Back in Summer 2023, Jenni (my coast to coast and West Highland Way hiking buddy) and I walked the Cumbria Way. Well, the Cumbria Way-ish. We used this 73-mile waymarked long-distance trail in the Lake District as inspiration for a week hiking in this beautiful part of the country.
In part four of my adventure journal series, we reach the point where we deviate from the Cumbria Way and start our mountain adventures. This is therefore the last episode in this short series. So far, we’ve hiked from Ulverston to Coniston, from Coniston to Great Langdale, and on day three we start in Great Langdale and hike along the official Cumbria Way route all the way to Keswick.
Highlights of the day included a fantastic paddle in the fresh flowing water at the top of Stake Pass, watching people enjoy the water at Blackmoss Pot, a rather civilised cream tea in a pretty garden in Borrowdale, and some pretty woodland on the edge of Derwent Water.
A Magnificent Hiking Day
Our hiking day, which took us along Mickleden Beck, up Stake Gill and over Stake Pass, through Langstrath to Borrowdale, along Derwent Water and into Keswick, was plotted as being 17 miles long. We actually walked nearly 20-miles, though, because we took a couple of intentional short detours and had to walk through the town to reach our digs.
I probably don’t need to tell you how hot it was. The heat has been the main theme of my Cumbria Way ramblings so far, and I will come back to some reflections on hiking in a heatwave towards the end of this article. Just know that it was another very warm day, which made it another slow and tough day on the trail.
Where the Cumbria Way had so far proved to be undulating but not challenging, if you consider the terrain without the heatwave, it was today that we would experience the short sharp shock of Stake Pass. Cue incredible amounts of panting, especially given the temperature! Ascending a thousand feet in a very short distance, this section of the trail was not to be underestimated.
The climb would prove to be more than worth the effort. The wild and rugged scenery towards, over and down from Stake Pass was nothing short of magnificent. Beautiful, quiet, and possibly my favourite section of the Cumbria Way.
Cumbria Way Day 3 | Great Langdale to Keswick
In my usual style, then, let’s go back to where we left off part three, to my bed at New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel.
I had a pretty decent sleep in our top floor room, waking up to my 7am alarm feeling reasonably refreshed and ready to get going. Well kind of. Look, I was tired, a bit worn out, and certainly in need of more rest. But it was nothing I couldn’t ride for the sake of our week-long adventure in Cumbria. And I would be way more tired if we’d have decided to camp our way along this trail.
We’d booked breakfast for 8am, the earliest we could have it, and so made sure we were ready to hike before we headed down to the dining room. My egg, beans and hashbrowns were as underwhelming my dinner the night before, but it did the job. The quality of the ingredients just wasn’t great. At least we’d started the day fuelled and hydrated – we would be grateful for that as we made our way to Keswick. The fact it was included in our room rate was also a bonus.
Not a Bad Review
This isn’t a bad review of New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel by any means. The hotel itself was lovely, and it’s incredibly well appointed on the Cumbria Way and for fell walking in this part of the Lake District. The room was large and comfortable, the grounds spectacular, and the staff friendly. And the price wasn’t bad, either – we paid £110 total for our twin room with breakfast. I would happily stay again.
It was the food that let it down. It did the job; quick, convenient, and not expensive. And there is nothing wrong with easy pub grub, I’m all over that, especially when hiking. But the YHA the night before did much better. We overheard a group of staff chatting about the hotel and developing the business, so hopefully they will include the menu in there. I’ll move on.
Cathedral-Like Mountain Views
Anyway, we left the hotel a little before 9am, on an already very hot day. The Cumbria Way went uphill pretty immediately, before tracking the contour line with the slopes of the gloriously rugged-looking Raven Crag up to the right, and ancient fields to our left.
We dropped into the vast Cathedral-like valley along the more-or-less dry Mickleden Beck, with the Langdale Pikes above us to the right and Bow Fell to our left. The whole scene was spectacular, and while we didn’t have the whole place to ourselves, it really felt like we were really in the wilds of the Lake District.
My photos simply do not do this place justice – I would hike here again in a heartbeat. And while it was incredibly hot, the fact we got to experience this section with blue skies and bright sunshine was a real gift.
Conquering Stake Pass
The valley stretched out for what seemed like forever in front of us, but we did eventually make it to the end where the Cumbria Way turns left and heads up and over Stake Pass. My Cicerone guidebook offered an alternative mountain route here, taking in Allen Crags and Glaramara high above the official path. Jenni and I had chosen to stick to the Cumbria Way today, as while we were certain it would be amazing to get even higher, Stake Pass and Langstrath were said to be a highlight of the Cumbria Way. And that they were.
