The Cumbria Way is a linear

long-distance footpath A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents ex ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

, England. The majority of the route is inside the boundaries of the Lake District

National Park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

. Linking the two historic Cumbrian towns of

Ulverston Ulverston is a market town and a civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 11,524, increasing at the 2011 census to 11,678. Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few mi ...

and

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

, it passes through the towns of Coniston and Keswick. The route cuts through Lakeland country via

Coniston Water Coniston Water in the English county of Cumbria is the third-largest lake in the Lake District by volume (after Windermere and Ullswater), and the fifth-largest by area. It is five miles long by half a mile wide (8 km by 800 m), ha ...

Langdale Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet Great distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere i ...

Borrowdale Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Cumberland. It is sometimes referred to as ''Cumberland Borrowdale'' ...

Derwent Water Derwentwater, or Derwent Water, is one of the principal bodies of water in the Lake District National Park in north west England. It lies wholly within the Borough of Allerdale, in the county of Cumbria. The lake occupies part of Borrow ...

Skiddaw Skiddaw is a mountain in the Lake District National Park in England. Its summit is the sixth-highest in England. It lies just north of the town of Keswick, Cumbria, and dominates the skyline in this part of the northern lakes. It is the ...

Forest and

Caldbeck Caldbeck is a village in Cumbria, England, historically within Cumberland, it is situated within the Lake District National Park. The village had 714 inhabitants according to the census of 2001. Caldbeck is closely associated with neighbouri ...

. It is a primarily low-level route with some high-level exposed sections.

History

The Cumbria Way was originally devised in the 1970s by local

Ramblers Association The Ramblers is the trading name of the Ramblers Association, Great Britain's leading walking charity. The Ramblers is also a membership organisation with around 100,000 members and a network of volunteers who maintain and protect the path ...

members. The

waymarking Trail blazing or way marking is the practice of marking paths in outdoor recreational areas with signs or markings that follow each other at certain, though not necessarily exactly defined, distances and mark the direction of the trail. A blaz ...

of the entire route was completed by volunteers and national park staff in May 2007.

Route

The route can be walked in either direction but is described here as south to north beginning at the

trailhead A trailhead is the point at which a trail begins, where the trail is often intended for hiking, biking, horseback riding, or off-road vehicles. Modern trailheads often contain rest rooms, maps, sign posts and distribution centers for information ...

and ending in

Stage 1: Ulverston to Coniston

The route leaves the urban area of

, birthplace of

Stan Laurel Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer, and film director who was one half of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 s ...

, and heads north towards the village of Gawthwaite and the boundary of 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 de ...

. The trail, which consists primarily of field paths at this stage, leads to the settlement of Sunny Bank and the shore of

, the western

shoreline A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past ...

of which is followed before reaching the settlement of Coniston.

Grizedale Forest Grizedale Forest is a 24.47 km2 area of woodland in the Lake District of North West England, located to the east of Coniston Water and to the south of Hawkshead. It is made up of a number of hills, small tarns and the settlements of Grize ...

is visible to the east of the lake with

Coniston Old Man The Old Man of Coniston is a fell in the Furness Fells in the Cumbria, English Lake District and is the highest point (county top) of the historic county of Lancashire. It is at least high, and lies to the west of the village of Coniston and ...

and

Dow Crag Dow Crag is a fell in the English Lake District near Coniston, Cumbria. The eastern face is one of the many rock faces in the Lake District used for rock climbing. The name Dow Crag originally applied specifically to the eastern face which look ...

being visible to the west on approach to Coniston. This stage is approximately in length.

Stage 2: Coniston to Langdale

The route leaves Coniston heading in a NNW direction through

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

towards

Tarn Hows Tarn Hows is an area of the Lake District National Park in North West England, It contains a picturesque tarn, approximately northeast of Coniston and about northwest of Hawkshead. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the a ...

. The way involves some road walking as it passes through the

villages A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

of Colwith and Skelwith Bridge. The

Langdale Pikes Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet Great distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere i ...

soon become visible as the route leaves Skelwith Bridge in a NNE direction, passing Elter Water before entering the

Great Langdale Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet Great distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere i ...

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

. This stage is approximately in length.

Stage 3: Langdale to Keswick

Derwent water from castle crag (229492456)

The route leaves

and travels alongside Mickleden beck, with the mountain of

Bow Fell Bowfell (named ''Bow Fell'' on Ordnance Survey maps) is a pyramid-shaped mountain lying at the heart of the English Lake District, in the Southern Fells area. It is the sixth-highest mountain in the Lake District and one of the most popular ...

to the west and

to the east. After a significant gain in elevation the route crosses Stake Pass before descending via Langstrath beck and turning towards the villages of Stonethwaite and Rosthwaite. The route subsequently follows the River Derwent before reaching

where it follows the

path to reach the town of Keswick. The mountains

and

Blencathra Blencathra, also known as Saddleback, is one of the most northerly hills in the English Lake District. It has six separate fell tops, of which the highest is the Hallsfell Top at 2,848 feet (868 metres). Name For many years, Ordnance S ...

may be visible to the north. This stage is approximately in length.

