If you’re looking for an easy walk in the Lake District that doesn’t compromise on beautiful views, the Buttermere Lake circuit is a great choice. The well maintained path makes it an excellent all weather option, so it’s ideal when the weather looks like it might be iffy. Having said that, if you’re lucky enough to visit on a sunny day, then there are a series of secret turquoise infinity pools you can visit - and no, I’m not talking about the Buttermere Infinity Pool.
If you prefer lake swimming, the circuit walk offers endless opportunities to visit less frequented parts of the lake, which are perfect for secluded dips surrounded by some of the Lake District’s most spectacular fells.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Buttermere Lake circuit walk.
The Buttermere Lake Walk
The stats
Distance: 4.5 mile (7.2km) circuit
Elevation gain: 80m
Difficulty: Easy
Summary: The walk around Buttermere Lake is on a dedicated footpath for almost the entire way. There is one short section of road walking to avoid a bit of private land, but the majority is all on a well maintained track.
The path has the odd rocky section, but most of it is a good gravel or stony track, which is easy to walk on. Though there are some gentle undulations, the walk is predominantly flat.
Starting the circuit
From the car park at the Buttermere Court Hotel (full details below) the walk heads right, up the gravel path. After 150m you’ll reach a signposted junction and you want to take the second path, just past the one marked as Scale Force.
Incidentally, if you haven’t visited Scale Force before, we’d highly recommend it, it’s located in a huge mossy canyon and easily one of our favourite waterfalls in the Lake District.
Keep following the flat gravel path and you’ll pass through a gate 350m later. You can see the lake ahead of you.
After another 200m you cross over the little wooden bridge and can make a very short (two minute) detour to see Sour Milk Ghyll Waterfall (not to be confused with the waterfall in Grasmere, also known as Sour Milk Ghyll).
It cascades down a rocky gully and is very powerful after rain. It’s worth making the short detour to see it up close.
Along the lakeshore
From the waterfall there is a very short (few steps) of rocky track to get back onto the main path. You’ll then begin following the lakeshore.
Roughly 350m after re-joining the main path you’ll see a little stony ‘beach’ and this is a lovely spot to enter the lake for a dip.
You’ll pass many more of these beaches along the route and they always tend to be quiet. The views of the fells are utterly beautiful and access to the water is easy.
The path has a few gentle undulations, but for the most it’s flat. Sometimes the path is exposed and sometimes you will walk under the cover of woodland.
There were lots of sheep in the woodland and down by the water’s edge, which made for some nice photo ops! We were also walking after plenty of rain, so the trail was dotted with lots of bright red funghi.
To the secret infinity pools
At the 1.8km mark you’ll come to a junction and keep hugging the lakeshore to stay on the lake circuit. Roughly 650m beyond this you’ll cross a small bridge over the beck and it’s 400m beyond the bridge that you could take a rough track up to the secret pools.
It starts off as a gravel path and is quite steep, but you can’t miss it if you’re looking out for it. It’s not actually the route we took though, so we can’t describe it in more detail.
If you want to follow our exact route then continue on the main trail for a further 350m (you’re basically going to have to backtrack a bit, so it will be a longer route, but we know the path and have described exactly what the trail condition is like).
At this point you will be at the bottom of a steep gravel path leading to a few uneven stone steps. After climbing up this path for 200m you reach a junction.
Left would take you to Haystacks, one of our favourite walks in the Lake District. Right will take you to the pools. You are 700m from the pools at this point and we give exact directions in this post, as well as what it’s like to swim in the pools.
The tunnel, lonely tree and completing the circuit
If you visit the pools you need to retrace your steps back to the main lakeside path again. At the bottom of the steps you will see a gate and pass through it, the path leads towards Gatesgarth car park, which is 550m away.
It’s a flat gravel path with wonderful fell views.
You’ll pass through a couple more gates before seeing the car park ahead of you, but when you get to the road, instead of heading right to the car park, turn left and continue along the road.
It’s the only part of the walk that doesn’t have a dedicated footpath as there’s a large chunk of private land inbetween. After 550m you’ll rejoin a footpath.
Once back on the footpath you’ll keep following the lakeshore and this section has some of the best views of the whole trail.
At the 5km mark there is one very short section of rocky track and just 200m beyond this you’ll see the Hassness tunnel. This is a fun part of the walk and always makes me feel like a little kid again!
The tunnel is 20m long with an uneven floor that often has large puddles inside. You can usually skirt round them. You might need a torch in the middle of the tunnel, but a decent amount of light comes in at either end.
From here you continue following the pretty lake trail for just under 1km, when you then take a left turn to reach the Buttermere lonely tree.
There was one section along this 300m stretch to the tree which was flooded on our visit and there was no way round it with dry boots - but this was after many days significant rainfall. Normally it would be an easy path!
You’ll arrive at the tree 6.5km into the walk. Now I’ll be honest here, how good the tree looks does depend quite a lot on the conditions.
We aimed to reach the tree for sunset, but alas the good forecast actually turned out to be wet and gloomy, so we didn’t get any nice light.
The best conditions would be at sunrise with low wind, so you get a lovely reflection of the tree in the water. The second best would be sunset where you might still get some nice soft light.
From the tree you continue heading along the lakeshore before you come to a gate and turn right. You will now be back on the original path you started the walk on and are 500m from the car park.
Parking for the Buttermere Lake Walk
There are some free car parking spots around Buttermere, but they’re extremely hard to snag unless you’re an early bird. Though you could start the walk at a number of different spots, we walked from the car park by Buttermere Court Hotel - postcode CA13 9XA. It’s a pay and display car park. It’s not run by the National Trust, so members won’t park free here. The prices are: up to 2 hours: £3.50, up to 4 hours: £6, up to 12 hours: £8, or weekly: £28 and payable every day 9am to 6pm including Sundays and bank holidays.
The car park has toilets which come with a 50p fee.
Buttermere is a 30 minute drive from Keswick, 30 minutes from Cockermouth and 1 hour from Ambleside.
Arriving by public transport
The best way to get to the trailhead by bus is to hop on the Borrowdale Bus (77A) or 77 from Keswick and get off at the Court Hotel bus stop.
This departs regularly from the bus stop by Booths in Keswick and takes approximately 45 - 50 minutes.
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