It was tough, certainly, but I’ve definitely hiked up tougher hills (looking at you, Red Pike).
With more than a few stops to take in the view back over the valley we’d just walked though, which was as breath taking as the ascent itself, we made our way up the zigzagging path. The view behind us got bigger with each metre ascended, and I filled my camera roll with picture upon picture. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; never be rushing so much you can’t stop to look where you’ve come from. And never think that looking back is bad.
On a few of my ‘catch my breath’ stops I watched as a couple of fell runners sped their way across the valley and up the steep ascent, reaching and overtaking us in what seemed like no time at all. Then it was our turn; we stopped to chat with a couple of female hikers who were heading in the same direction as us. They were out to do their ‘biggest’ day hike so far, a challenge they were finding hard but also loving.
The Best Paddle of the Hike
The path itself was well made and easy to walk on, lined by boulders and bracken. This helped make the ascent a reasonable one, but that didn’t mean we weren’t ready for a boots-off break when we reached the top.
Almost at the summit, the path meets and then crosses the fast-flowing water of Stake Gill. We found the perfect spot to de-boot and sit with our toes in the fresh water, spending a long time enjoying the view and the water. Those snacks I’d bought at the Co-op in Chapel Stile the previous day made a decent second breakfast, and we enjoyed taking photos and resting in celebration of the morning’s effort.
There was a little bit more uphill walking before we reached the cairn which marked the highest point for the day. This pile of stones at Langdale Combe also marks a watershed, which is a fun fact if you’re heading over Stake Pass sometime. The water we’d just been paddling in heads out to sea at Morecombe Bay (which we could see on day one), whereas water we would see from now on ultimately ends up in the Solway Firth.
The short stretch across Langdale Combe, before the path headed back downhill, was pretty in its own right. The area is covered in humps (hummocks) which are leftover moraines from the last ice age – the landscape is weirdly lumpy. And the views down the back of the Langdale Pikes were much greener than the rocky slopes on the Great Langdale side.
The Long Valley
As the adage suggests, what goes up must come down, and that would be our next task. After chatting to a couple who were hiking the Cumbria Way in the opposite direction, with tiny little day packs thanks to making use of a baggage transfer service (an excellent option), we made our way down the steep zigzagging path on this side of the pass.
It was almost as steep going down as it had been going up, which meant we had crossed Stake Beck and reached Langstrath Beck, and were well on our way to Borrowdale in no time at all. Langstrath means “the long valley” in Norse, and it stretched out in front of us for miles. The beck was dry in the most part, with just a trickle flowing over what should apparently be fast flowing cascades.
We kept the beck on our left as per the official route (you can also walk on the other side). The guidebook suggested it would be boggy along this stretch, and we could see how that might be the case, but it was completely dried out at this point in the summer. It was, however, quite rocky in places, which meant having to concentrate on our footing rather than keeping our heads up and enjoying the view.
Chaos at the Gorge
Blackmoss Pot, a rocky gorge channelled by the beck, was very busy with people when we got there in the early afternoon. I’ve never heard of this place before, but it’s clearly well known – the grassy banks above the gorge were noisy with people enjoying the heatwave in this very picturesque spot.
We had a short boots-off break to enjoy the slightly chaotic scene for a short while. Very different to our other breaks on the Cumbria Way, but also a lot of fun. Jenni and I watched as people queued up to jump the few feet from the rocks into the water (the river was much deeper here!). Don’t worry, we decided not to join them – maybe another time.
We also watched as people set up disposable (single use) barbecues and opened bottles of wine, apparently settling in for a particularly fun afternoon. Part of me was impressed they’d hiked the couple of miles from the nearest parking area with all that stuff. But the rest of me was just mad because it was so very dry, one slightly knocked barbecue could mean a grass fire. I also wondered how much of their rubbish would make it back to their cars. Cynical? I very much hope I was wrong.
Coast to Coast Memories
Once we were done with the hustle and bustle at Blackmoss Pot, we headed back over the river and picked continued our way to Borrowdale.
We’d hiked the section between Galleny Force along Stonethwaite Beck to Rosthwaite in the opposite direction when we trekked the UK Coast to Coast a couple of years ago. We stopped to pick out the path ascending up Greenup Gill and Lining Crag, agreeing that we were very happy indeed not to be heading up that way in this heatwave. That was a really fantastic day on trail, no doubt about that, but it was a hard day – much harder than Stake Pass had been that morning! It was pleasing to reminisce along that mile or two of path.
