The Best Hiking Trails in Cumbria

On paper its altitude might not bowl you over, but on Lingmoor great things come in small packages. Standing alone, unhitched to any of its higher neighbours, Lingmoor's strategic position between Great Langdale and Little Langdale makes it a superb viewpoint....

Wainwright states that the popular fell of St Sunday Crag is only a matter of three miles from the road at Dunmail. This is a very interesting walk, showing in detail many excellent views of the fells in the area....

Unless you're a sheep, the grassy hump of Bowscale Fell looks only moderately promising from a distance. Yet this northernmost summit of the Blencathra range has a hidden scenic corner, the high glacial bowl of Bowscale Tarn....

Parking is available by the farm at Town Head for a couple of pounds. Start by following the road southwest out of Town Head towards Helmside for 200m. Take the track going northwest and follow this up the hill past more buildings....

With a high start and a low summit this likeable mini fell must be one of the easiest ascents in the Lake District, by its standard route. It's very family friendly, but for minimal effort you still get a big view out over Ullswater, with the High Street and Helvellyn hills ranged across the skyline....

Skiddaw looks its most monumental from the Keswick side, but this aspect is much nicer viewed from a distance than actually walked up. In the flesh it's a dull and seemingly endless grind....

The Ullswater Way is a long-distance hiking trail in the Lake District. This 32.2 km / 20 mile circular route starts and ends at Pooley Bridge, a small village on the eastern shore of Ullswater....

Rydal Cave is a man-made cavern located in the Lake District National Park and lies just above the small eponymous lake. The walk around Rydal Water and up to Rydal Cave is one of the most popular short hikes in the area, and certainly one of the easiest ways of circumnavigating one of the lakes after which the region is named! Starting from the village of Rydal, the path follows the northern shore of the lake, passing through wooded areas and open fields with stunning views of the surrounding hills and fells....

An out-and-back route from the typically charming Lake District village of Stonethwaite, this is a great hike which is best done on a really hot day when a swim at Black Moss Pot won't feel too brutal! Stonethwaite is only small and parking is limited so be respectful and park a little further away if needs be....

Make no mistake about it - today is a toughie! On this hike there's a lot of distance to cover, over 1000 vertical metres of ascent to be made, and the highest peak on the entire Pennine Way to be crossed - so be ready for a challenge! The navigation isn't always straightforward either, and you're exposed to whatever the weather might throw at you, so trying to time it to do this day in good conditions is strongly recommended....

The very highest point in England might be a bit of a dull lump but there's much more to Scafell Pike than its overcrowded summit. This stern, stony mountain sprawls over a large area, its many impressive corners offering some of the grandest mountain scenery in the Lake District....

There is much debate about which is the better direction to attempt the Bob Graham Round. Is it preferable to get the six miles of road in the bag early on or keep it for tired legs? In the 1980s most went anti-clockwise and so did the road section first but these days most go clockwise and leave it till the end....

So, do you want superb views? You got ‘em; unhindered perambulation on lofty ridges? Check; eight Wainwright summits? Fill your boots. This celebrated round packs a lot into its ten and a half miles, giving easy striding and ever-improving vistas culminating on one of the best-loved peaks in Lakeland....

The eastern fells may generally have a secluded feel but a hill the quality of High Street inevitably attracts attention. This flat-topped massif is best seen from the east, its craggy coves and ridges rising straight from the shore of Haweswater....

Lakeland is bristling with ‘horseshoe’ walks with many tending towards the rambling all day variety. This unfashionable round which tackles the hills enclosing secretive Gasgale Gill is perfect for a shorter day, and after an inauspicious start rewards baggers with three Wainwrights building to a fine climax with a traverse of one of the best walker’s ridges in the entire national park....

Place Fell is a fairly small fell, but the summit views are classic Lakeland. From Place Fell’s foot the ribbon length of Ullswater stretches out towards the farmland of the Eden Valley....

It is usually fairly quiet on the northern half but gets increasingly busy around Helvellyn.The Bob Graham Round is the classic (and probably easiest) British 24hr challenge and is attempted by around 200 fell-runners each year with around 1 in 3 attempts being successful....

The first two thirds of this route is part of the very first recorded long distance walk in the Lake District by the Reverend J.M.Elliot in 1864. This is considered the first step of the various long distance walks that eventually led to the Bob Graham Round....

Despite its proximity to Coniston, the village's epnoymous mountain feels remote and wild, doubly so if you take this route to the summit. It is possible to just do a "there and back" via the descent route marked here, or on one of the other paths on the mountain's broad east face, but taking this route past Dow Crag and Goat's Water is much more spectacular....

After 9 days of working your way north, today suddenly takes you westwards in order to access the most spectacular side of the North Pennines. It's one of the longer days on the Pennine Way and one of the absolute best sections of the whole trail....