverse order, shows these steps but they are not in the same condition as they were in 2015 as much of the wooden supports have rotted away.
The view down to the beck from the path above it. The beck flows out of Little Langdale Tarn and at Colwith makes an abrupt turn northward and flows along into Elter Water. The path is quite narrow so its single file all the way along.
When we reached the private residences at Low Park we were directed to this path which had a ‘squeeze’ stile at the end of it. The idea behind such “squeeze’ stiles is to prevent sheep getting to where they shouldn’t be.
From the stile there follows a short walk across parkland to Park Farm, now known as Elterwater Park. This used to be a traditional dairy farm dating from the 17th century but which now offers a variety of accommodation, either self catering or B&B, a tea room and even a serve yourself ice cream, in the style of a ‘stop me and buy one’ three wheeled bike, which I forgot to take a shot of!
This used to be the tea garden where walkers could sit outdoors while eating and drinking whatever the tea garden had provided them with, but I think it is now reserved for guests.
From Park Farm/Elterwater Park we continued along the track (part of the Cumbria Way) towards our next objective …..
….. with a very shadowy view of the Langdale Pikes along the way. The path below us leads us to …..
….. Park Cottage, although on OS maps it is marked as Park House. This too is a holiday rental.
The house next door is called ‘TIPLOG’ and the condition of the path from the gate to the front door indicated that it had been a very long time since anyone had paid any attention to it. It might belong to someone who uses it as a weekend or summer residence.
Another dull view of the Langdale Pikes as we walk down towards Skelwith Bridge.
Well, at least the cows and calves were content, sitting quietly beneath the tree with barely a glance at the two of us. The path in the shot leads across to the A593 which in turn goes down to Skelwith Bridge which we are making for. Off to the left was another path which leads down to the same destination so we took that instead.
The path eventually brought us down to the road and Skelwith Bridge itself from where I took the above shot looking downstream at the river Brathay.
We dropped down from the road to the cleared area, just to the side of the bridge, to view the bridge itself …..
….. and the houses with the unusual chimneys …..
….. another view of the cleared area beside the river Brathay …..
….. and then another view of the bridge. Next we took to the path behind us and just after Chesters (store and bakery) car park we cut through the various buildings and walked towards the back of the hotel keeping a lookout fot the public path up to Loughrigg Tarn. Its more or less opposite the back of the hotel on the other side of the road leading to Elterwater.
To begin with the path went across a grassy path but eventually it became a lot less open and we were confined to this narrow path between the wall and a stretch of old railings. The path was on the steep side and below the considerable covering of fallen leaves was what felt like an uneven and stony path. Progress slowed down along here as the deep covering of leaves made it difficult to know where you were putting your feet. The top rail of the fence has been rendered smooth and shiny by folks using it either to steady themselves or to haul themselves up the path. We did likewise.
Eventually the leaf covered path came to an end and after a short stretch of more or less level walking we were back on tarmac and hauling ourselves up the very steep road, uphill all the way, through the caravan park. Strictly speaking it no longer has any caravans, if it ever did, as all the accommodation is now provided by log cabins, broadly similar to those at Limefitt Holiday Park at Troutbeck. The shot above is looking back down at the steepest curve just before we reached the footpath over to Loughrigg Fold.
A view of Loughrigg Tarn from the footpath.
As we reached the houses at Loughrigg Fold and were about to join the road below the tarn J pointed to this aircraft, flying at a low height just above us, telling me that he’d been in one of those when he was in the Royal Navy. He told me that he flew from Ascension Island to the Falkland Islands and the flight took 13 hours! Its a slow plane. I asked why he was on Ascension Island in the first place and he said that was where the VC10 dumped them after flying them there from RAF Brize Norton. That flight took about six hours. He was on his way to the Falkland Islands from Portsmouth to set up a communications station for the Navy. Apparently the ‘plane in the above shot was a C130 Hercules and is capable of carrying both personnel and cargo, sometimes separately, sometimes both at once. By the time I’d got the camera out and spotted the ‘plane the above was the best shot available before it was hidden by the trees.
We took to walking the road just south of Loughrigg Tarn but all convenient access points to the tarn had been padlocked so we had to be content with views from the road.
Another view of the tarn from the road with Loughrigg Fell behind it together with a couple of the residences at The How. From here we returned via the road back down to the hotel at Skelwith Bridge and continued our walk back to Elterwater.
On the way we passed Skelwith Force and its viewing platform …..
….. then along to the bridge (opened in 2007) across the river Brathay …..
….. and continued to walk back to Elterwater via the footpath alongside it. The view of the Langdale Pikes hasn’t improved and remains gloomy.
Elter Water and the Pikes …..
….. the two wooden benches with a ‘dunkelflaute’ view …..
….. and the start of a newly installed section of the path but it only went as far as the next footbridge …..
….. and another gloomy view of the Pikes as we walked along it. The footpath today was as busy as it usually is and I didn’t take any more shots until we reached the pay and display car park …..
….. where I took the last shot of the walk, the bridge in Elterwater village over Great Langdale beck which also flows into Elter Water. So that’s it for today’s walk. It hasn’t been one of the sunniest walks we’ve ever done, in fact it must rank as one of the gloomiest, but we weren’t rained on or blown every which way and it was good to be out again even in dull conditions. Despite that my legs are giving me grief, even though we’ve only walked just a little under six miles, and I’ll be pleased to stop and sit down in the car. I wore my heavier winter boots today after wearing my lightweight ones during the spring and summer and my legs probably haven’t got used to them yet.