Our earmarked café stop for the day was the Flock-In Tearoom at Yew Tree Farm, which is on the Cumbria Way through Rosthwaite. The garden was so pretty, full of flowers and birds, and cute picnic tables built in a line against the back of the stone building. I had a cream tea, a piece of flapjack, and a can of coke. I’m sure the café served savoury food, but I ate what I craved, and that’s the best thing sometimes. It might have been hot, but three days into our hike, the hunger was real.
Along Derwent Water
Worryingly in some ways, it was nearly 3pm and we still had eight miles left until we reached Keswick. But while I did feel a pang of time anxiety, I shook that off quickly knowing we had hours and hours of daylight left, and we’d been enjoying a lovely slow hike through some incredibly beautiful scenery.
The walk towards Derwent Water was pretty, offering a completely different view to the wild and rugged scenes of the last few hours. It was undulating, especially where the path more-or-less followed the banks of the River Derwent, but the woodland was lovely, and the path easy going. As with Langstrath Beck, the river was barely there – it was so dry everywhere.
We met Derwent Water right at its southern tip, taking the waymarked Cumbria Way footpath which hugged the eastern shore, with a variety of woodland and open sections. Having walked all the way around Derwent Water previously, this section was familiar to me, which somehow helped the miles to feel fast.
We had a brief paddle at one of the larger bays on the shoreline before we took the obligatory photo at the teddy bear shed, walked through more woodland, met the lane past the outward bounds centre, and headed up towards the marina.
A Very Busy YHA Keswick
With a little over two miles to go, we stopped for an ice cream at the Boat Club. Randomly, I noted in my journal that evening that the mango and coconut Magnum was my new favourite. It can’t have stuck out that much, though, as I know I haven’t had another one since that day.
Once in Keswick, our first – and very exciting – job was to walk to Jenni’s car to pick up the supplies she had waiting for us in her boot (read part one to find out more about how that worked). This meant we each had clean clothes to wear. Excellent. Once sorted, we headed to our digs for the night, a private ensuite room at the YHA on the river.
The second of two gifted stays on our Cumbria Way hike, YHA Keswick is in a great location very close to the town centre. It overlooks the River Greta and Fitz Park, and has views of Latrigg and Skiddaw – tomorrow’s challenge.
As I probably should have expected for such a central YHA, it was heaving. A large school group were having a whale of a time, and as such it took quite a while for us to raise a member of staff to come and check us in. It was a very busy place.
Thankful for a Private Room
Once in our room, though, we were able to relax. Recently refurbished, our private room was small but very nice. We had a small balcony area, which was an unexpected delight, and a tiny but practical ensuite shower room. I have to admit it was nice not to have to use shared facilities on this occasion, especially considering the hostel was filled with school kids.
The bulk of the space in the room was taken up with a bunk bed consisting of double underneath and single on top. Jenni and I were taking it in turns to choose beds, and it was her turn, so naturally she chose the double – I would have done the same if it was my turn! The bed was large and sturdy, though, with a decent ladder; thankfully I didn’t have any struggles getting up and down.
We did moot the idea of eating at the YHA, as we know the food to be very hiker friendly and good value. But it was even more chaotic in the dining room than when we checked in, so we headed out into Keswick instead. I mean, it’s right in the centre, it would be rude not to sample the food on offer in this busy Lakeland town.
Out for Dinner
We wandered around a little to see what was around, but ended up making use of the recommendation a friend had messaged me with earlier in the day. Sarah had suggested the Royal Oak because it has an interesting map on the wall she said we should look at, but the food was excellent. I had the veggie tagine, which was marvellous – and cheaper than the previous night in Great Langdale!
It was easy to while away the evening sat in the comfortable pub restaurant. We looked over our plans and routes for the rest of the week, and made use of the decent internet access to share photos online and converse with friends and family. We were both exhausted after a very long day hiking in the heat, but were excited to head much, much higher over the next three days.
Reflections on Day 3 of the Cumbria Way
At 19.8 actual miles hiked (17 plotted in OS Maps, but you know, extras happened…), day three of the Cumbria Way was a lengthy one. Add to that the sharp ascent of Stake Pass, and the warm temperature, and we had ourselves a really big day out.
As such, I crawled (well, climbed…) into bed at the end of day three of the Cumbria Way feeling very tired and sore. I had a hot spot on my left foot which was going to need a blister plaster the following morning to make sure it didn’t get any worse. My knees and ankles were wishing I had been a bit fitter before I’d started this hike, and my brain was worried about the mountains I was hoping to get up over the next few days.
