Lingmoor

Lingmoor is the hump backed ridge that runs from Elterwater to Blea Tarn and effectively separates Great Langdale from Little Langdale. It is less demanding and considerably easier than it’s near neighbours, but that is not the reason I strongly recommend you to try it. Despite it’s small size, the views from Lingmoor are not to be missed. Not only are they amongst the most spectacular in the Lakes, and therefore the whole of the UK, they are of greater variety than those offered by the more famous peaks.

9 miles

Start Point is the car park opposite the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel. If staying at the hotel simply walk down the drive to the car park opposite.

Turn left out of the car park down the road, then after 250 yards turn left onto the farm track to Side House. Walk along the farm road, going over a bridge and through a gate, until you get to the buildings. Bear left to a kissing gate, keeping the farm house to your right. Go through and walk over a wooden bridge, then turn left, following the route of the Cumbria Way footpath as it climbs the lower fells on its way towards Elterwater. The path is well used and in parts has been repaired. It is very easy to follow.

Eventually the path joins up with an overgrown narrow stone lane, with walls on both sides. Follow the lane to a barn close to Oak Howe Farm. Locate a footpath turning right, just before the barn.
Go right here, walking away from the farm and towards Hag Wood. The walk through the mixed deciduous woods is very pleasant, however, this path has a tendency to be quite wet, as several streams cross the route.
As the trees thin out the path joins an old quarry track and Baysbrown Farm appears on your left. Walk past the farm and continue straight ahead along the metalled track through Baysbrown Wood until you reach a house on your left.
Just past the house is a bridleway sign pointing right, signposted for Little Langdale. Turn right up this path as it climbs the slope through the trees.

Follow the track up through the woods. This used to be an access road, used by quarry traffic to reach the workings higher up the fell side. Continue on until you reach the edge of the woodland. Just past the trees you reach an area where discarded slate from old quarry workings has been deposited and you get your first good views of the Langdale Fells, with Fairfield just visible in the background. Below you is the modern day quarry.

Go through a gate to follow an old quarry track, with a low wall on the right hand side, as it climbs diagonally up the side of the fell. Keep to the wide path. Just before the remains of a stone building cross the track, locate a low guide post with a faded yellow arrow attached to it. Turn sharp left here and climb steeply for 300 yards, to reach a green metal gate and stile in the wall that runs along the line of the ridge.

Cross the stile and turn right. The path follows the general line of the wall for most of the way to the summit. The ground underfoot is a mixture of stony track, grass and the occasional boggy section. The path veers away from the wall on occasions, picking its way between rocky outcrops and bracken, however, it always veers back towards the wall, which should always be kept to your right. Simply use the wall as your reference point, as it runs all the way to the summit, although in a couple of places it has deteriorated to the point where it has been supplemented by wire fencing.

Just before you reach the summit the path veers away from the line of the wall and there is a steep scramble up the hillside, possibly the hardest part of the walk so far. At the top of the hill, climb to rejoin the remains of the wall, which is mostly supplemented with wire fencing at this point, and climb over a wooden stile to reach the rocky summit. The views are superb, but, surprisingly, not the best on this walk.

Leave the summit by continuing to follow the line of wall/wire fence, this time keeping it to your left. Note that this path is not shown on some copies of the ordnance survey map, however, it is clearly visible on the ground. In parts it is extremely steep and rocky, and you will need to take your time and be sure footed. For all of this part of the route the path runs to the right of the wall. The final part of this section is the steepest, and a less steep path bears right. This was made by walkers who preferred not to stick close to the wall.

At the end of the steep section the path crosses the wall via a stile, then continues to the left of the wall as it heads towards Side Pike. Continue on down the fell until just before the rocky outcrop of Side Pike. A fence leads left, away from the wall and down the slope to your left. Turn left here, ignoring a small stile in the fence. Walk down the fell, keeping the fence to your right, until you reach the bottom of the hill, then turn right to follow the path, with a wall and a road on your left, until you go through a gap in a wall and past a ladder stile leading to the road by a cattle grid.

Go past the ladder stile and continue on ,following a path that runs to the right of a stone wall, signposted “Public Footpath”. Follow the path down the fellside, keeping Side Pike to your right. The path gets progressively steeper as you descend. As you approach the bottom of the hill locate a narrow path forking away to your right through the bracken. Don’t worry if you can’t locate it, the path is the line of a short cut that avoids you having to walk to the bottom of the field.
If you missed the path through the bracken walk to the bottom of the field and turn right walk across the end of the field, with the wall/fence on your left. The fields of Great Langdale Camp site will be over the wall and beyond the trees to your left.
Go through a kissing gate and follow the path along the side of a conifer plantation fenced with barbed wire. At the corner of the plantation bear left to follow a faint path diagonally down the slope. You are aiming for a path that crosses over a broken wall, but at this point you won’t actually be able to see the wall. The ground here is quite boggy, and the path not easy to see. Keep a large rock to your left, and aim for the far corner of the field until the wall comes into view, then head for the broken gap in the wall.

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