Loughrigg Fell from White Moss
This is another of the many ways to climb the diminutive but rather fine Loughrigg Fell. From White Moss you wander through woods to an easy track leading to Rydal Cave. From there a path climbs up above the cave and onto the fell. A short meander through the knolls of Loughrigg's complicated top leads to the trig point at the summit from where there are fantastic views of many well known fells. Dropping down to Loughrigg Terrace it is then an easy stroll back to the car park.
Rydal Cave is a man made quarry which in its heyday of the 19th century produced high quality roofing slates. Whilst access to the cave is not difficult and many people do cross the stepping stones to its interior, be aware that occasionally blocks do fall from the ceiling!
There are two Lake District National Park Authority pay and display car parks at the start point of White Moss. The first on the road from Ambleside is on the left, the second is 150m (165 yards) further on the right, both are well signed.
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Loughrigg Fell trig point
This walk takes you to the top of the following hills: Loughrigg Fell; and includes 1 Wainwright, 1 Birkett, 1 Marilyn, and 1 HuMP.
- Maps:
50K: 90
25K: OL7
- Start:
- NY348064 (get directions via Google Maps)
- Near to:
- Ambleside, Grasmere, Grasmere village, Keswick
- Tags:
- Birketts, caves, Marilyns, Wainwrights
- Distance:
- 4.9km (3.0 miles)
- Ascent:
- 273m
- Min. time:
- 1 hrs 26 mins
- View in 3-D:
-
- Terrain:
- 2 - rough
- Bog Factor:
- 2 - soft
- Tech Diff:
- 3 - map & compass skills/remote/indistinct paths
Whilst there are no technical difficulties and this is quite a short fell, the top is a maze of knolls and boggy puddles which unless your navigation skills are sound is not a place to be caught in low cloud. - Dog issues:
- None
Purchases:
Buy walk in Adobe/PDF format to print or for your phone or tablet
Buy route for your GPS
Walk height profile
note that gradients are usually grossly exaggerated
Route Description
From the northern car park: return to the entrance and cross the road to the steps down to the grass area beside the river. Bear right alongside the River Rothay.
From the back of the southern car park: follow the path past the toilet block and bear left to the river.
Follow the river bank to the footbridge. Cross, and at the other side take the path straight ahead signposted to "Loughrigg Terrace". Follow this wide path through White Moss Wood, and at the end zigzag up to the gate and go through onto the bridleway.
Go through the gate, and cross the track onto the permissive path to Rydal Cave directly ahead. Follow the wide path around as it traverses the fell side. You can go in the cave but bear in mind that occasionally rocks do fall from the ceiling.
White Moss Footbridge
Below Ewe Crag on Loughrigg Fell
Rydal Cave
Facing the cave entrance take the path climbing up on the left hand side of the cave. Above the cave there are views to the cascades marked on the OS 1:25K map as waterfalls. Bear right and continue climbing. In summer bracken encroaches on the path but it is reasonably well marked and used.
Skirt boggy area of Scartufts on its right hand side and climb between knolls ahead on the path. Turn right at the top of the rise, and then rounding a knoll bear left on a terrace path. At the top of this rise the trig point comes into view just a little way ahead. Continue to the trig point at the summit.
Nab Scar over the top of Rydal Cave
Windermere across the rough top of Loughrigg Fell
Loughrigg Fell trig point
From the summit bear right, roughly north, to find the top of the path coming up from Loughrigg Terrace. The notch of Dunmail Raise is almost in line with the path and a handy indicator. Follow the path as it drops quite steeply. The occasional stone pitching is sometimes a little sloped the wrong way and gets slippery in wet conditions. Cross a couple of boggy 'false summits' and drop down to Loughrigg Terrace.
Loughrigg Fell
Grasmere from Loughrigg Fell
Reaching the terrace turn right to traverse the fellside on this airy path above Grasmere. At the far end of the terrace bear right to drop back down to the gate at the top of White Moss Wood. Go through the gate and continue down to the footbridge. Cross and bear right to return to the main car park.
Grasmere and Silver How
Nab Scar and Loughrigg Terrace
If you like this walk then why not try one of our other nearby walks:
Unless otherwise stated the text in this walk is the copyright of Hug Solutions Ltd trading as The Hug and the photographs are the copyright of Elizabeth Oldham. Hill data is derived from Database of British and Irish hills which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Maps contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2011 and paths © OpenStreetMap Contributors,CC-BY-SA, 2011