Walking Britain Buttermere Horseshoe
Introduction to Walk 2642
Nat Park - Lake District - Lake District Western Fells
County/Area - Cumbria
Author - Stephen Starkey
Length - 14.0 miles / 22.8 km
Ascent - 5800 feet / 1758 metres
Time - 12 hours 50 minutes
Grade - very hard
This tough Lake District walk is a high-level circuit of Buttermere including most of the summits that surround the Lake. These include Red Pike, High Stile, High Crag, Haystacks, Dale Head and Robinson. Allow a full day to complete this round and ensure you have adequate daylight hours. Wainwrights included in this walk are - Dale Head, Haystacks, High Crag, High Stile, Red Pike (Buttermere), Robinson. A GPS File is available for download (see walk description). A route profile is also provided.
Please maintain social distancing - keep at least 2 metres away from other walkers.
Maps | |||
| Ordnance Survey Explorer OL4 | Sheet Map | 1:25k | BUY |
| Anquet OS Explorer OL4 | Digital Map | 1:25k | BUY |
| Ordnance Survey Landranger 90 | Sheet Map | 1:50k | BUY |
| Anquet OS Landranger 90 | Digital Map | 1:50k | BUY |
It is recommended you take a map. The preferred scale is 1:25k. | |||
Other walks nearby
0.3 miles / 0.5 km away
A circuit of Buttermere from Buttermere village
Grade - easy
Length - 4.5 miles / 7.3 km
0.3 miles / 0.5 km away
Crag Hill & Grasmoor from Buttermere
Grade - mod/hard
Length - 8.0 miles / 13 km
0.3 miles / 0.5 km away
Fleetwith Pike and Buttermere Circular
Grade - mod/hard
Length - 8.5 miles / 13.8 km
1.0 miles / 1.6 km away
Buttermere, Coledale and Newlands circuit
Grade - hard
Length - 9.0 miles / 14.6 km
1.0 miles / 1.6 km away
Knott Rigg and Ard Crags from Newlands Hause
Grade - easy/mod
Length - 3.5 miles / 5.7 km
1.3 miles / 2.1 km away
Rannerdale Knotts & Grasmoor
Grade - moderate
Length - 8.0 miles / 13 km
1.6 miles / 2.5 km away
The High Stile Ridge from Gatescarth, Buttermere
Grade - hard
Length - 10.0 miles / 16.3 km
1.6 miles / 2.5 km away
Fleetwith Pike & Haystacks from Gatescarth
Grade - moderate
Length - 5.5 miles / 8.9 km
1.8 miles / 2.9 km away
Grasmoor & Whiteless Pike
Grade - moderate
Length - 7.0 miles / 11.4 km
1.8 miles / 2.9 km away
A circuit of Rannerdale Knotts, Crummock Water
Grade - easy/mod
Length - 2.5 miles / 4.1 km
Note : The distances quoted to other walks in the vicinity are measured in a straight line. The distance by road may be further.
Recommended Books & eBooks
Walking the Lake District Fells - Patterdale
Part of the Walking the Lake District Fells series, this guidebook covers a wide range of routes to 35 Lakeland summits that can be climbed from Ambleside, Grasmere and Patterdale and the Thirlmere and Ullswater valleys, with highlights including Helvellyn and Fairfield. Suggestions for longer ridge routes are also included.
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The Cumbria Way
A guidebook to the 73 mile Cumbria Way, an easy long-distance walk though the heart of the Lake District National Park, from Ulverston in the south to Carlisle in the north, with good transport links to either end. The route is largely low-level but this guide offers alternative mountain days to climb some of the famous fells en route.
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