Buttermere walk - Buttermere circuit

Route: Circuit of Buttermere

Area: Western Lake District

Date of walk: 25th November 2016

Walkers: Andrew and Gilly

Distance: 5.1 miles

Weather: Sun and blue skies – very cold

For the third day in succession we awoke to a cloud free sky – I don’t recall a better spell of weather in November than this. We decided to walk round Buttermere, which we’ve done many times before but it’s so full of beauty that it would be impossible to tire of it

We made an early start and set out on the short journey to Buttermere along very icy roads

We parked as usual in the National Trust car park at Long How and walked through Buttermere village to the foot of the lake. As we’ve always done before, we set off round the lake in an anti-clockwise direction, which seems the natural way to go. This must be one of the most beautiful places in the country yet we didn’t see another walker until we reached the head of the lake, thanks no doubt to our early start and the hazardous driving conditions

After crossing Peggy’s Bridge and passing by Gatesgarth Farm we started the return leg along the other shore. We passed through the short tunnel near Hassness and followed the sometimes rocky path back into Buttermere village to complete a wonderful circuit

It was lunchtime when we arrived back in Buttermere, providing a good reason to visit the Bridge Hotel which welcomes muddy boots and dogs – this was a perfect end to a perfect walk

For other walks here, visit my Find Walks page and enter the name in the ‘Search site’ box

Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)