But, in complete honestly, I went to bed feeling so incredibly happy. Happy to be midway through a week hiking, happy to be in the Lake District, and happy to be sharing this time with Jenni. Multi-day hiking is just such a fantastic way to spend time. I love it. And was loving this.
The Best Bits
I don’t know if it’s bad to admit that, once again, the highlights of my day hiking on the Cumbria Way are primarily occupied by times I wasn’t actually hiking. That lengthy paddle in Stake Gill at the top of Stake Pass was just so wonderful – with the big mountain view and the cool flowing water. And I did have to hike to get there, so it definitely counts.
Then there was the pretty café in Rosthwaite, the paddle in Derwent Water, and even the chaos at Blackmoss Pot. The sitting down bits of hiking long-distance trails aren’t always this nice – this is one way the warm sunshine was helping, I guess.
But I think my number one highlight of this day on the Cumbria Way, was the walk into (and back out of) the huge valley at Mickleden. It felt like we were walking through the bottom of a huge bowl – surrounded on three sides by gorgeously craggy mountains.
Wandering through a space so massive it made me feel tiny was good for my soul. It was nothing short of spectacular, filling me with feelings of the vastness of space and reminding my inner being how wild and rugged I like my surroundings to be. It’s for views and feelings like this that I want to hike for miles.
I have no doubt that I will be back to walk through this valley again, maybe combining it with a route up to Stickle Tarn. But if I could order the same weather again, please, that would be great.
On Hiking in a Heatwave
I don’t think I’ve ever visited the Lake District before and not needed a jumper, let alone a waterproof coat. We did get a storm the night before we started, and got caught in a shower at the end of our first day, but even with that, I didn’t put my waterproofs on – not my gaiters, over trousers, or jacket – once during this trip.
It wasn’t just unseasonably dry, it was also very warm for the UK. I reckon I put on a jumper once; and that includes the evenings and mornings. One day it reached 31º Celsius (reportedly), and I don’t think it dropped below 24º during hiking hours – which I have to admit was a challenge to deal with. I was so prepared for normal British weather, complete with puffy coat and gloves (!). And yes, I was wearing my trusted Meindl Bhutan walking boots, which are much more suited to more traditional UK conditions than a heatwave.
As you’ll have read through this series, we dealt with the high temperatures by walking very slowly and taking every opportunity to have boots-off breaks, especially when there was water to paddle in. Given that we were very nearly at the summer solstice, we had all the daylight we could ever need for the kinds of miles we had planned. And we used a lot of it; I did my best to make the most of being forced to slow down, take lots of breaks, and take in as much of the scenery as possible.
All About the Water
We carried and drank a lot of water, and stopped for ice-cold drinks and ice creams when available, finding ourselves sat in pub beer gardens regularly, at least once a day if not more. It really was the only way to do this one.
Some of my favourite moments of the Cumbria Way were those spent by bodies of (nice and cool) water, including Beacon Tarn and Stake Gill, taking much more than a short moment to enjoy the peace, tranquillity, and being in nature. The heatwave was potentially a really big issue – it was certainly a big deal – but I think we dealt with it reasonably well.
Done with the Cumbria Way
This was the point that the Cumbria Way part of our week was ending. We would see a bit more of the official route here and there over the next two days, but couldn’t say we were hiking it as a marked trail anymore. In all we walked 45-ish miles of this route from Ulverston to Keswick, and had thoroughly enjoyed it.
While our official Cumbria Way adventure might have ended in Keswick, we weren’t done with Cumbria by any means. Our second three days of hiking would have us explore three of the Lake District’s most popular mountains; Skiddaw, Blencathra, and Helvellyn. The first two would form part of an overnight adventure at the country’s highest hostel, while the third would have us sort out some unfinished business from our Coast to Coast hike. More about those adventures on the blog soon.
The Cumbria Way looked after us well. And I would highly recommend it – at least the bits that we did – to anyone looking for a fantastic week-long hiking adventure here in the UK.
If you are inspired by my Cumbria Way adventure journal series but have questions about the trail, please let me know.
dave
We did the Stake Pass/Langstrath the year before you, in the opposite direction and it was also very hot that day. Had to have a lie in the river and the pub at the end was very very welcome.
https://espressococo.substack.com/p/a-walk-in-the-lakes
Splodz
It’s a really beautiful part of the Lake District. Gorgeous. I didn’t quite lie down in the river but it was very tempting indeed!