Loughrigg Tarn and Loughrigg Fell from Elterwater

Start : Park in the National Trust car park at Elterwater (LA22 9HU) Grid ref. NY 327 047

(S/E) From the parking in Elterwater, go through the gate next to the car parking meter and onto the well maintained footpath that runs beside the river. The path enters woodland, look out for an obvious path on the left that slants uphill.

(1) Turn left and take the path uphill to a gate. Take care here as the gate leads into the main Langdale road. Cross the road with care to a gap in the dry stone wall. Go through the gap and follow the path uphill. After rain, the path may be running with water but persevere it will lead up to go left at a junction and will emerge at Loughrigg Fold Farm. Follow the farm track rightwards to the road, turn left on the road (take care, single file) and follow this for about 100m to an obvious gate on the right.

(2) Turn right and go through the gate onto the grassy pastures around Loughrigg Tarn. Follow the path around the north side of the tarn to a gate in the fence.

(3) Go through the gate. Walking to the right for about 20 metres or so will give you the classic view over the lake towards the Langdale Pikes then turn back and follow the good track back to the gate and onto the houses at The How. Go past these on the path until you come to a gate and stream on the far side of a stone wall.

(4) Turn right before the gate and take the steep but well maintained path with rock steps up the flank of Loughrigg Fell, where the path starts to level out the summit is up to your left and is marked with a cairn. The summit has great panoramic views.

(5) From the summit follow the path north as if heading towards Grassmere but as you drop down the first section you will see a boulder and flat cairn. This marks the bifurcation of the path. Turn left at the cairn and follow a faint path through the bracken, it becomes more obvious and descends the fell side to the road.

(6) Cross the road and go through the gate into the National Trust land for High Close. High Close is now a Youth Hostel but was once a private house with a small estate. The next section of the walk goes through the estate and the National Trust has laid out a trail through the arboretum with information about different species of trees; this section of the walk follows some of the trail.
After the gate, follow the path leftwards to another gate with a National Trust sign for Low Wood. Go through this gate and follow the path around to a wooden gate on the left. Go through the gate and start descending an old carriage track to a junction where the track goes left (arrow for the arboretum trail). Turn right (signpost for the finish of the trail) and follow the path passing a few more information points (basically doing this part of the trail in the reverse direction) to a junction in the path. Turn right and follow the path down to a gate onto a road.

(7) Turn right after the gate and walk to a junction with the main Langdale road. Cross this and turn right (walk single file) to pass over a cattle grid after which you can walk on the grass verge. At the first junction on the left turn left toward Elterwater and follow the road back into the village and the parking place.(S/E)

Start : Park in the National Trust car park at Elterwater (LA22 9HU) Grid ref. NY 327 047

Parking : Park in the National Trust car park at Elterwater (£7.50 for a full day in Aug 2020), if this is full turn right at 'Slates' and there is further parking just before the Ambleside-Langdale road.

Facilities : There are shelters on this walk other than those that nature provides.

Terrain : Take everything you need with you. After rain, the paths will be muddy and boggy in places so I would recommend boots. (Trainers or approach shoes will suffice but expect to get wet feet).