The Windermere Way is a 45-mile circuit of

Windermere Windermere (sometimes tautology (language), tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere, Cumbria (town), Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in leng ...

, a lake in the English

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

. The route is wholly within the

Lake District National Park The Lake District National Park is a national park in North West England that includes all of the central Lake District, though the town of Kendal, some coastal areas, and the Lakeland Peninsulas are outside the park boundary. The area was desi ...

and takes in the summits of

Wansfell Wansfell is a fell in English Lake District situated 1½ miles (2.5 kilometres) east of the town of Ambleside. The fell is part of the long southern ridge of Caudale Moor and occupies the swath of territory between Ambleside and the Troutbeck v ...

Loughrigg Fell Loughrigg Fell is a hill in the central part of the English Lake District. It stands on the end of the long ridge coming down from High Raise over Silver How towards Ambleside, and is separated from its neighbours by the depression of ...

and

Gummer's How Gummer's How is a hill in the southern part of the Lake District, on the eastern shore of Windermere, near its southern end. How, derived from the Old Norse word ''haugr'', is a common local term for a hill or mound. Although a relatively sma ...

as well as passing through the towns of

Ambleside Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, Cumbria, Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head (and sits on the east side of the northern ...

and

History and status

The Windermere Way is an unofficial route and mostly follows footpaths and bridleways. There are short stretches of road walking. The route can be broken down into four easy stages with an easy return to your starting point using the

Windermere Ferry The Windermere Ferry is a vehicular cable ferry which crosses Windermere, a lake in the English county of Cumbria. The ferry route forms part of the B5285 road and crosses the lake at about its midpoint, from Ferry Nab in Bowness-on-Windermere to ...

or the Lake Steamers.

Route

The walk circumambulates

and includes just about all the accessible lake shore paths together with ascents of the high points around the lake. The route is broken down into four sections that most people will manage in a day’s easy walking. The

walk starts at Bowness Bay and follows the lake shore northwards before ascending

Orrest Head Orrest Head is a hill in the English Lake District on the eastern shores of Windermere. It is the subject of a chapter in Alfred WainwWainwright's ''The Outlying Fells of Lakeland'', and the first fell he climbed. He describes it as ''"our first a ...

, dropping down again to cross

Trout Beck The Trout Beck is a fast flowing stream of the Lake District in North West England. It is one of the main sources of replenishment for Windermere, and is part of the Leven catchment. Its name comes from Old Norse and appears in documents from 1 ...

then taking to the high fell tops, visiting

Pike the highest point on the walk. Between

and Ferry House, the walk starts by climbing

, then drops down again past

Loughrigg Tarn Loughrigg Tarn () is a small, natural lake in the Lake District, Cumbria, England. It is situated north of Windermere, just north of the village of Skelwith Bridge, and at the foot of Loughrigg Fell. "Loughrigg Tarn" is a bit of a tautology, si ...

and on to a pleasant lakeside stroll by

Wray Castle Wray Castle is a Victorian neo-gothic building at Claife in the English county of Cumbria. The house and grounds have belonged to the National Trust since 1929, and house has opened to the public on a regular basis since 2013. The grounds, whi ...

. It then climbs steeply again, to give views from Claife Heights, finishing at Ferry Nab. Between Ferry Nab and

Lakeside Lakeside or Lake Side may refer to: Places Australia * Lakeside College, Pakenham, Victoria * Lakeside Joondalup Shopping City, Joondalup, Western Australia * Lakeside, near Reservoir, Victoria * Lakeside International Raceway, Pine Rivers, Quee ...

the route passes through Cunsey and winds along the western shore of Windermere, visiting High Dam at Finsthwaite before concluding at Lakeside Steamer Pier. The final stretch from Lakeside back to Bowness is the longest and doesn't touch the lakeshore at all, but does afford some excellent views from

and lovely walking through the woods.

Connecting trails

The route connects with the

Dales Way The Dales Way is an long-distance footpath in Northern England, from (south-east to north-west) Ilkley, West Yorkshire, to Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria. This walk was initially devised by the West Riding Ramblers' Association with the 'leadi ...

at Bowness and

Cumbria Way The Cumbria Way is a linear long-distance footpath in Cumbria, England. The majority of the route is inside the boundaries of the Lake District National Park. Linking the two historic Cumbrian towns of Ulverston and Carlisle, it passes throug ...

at Skelwith Bridge.

Places of interest

The following hills are crossed by the route: *Wansfell *Loughrigg *Claife Heights *Gummers Howe The following lakes and tarns are passed by the route: *Windermere *Grasmere *Loughrigg Tarn *High Dam

External links

The Windermere Way
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210223063815/http://www.windermere-way.co.uk/ , date=23 February 2021 Lake District Footpaths in Cumbria Long-distance footpaths in England