Walk · Cumbria

The Fairfield Horseshoe from Ambleside

Ambleside

11MILES

6h 1mON FOOT

890mCLIMB

CircularSHAPE

The route A-road B-road Lane Track Path Water Woodland

Off-road 92% 8% shares tarmac with cars

Field & moor path 84%Lane & track 8%Road with traffic 8%

Our drawing of the route, over road and path data from OpenStreetMap. It shows where the walk goes and what it goes through. It is not a survey and not a navigation aid — carry OS Explorer on the hill. Off-lead information here is what walkers reported or what signage allows — never our advice. Whether and when a dog is off the lead is the owner’s decision and legal responsibility; keep dogs under control near livestock and follow signs on the day.

Starts at

Rydal Road car park, Ambleside, then Nook Lane past Low Sweden Bridge

Parking

Paid, and the whole town is full by 9.30am on a clear weekend; the Low Fold car park on Lake Road is bigger and usually the last to fill

Directions to the start →

Eleven miles and 890 metres of ascent, six hours for most people: a long grassy ridge walk up over Low Pike and High Pike to Fairfield, then back down the Rydal side by Great Rigg and Nab Scar, with no scrambling anywhere but a lot of stone wall to follow. It starts at the Rydal Road car park in Ambleside and finishes on the Rydal road a mile out of town, so most people walk the last stretch back along the pavement. This is the whole day out and a fit dog will manage it, but there is no water at all on the ridge between Low Sweden Bridge and Rydal Beck, sheep are on every part of the horseshoe, and the drop off the Dove Crag and Hart Crag edges is sheer - a dog that runs to a view needs a lead up there.

THE SMALL PRINTLeads throughout - sheep graze the entire ridge and the crag edges above Dovedale and Rydal Head are unfenced. Carry water for the dog; the ridge is dry for four miles.

House rules, decoded

Livestock — leads on

REGION · CUMBRIA

GRID · 54.4325, -2.9653

SOURCE · HTTPS://WWW.KOMOOT.COM/GUIDE/2766041/HIKING-AROUND-LAKES

The Fairfield Horseshoe from Ambleside

House rules, decoded

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3 Cambridge Villas

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