Walk · Cumbria

Watch Hill and the sheep pasture path from Cockermouth

Cockermouth

3.9MILES

1h 50mON FOOT

170mCLIMB

CircularSHAPE

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

Off-road 82% 18% shares tarmac with cars

Field & moor path 56%Lane & track 26%Road with traffic 18%

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

Market Place, Cockermouth, out by Castlegate and the sheep pasture path

Parking

Town car parks at Wakefield Road and Riverside, free for a short stay and rarely full; no charge on Sundays

Directions to the start →

Just under four miles and about two hours for 170 metres of climb, out of the town centre by the sheep pasture path to the little top of Watch Hill, which looks over the Derwent valley to Skiddaw one way and the Solway the other. It begins in Cockermouth itself, a few minutes from Wordsworth House, and the town's Market Place and Wakefield Road car parks are both free for the first hour or two - a genuine rarity in Cumbria. The lower half is enclosed field path and lane where a dog can be off the lead in the quieter sections, but the hill is grazed by sheep and there are cattle in the valley fields in summer, and one narrow squeeze stile on the return will need a hand for a broad dog.

THE SMALL PRINTLeads on the grazed hill and through the cattle fields in the valley. One narrow squeeze stile on the return that a broad dog will need lifting over.

House rules, decoded

Livestock — leads on

Off-lead allowed

REGION · CUMBRIA

GRID · 54.6622, -3.3628

SOURCE · HTTPS://WWW.KOMOOT.COM/GUIDE/2762862/HIKING-AROUND-COCKERMOUTH

Watch Hill and the sheep pasture path from Cockermouth

House rules, decoded

14 Limetree

41 Market Place

Allerdale Court Hotel

Cottages you can book near Cockermouth

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Your patch, watched for you.