Walkers’ guide

Lone walker on the slope of Loadpot Hill

Lone walker on the north slope of Loadpot Hill.

This site is aimed at walkers who want to travel to and around the Lake District by public transport. I appreciate that there are lots of people who go to the Lakes and never get to the top of fells: also that there are those who, for whatever reason, choose to drive there. The information on these pages is not aimed at either group.

Why public transport, then, and not the car? I think for these reasons:

  • there are quite enough cars cluttering up the Lakes already, and driving on some roads can be frustrating as a result – not to mention the general environmental benefits;
  • why force yourself to do a round trip walk just to get back to the car? Point-to-point walks are much more interesting, varied and – in my opinion – give more satisfaction as you actually feel you’ve walked somewhere;
  • you can have a drink at the end (see ‘pubs’);
  • you can relax and chill out on the way home, and not have to force your tired limbs to operate machinery.
Stickle Tarn

Stickle Tan, viewed from its dam (walk 112)

The information on this site has been arranged into the following pages:
General guide to public transport

Guide to popular walking destinations

Pubs in the Lake District

Notes on nature

Notes on weather and conditions

It has all been presented in good faith, based on (so far) seven years of regular visits, all by public transport. However, I do not take responsibility for any inconvenience or misfortune which may arise from errors. If you do find anything wrong on any page, please use the comment facility to advise me, and I will amend it.

4 Responses to “Walkers’ guide”

  3. Peter Mackie said
    March 8, 2021 at 10:32 pm

    Hi Drew, I guess sitting at Keswick, Penrith etc you must have reflected on how AW did what he did. What sort of walking distances would have been involved in getting to, for example, Branstree, Scafell, Great Calva and Caw Fell from the nearest bus? I can see that Books 1,3 and 6 were doable, also Borrowdale, Langdale, Coniston, Patterdale, as you have shown. But if you take for example the Southern Fells, then just getting to the Eskdale, Duddon and Wasdale fells by public transport from Kendal, walking those distances in that terrain and gathering the raw material at that level of detail in his timescale seems an extraordinary logistical achievement. Any thoughts?

    Reply
    • Drew Whitworth said
      March 9, 2021 at 9:48 am

      There have been buses to Kentmere and Ennerdale Bridge in the fairly recent past so if they were running in the 50s and 60s this would have helped a little. And there’s always been Ratty. But certainly Mardale would have involved long walks and I doubt there’s ever been an easy way of getting to Wasdale Head…

      Reply

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