The Cumbria Way: A 4 Day Hiking and Camping Trip

After ticking off two multi-day hikes last year (The Dales Way and Highlander), it was about time for a third. It finally felt like spring was here, and the days getting longer seemed like the ideal time for some bigger hiking days.

This time we decided to hike the Cumbria Way, and as it’s a similar length and difficulty to the Dales Way, we had originally planned to do it over five days – changing it to four days whilst en route.

1. The Route:
   1. Day 1: Ulverston – Coniston (24.5km)
   2. Day 2: Coniston – Great Langdale (28km)
   3. Day 3: Great Langdale – Mungrisdale (35.5km)
   4. Day 4: Mungrisdale – Carlisle (36km)
2. Camping Spots:
3. Food:
4. Packing List:
5. Additional Info and Things to Note…

The Route:

The Cumbria Way is a walking route in the North of England, around 70 miles long (112km). There are sections that are similar to the Dales Way, however, I’d say that it’s a little more strenuous due to the elevation and terrain in certain places. It starts in Ulverston, and passes through the heart of the Lake District National Park, finishing in Carlisle in the North of Cumbria.

The trail takes you through beautiful lakeland towns and villages, including Coniston and Keswick, as well as following a mix of different terrains by lake edges, moorland, and through some slightly higher and more exposed sections.

We had originally planned to do the route over five days, but ended up doing it in four. This was partly due to our competitive spirits (Soph and I are very good at motivating and pushing each other), but also partly down to the weather. It had been getting wetter and wetter, and packing up soggy tents each morning wasn’t much fun.

Day 1: Ulverston – Coniston (24.5km)

The Cumbria Way begins in Ulverston at ‘The Gill’, where you will find a well marked start point. We found street parking with no restrictions, but there are also several car parks nearby where you can leave a car for an extended period, though they can be quite pricey.

The first section of the trail takes you through fields and rolling hills as you make your way towards the Lake District National Park. There were plenty of gates and stiles to navigate, which is always fun with a big bag, and a lot of cattle in the fields. This could sometimes make following the path a little tricky, especially if you’re a bit nervous of cows.

Around two thirds of the way in, the route takes you past Beacon Tarn, a very inviting spot for a dip. I recommend sticking to the official route along the West of the tarn, rather than trying to take a ‘shortcut’ through a very gourse covered path along the East.

Thankfully, the weather wasn’t as bad as forecasted, and we managed to stay dry and not too cold. There was just under 500m of elevation across the day, flattening out once you hit the edge of Coniston Water. The waterside path is a beautiful section, taking you into the village itself.

We had initially intended on wild camping on one of the fells just past Coniston, but due to a mix of factors, including time and hunger levels, we decided to pitch up at one of the campsites in the village. Once our tents were up, we headed into the village for food and to top up on snacks for the next day, then had a pretty early night.

The first days route is quite remote, with no shops along the way, so make sure you’re stocked up with enough food and water to get you through. It was strange being back in Coniston again, and after dinner at the pub, I started walking us in the complete wrong direction back to where I used to live.

Day 2: Coniston – Great Langdale (28km)

We had a wet start to day two, and set off a little later than planned. But after getting packed up, we headed off in the drizzle for the walk up to Tarn Hows. This was my usual running route when I lived here, so it took the pressure of having to navigate for a while. I have a lot of fond memories of this area, and one of the last walks I did with my Grandad was around Tarn Hows. I’d been hopeful that the ice cream/coffee van would have been parked up in the National Trust car park, but no such luck.

There was a cute honesty cafe at one of the farms where we stopped for a refuel, and then made our way to Elterwater for lunch at the pub. We also grabbed some take away sandwiches from the cafe to eat in the evening, as neither of us felt like cooking. The stop ended up being much longer than we intended, so we had a bit of making up to do in the afternoon.

From the bottom of Lingmoor Fell, you have spectacular views of the Langdale Pikes. The Langdales is one of my all time favourite places in the Lakes, and somewhere I’ve spent a lot of time over the years. There are several campsites around this area, but we were set on wild camping, and decided to tackle the climb up to Langdale Combs in the evening, rather than first thing in the morning. It was a big push to get up and over before it got too dark, but thankfully we managed to find a lovely little camp spot, with incredible views down the valley. It’s safe to say we were both absolutely shattered by the time we got our tents up, but it’s moments like this that give me such a buzz, we really pushed ourselves and felt such a sense of a achievement that evening.

Day 3: Great Langdale – Mungrisdale (35.5km)

The morning of day three is when we decided to try to complete the hike in four days, rather than five. We worked out we would need to hike around 35km both days, and thought it was worth trying.

We had a much earlier start, and hoped to get into Keswick for lunchtime. The walk down towards Borrowdale is one I’ve done a few times, and having camped in Stonethwaite on last years Highlander, and started many walks from the Rosthwaite National Trust car park, it’s an area I know pretty well. It’s such a beautiful landscape and one I’ll never tire of. There are so many incredible places to swim on this section of the route, including Black Moss Pot – a very popular dipping spot. Unfortunately, neither the weather or time were on our side for cold water dips.

A coffee and cake stop at a little tea room in Rosthwaite was a well needed boost, before heading on towards Keswick. The paths along the edge of Derwent Water were the busiest we’d experienced on the trail – though it was a bank holiday weekend. This is somewhere I spent a lot of time as a child, so it was really nice to revisit those happy memories.

