The Cumbria Way

A guidebook to the 73 mile Cumbria Way, an easy long-distance walk though the heart of the Lake District National Park, from Ulverston in the south to Carlisle in the north, with good transport links to either end. The route is largely low-level but this guide offers alternative mountain days to climb some of the famous fells en route.

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Overview

A guidebook to the Cumbria Way, a 73-mile long distance path through the heart of the English Lake District from Ulverston to Carlisle. The route is largely low-level, but this book also describes alternative mountain days which add the Coniston Fells, Glaramara and Skiddaw en route.

The guide divides the route into 5 stages of between 12 and 16 miles, but there is plenty of opportunity to plan your itinerary for a more easy-going 7 to 8 days. This guidebook also provides useful information for every stage, from accommodation to available facilities en route, as well as an annotated OS map and details on points of interest.

Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction
The Cumbria Way
The mountain way
Wildlife and plants
Geology (Ronald Turnbull)
When to go
Getting there
Accommodation
Safety
Planning your itinerary
What to take
Maps
Using GPS
Using this guide
The Cumbria Way
Stage 1 Ulverston to Coniston (or Torver)
Stage 2 Coniston to Great Langdale
Stage 2A Torver to Great Langdale – mountain route
Stage 3 Great Langdale to Keswick
Stage 3A Great Langdale to Keswick – mountain route
Stage 4 Keswick to Caldbeck
Stage 4A Keswick to Caldbeck – mountain route
Stage 4B Keswick to Caldbeck – foul weather route
Stage 5 Caldbeck to Carlisle

Appendix A Route summary table
Appendix B Facilities table
Appendix C Accommodation stage by stage
Appendix D Useful contacts

Updates

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March 2020

Easy alternative schedule correction

page 23

Day 1 Ulverston to Cockenshell Farm

Day 2 Cockenshell Farm to Coniston

Day 3 Coniston to Elterwater

Day 4 Coniston to Elterwater

Day 5 Elterwater to Rosthwaite

Day 6 Rosthwaite to Keswick

Day 7 Keswick to Skiddaw House

Day 8 Skiddaw House to Dalston

Day 9 Dalston to Carlisle

November 2019

Route updates included in 2019 reprint

760 Reprint 2019 (1.493 MB)

July 2017

Corrections

Pages 122 and 123 of Appendix B

The distance from Caldbeck to Dalston is marked incorrectly as 1 mile (1.5km ). The correct distance should be 11 mile (17.5km).

Reviews

The 73-mile Cumbria Way was the invention of local Ramblers groups over 40 years ago, and has been rather melodramatically described as "an arrow through the heart of the Lake District." In this beautifully illustrated new guide, John Gillham takes even more diversions from the already anything but arrow-straight route, which wriggles north through the Lakes from Ulverston to Carlisle. He makes a series of significant mountainous deviations from the original route, taking in the tempting Lakeland giants of Skiddaw, Walla Crag, Glaramara, Swirl How and Coniston Old Man, which should satisfy even the most frustrated peak-bagger.

[I couldn't] wish for a more enthusiastic and comprehensive guide to take me there. Highly recommended.

Roly Smith, Outdoor Focus

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