Walk · Cumbria

Alcock Tarn from Town End

Grasmere · LA22 9SH

3MILES

2h 20mON FOOT

350mCLIMB

CircularSHAPE

Off-road 88% 12% shares tarmac with cars

Field & moor path 76%Lane & track 12%Road with traffic 12%

Our drawing of the route — the shape of the walk, 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

Dove Cottage car park, Town End, Grasmere LA22 9SH

Parking

Dove Cottage pay-and-display at Town End, about forty spaces, charged all year and full by 10am whenever the museum is open. The White Moss car parks half a mile south are the usual overflow.

Directions to the start →

A steep short pull out of Town End to a small dammed tarn on the shoulder of Heron Pike, with Grasmere and Rydal Water both laid out below. The climb goes up through the birches behind Dove Cottage and past the old Greenhead Gill workings, all on a made path but relentless for the first half hour. The tarn is shallow and reedy and the ground beside it is boggy after rain. The descent turns down Greenhead Gill and comes out on the A591 by the Swan, so watch the last few hundred yards for traffic.

THE SMALL PRINTThe fell above the intake walls is access land under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act. Government guidance for open access land is that "dogs must be kept under effective control at all times and on a short lead of no more than 2 metres at all times near livestock", with the short-lead rule near livestock applying between 1 March and 31 July on non-coastal access land. Sheep graze the whole hillside all year. The descent finishes on the A591, which is fast and has no pavement at that point, so lead up well before the gate.

House rules, decoded

Livestock — leads on

REGION · CUMBRIA

GRID · 54.4553, -3.0168

SOURCE · HTTPS://WWW.GOV.UK/GUIDANCE/OPEN-ACCESS-LAND-MANAGEMENT-RIGHTS-AND-RESPONSIBILITIES

Alcock Tarn from Town End

House rules, decoded

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