We stopped at Relish in Keswick (One of our favourite lunch spots) for a bite to eat and popped to the co-op for another snacks top up, before the steady climb up to Mungrisdale Common. The views across to Threlkeld and Blencathra are lovely along this path, and it’s another special place for me, as both my grandparents grew up in this area. We stumbled across Skiddaw House, which felt like a mirage, and made a quick loo stop and got a little treat from the honesty shop, before the last little stretch to our camping spot for the night. We debated continuing up to Lingy Hut, the bothy at the top of High Pike, however we’re really glad we didn’t. This section of the path was the most challenging so far and it would most likely have got dark whilst we were climbing – however, if your route allows, I’d highly recommend staying there.

Day 4: Mungrisdale – Carlisle (36km)

I’m not going to lie, day four was a tough one. We’d pushed ourselves a lot on day three, our feet were sore and we knew we had a lot of miles ahead of us. But after a quick cereal bar breakfast, we started our climb up to High Pike. This was definitely the toughest part of the whole route, and we were both rather surprised it was part of the Cumbria Way (though I believe there is also a low level route option). The wet weather and heavy bags certainly didn’t help, and there were plenty of slips and muddy boots. At this point, we became slightly delusional and the only way we could motivate ourselves was by singing High School Musical songs – thankfully there was no-one else around.

We had already decided to reward ourselves with breakfast and coffee once we got to Lingy Hut, which was a very welcome sight. It was lovely to read through the comments in the visitors book, and we left our own little note.

From here, we dropped down into Caldbeck, which is now one of my favourite villages and high on the list of places to move. It had such a nice feel about it, as well as a little local shop and the best takeaway cafe (I’ve been informed they’re in the process of renovating a building for a permanent cafe, so I will definitely be back!). The path also takes you through a cute little campsite, which is another one to check out depending on how you plan out your route,. They had a really nice sign showing the Cumbria Way trail, and we were pleasantly surprised to see just how far we’d walked.

The last 10km felt like a slog. Gone were the spectacular mountain views, and in hindsight, we would have prefered to have done the hike in reverse. The ending point in Carlisle was a huge anti-climax, with no plaque or obvious end point. We were pretty broken, and due to an accident on the roads, our ride home couldn’t make it. Thankfully, the train station was nearby and we somehow avoided the strikes – though I felt pretty sorry for the people sat near us.

All in all, it was an epic few days, with laughter, tears and a whole heap for us to be proud of. It was so nice to not finish this one on my own, thankfully Soph’s feet held out this time. We’re setting our sights on the West Highland Way next!

Camping Spots:

Our plan was to wild camp for the whole trip, and considering we knew the area pretty well, we had a rough idea of areas we could stop. However, as we’ve found we like to walk further each day if our legs and energy levels allow, we never had specific camp spots in mind.

Though wild camping is technically not allowed in England, if you are courteous, leave no trace, pitch up late and leave early, you’re unlikely to encounter any issues. I have done a lot of wild camping over the last few years and have never had any problems. There is always a chance that you will be asked to move on by the land owner, so do keep this in mind.

Coniston: The first night we camped on a camp site in Coniston. It was pretty unorganised, and have since heard some absolutely horror stories, so won’t share the name (though I’m sure many people know exactly where I’m talking about). There are plenty of other options though if you are wanting to camp here, including the YHA, as well as several of the school fields during holidays.

Great Langdale: The second night we found a lovely little spot in the Langdale valley. It took a little while to find somewhere suitable, as it had been pretty wet and there wasn’t a lot of flat ground around. Again, there are many campsite options within the Langdale valley if you’re not wanting to wild camp.

Mungrisdale: We found a really nice place to pitch up by the river, however we were very aware that this is an area that gets patrolled during busier seasons. We made sure we pitched up late, and were up and packed away before 6am. Depending on how you plan out your days, there is Lingy Hut bothy at the top of High Pike, which would be the perfect stop off.

Food:

I’ve learnt a lot from my last couple of trips around food, and just how much is needed to sustain energy levels. For the Dales Way, we had planned to eat out more often, however we never ended up in the right place at the right time. This time I took freeze dried meals (Tactical Foodpack), and saved them for the more remote days/camps. I also took four protein porridge pots for breakfasts, and like last time. I just took one out and emptied the contents of the others into individual bags to save on space.

We found some great little food spots along the way, with the Muddy Duck in Caldbeck being one of my favourites. As always, I took far too many snacks, consisting of haribo, cereal bars, crisps and a couple of Real Meal bars.

Packing List:

I decided to test out a new sleep system for this trip, and after debating for over a year which sleeping bag to get, I bit the bullet. With three multi-day camping trips coming up, I wanted to start investing in some lighter weight kit. My previous sleeping bag has been great, but it’s three season, and not the smallest, so it’s been an unnecessary weight on some of my trips. I decided to go for a two season sleeping bag (which is half the weight of my previous one) and a liner, just to add an extra level of warmth it needed. A liner is also great for helping to keep the sleeping bag clean.

Additional Info and Things to Note…

• Though this time we didn’t do any swimming, mainly due to the weather, there are some incredible swim spots on the route, especially around Borrowdale and Mosedale.
• My bag weighed roughly 10kg before food and water, so I’m guessing 14-15kg with. I definitely want to try get this down before the next Highlander in July
• The 4 days in total cost me slightly more than the Dales Way, mainly due to eating out more. (Camping £14, food and snacks £25, eating out £80, train £4)
• I’d recommend doing the route in reverse, and ending in Ulverston, as I feel this way you get the ‘most boring’ part out the way first and also have an official end point.

If you have any questions at all about the Cumbria Way, post them below or drop me a message on instagram! You can also follow me on Komoot to see all of my hikes and routes.

Happy adventuring x

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