Loughrigg Fell

The route:

There are many routes that you can take to reach the summit of Loughrigg Fell. Today, with the weather being so terrible, we decided to complete the shortest & quickest route possible. We parked our car on Red Bank Road, the road between Grasmere and Skelwith Bridge. The lay-by can be found at the fork in the road before reaching YHA Langdale (LA22 9HJ), if you reach the Youth Hostel you have gone slightly too far. There is room for three cars on the road side here, possibly four. I imagine you would struggle to get a space in the summer months when things begin to get busier. However today, in the pouring rain, we had the lay-by to ourselves! Photo 1 shows the gate that you are looking out for. Go through this gate and here starts your walk. Please note many people do begin the walk at Grasmere, where plenty of parking is available, however the weather was particularly bad on this occasion so we reduced the miles we had to walk!

From this lay-by you begin by walking through a wooded area before quickly approaching some steep steps on your right hand side, see photo 4. Take these steps up towards the summit, the route can be steep in parts but our three year old managed with ease.

Please see the Strava map at the bottom of this page for the full route.

As I mentioned previously there are many different routes you can take to reach the summit, many enjoy a circular route however we stuck to straight up and straight down for today! It was too wet and wild for anything else, plus the little legs of our family don’t appreciate any added miles when the weather is this bad!

On a clear day you are treated to some truly magnificent views at the summit of Loughrigg Fell. You look over towards Grasmere, Rydal and Loughrigg Tarn. This walk can also be linked nicely with many other walks in the area :

– click here to be directed to Rydal Caves

– click here to be directed to White Moss Wood

– click here to be directed to Buckstones Jump

– click here to be directed to Penny Rock Wood

If you are hoping for a longer walk, particularly in the summer months, both of the walks mentioned above would allow you to fully explore this area of the Lake District. My family and I adore a summer time trip to Rydal Caves followed by a paddle in Rydal Water.

If, like us, you have little legs and don’t fancy a super long walk then I would highly recommend following the route that we took today. While it is steep in parts it is very enjoyable and the children managed it no problem!