Stage 4: Keswick to Caldbeck

After some urban walking on the exit from Keswick, the route crosses the

A591 road The A591 is a major road in Cumbria, in the north-west of England, which lies almost entirely within the Lake District national park. A 2009 poll by satellite navigation firm Garmin named the stretch of the road between Windermere and Keswic ...

before ascending past Latrigg towards Skiddaw House

Youth Hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ...

. After crossing the area of

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of Man, pa ...

s known as Back o'Skiddaw the route passes

High Pike High Pike is a fell in the northern part of the English Lake District, it is located 4.5 kilometres south of Caldbeck. It has a height of 658 metres (2159 feet) and is the most northerly of the Lakeland fells over 2000 feet. It is a ...

and the Caldbeck Fells before descending towards the village of

. This stage is approximately in length.

Stage 5: Caldbeck to Carlisle

After leaving the village of Caldbeck this final low-level section of the route follows the course of the

River Caldew The River Caldew is a river running through Cumbria in England. The river rises high up on the northern flanks of Skiddaw, in the Northern Fells area of the English Lake District, and flows in a northerly direction until it joins the Rive ...

to the city of

's county town. The route passes through the

Sebergham Sebergham is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Cumbria. It is located on the B5305, south of Carlisle and south-east of Wigton. The civil parish population at the 2011 Census was 365. St Mary's Church is medieval in ori ...

, Buckabank and

Dalston Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas incl ...

primarily following

and

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

public footpaths and

bridleways A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now serve a wider r ...

. This stage is approximately in length.

Geology and biology

Flora and fauna

The

tarns A tarn (or corrie loch) is a proglacial mountain lake, pond or pool, formed in a cirque excavated by a glacier. A moraine may form a natural dam below a tarn. Etymology The word is derived from the Old Norse word ''tjörn'' ("a small moun ...

encountered on the route provide a habitat for a wide range of species including vendace, charr,

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, ...

and

schelly The schelly (''Coregonus stigmaticus'') is a living fresh water fish of the salmon family, endemic to four lakes in the Lake District, England. Its taxonomy is disputed with some recognizing it as a distinct species and others as a variant of ...

. The

red squirrel The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris'') is a species of tree squirrel in the genus '' Sciurus'' common throughout Europe and Asia. The red squirrel is an arboreal, primarily herbivorous rodent. In Great Britain, Ireland, and in Italy numbers ...

can be found in woodland encountered on the route. Eichhörnchen Düsseldorf Hofgarten edit

The high

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hai ...

in the

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...

encountered throughout the route provides a favourable habitat for

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ...

es,

liverworts The Marchantiophyta () are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of g ...

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except ...

s and lichens. The boggy areas encountered, particularly on the high-level parts of the route, provide a habitat for

carnivorous plants Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants still generate some of their energy from photosynthesis. Ca ...

including

sundew ''Drosera'', which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genus, genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. 2 volumes. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucil ...

and

butterwort ''Pinguicula'', commonly known as the butterworts, is a genus of carnivorous flowering plants in the family Lentibulariaceae. They use sticky, glandular leaves to lure, trap, and digest insects in order to supplement the poor mineral nutrition ...

Connecting trails

The route connects with the Allerdale Ramble,

Cumbria Coastal Way The Cumbria Coastal Way (CCW) is a long-distance footpath in Cumbria in northern England, following the coast from Silverdale, just over the Lancashire border, to just north of the Anglo-Scottish border. It is now part of the England Coast P ...

Coast to Coast Walk The Coast to Coast Walk is a long-distance footpath between the west and east coasts of Northern England, nominally long. Devised by Alfred Wainwright, it passes through three contrasting national parks: the Lake District National Park, the ...

Hadrian's wall path Hadrian's Wall Path is a long-distance footpath in the north of England, which became the 15th National Trail in 2003. It runs for , from Wallsend on the east coast of England to Bowness-on-Solway on the west coast. For most of its length ...

, Cistercian Way, Eden Way and

Windermere Way The Windermere Way is a 45-mile circuit of Windermere, a lake in the English Lake District. The route is wholly within the Lake District National Park and takes in the summits of Wansfell, Loughrigg Fell and Gummer's How as well as passing t ...

References

External links

{{commons category
Ramblers

Long Distance Walkers Association

The Cumbria Way Walk
Long-distance footpaths in England Footpaths in Cumbria County-themed walking routes in the United Kingdom

History

Route

Stage 1: Ulverston to Coniston

Stage 2: Coniston to Langdale

Stage 3: Langdale to Keswick

Stage 4: Keswick to Caldbeck

Stage 5: Caldbeck to Carlisle

Geology and biology

Flora and fauna

Connecting trails

Further reading

References

External links