Windermere to
Ambleside - bus back
3rd April 2025
9.0 miles / 11.5 km
472 m ascent
Moderate
11.4 Naismith miles
Windermere to
Step by Step | OS Map | Downloads | Gallery | Fly through
Last week we walked in Coverdale and noted how remarkably few visitors it had. This week, we walk from Windermere to Ambleside – and find that the same description does not apply. In fact, if you ask Google (other search engines are available) where the busiest places in the Lake District are, the answer is Windermere and Ambleside.
So, did we fall into a tourist hell hole? Not at all: Skilful route selection meant that for much of the walk we were free from crowds, and even the ever popular Orrest Head was approached by the less well known Common Wood route. From the Head we take the Dubbs Road to Dubbs Reservoir and then down to Limefitt where we cross the Trout Beck, and then the A592. After a quick look at Jesus Church, we climb to Troutbeck village before taking Robin Lane through Skelghyll Wood and then down to Waterhead in Ambleside. A convenient bus back to Windermere ends the trip.
Step-by-Step
We start in Windermere, simply because we are travelling from Bentham, and so get there before Ambleside; the walk works equally well either way round though and the buses run in both directions – take your pick but note that our directions start at Windermere.
Parking in Windermere is inevitably challenging. You may find spaces in the layby on the A591 just to the east of the Windermere Hotel, or on College Road. We were unlucky with both, so used the pay and display car park on Broad Street. If you are using Satnav to get there, the postcode is LA23 2AB, or if your device accepts What-3-Words tags, then use ruffling.abolish.earlobe which corresponds to the OS grid reference SD41299829.
One way to avoid parking is to arrive by train – Windermere has a station, which opened in 1847 as the terminus of the Kendal and Windermere Railway, a branch line connecting to the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway at Oxenholme. The village where the station was built was at that time known as Birthwaite, but it soon took on the name of the lake, and the town that grew up around it is now known as Windermere. So, the town is named after the lake – worth knowing for pub quizzes.
Our route onto Orrest Head starts back on the A591, near the layby where parking is sometimes available, so we need to head back there first: From the car park we exit onto Broad Street and head left to the end where meet the A5074. We go right here and follow Crescent Road uphill until we find Victoria Street on our right. This takes us up to the A591, where we go right, before crossing to walk in front of the Windermere Hotel, looking for a permitted footpath signed for Common Wood and Orrest Head.
From here we climb on a very clear path rising above the back of the hotel with great views over the town and the lake. After about 250m we enter Common Wood, where our path initially contours around the hillside of Orrest Head. We soon note a path coming in from our right – that’s not part of our route today, but the National Trust, who own the wood, have a good route that uses this path as part of a shorter route to Orrest Head and back down to the town. We continue onward until we meet a stile on our left which accesses a path rising steeply through the woods. The broader track that we were initially on continues and meets our route again later but taking that misses Orrest Head and the wonderful views from the peak.
We therefore continue up through Common Wood, until the trees thin out and we find ourselves at the top of Orrest Head and the viewpoint which gives us a perfect panorama of the lake. Orrest Head is typically climbed directly from Windermere near the station. Access is made via a reinstated Victorian carriageway which leads towards the summit. The route has been adopted by the Lake District National Park Authority as its 50th “Miles Without Stiles” route which makes it suitable for those with pushchairs and motorised off-road mobility scooters – so expect to see a good number of people enjoying the view as we arrive from our more challenging route.
Orrest Head is strongly linked to Alfred Wainwright, the original documenter of walks, and the ascent of Orrest Head was the first Lake District walk that he undertook at age 23 – simply because it’s right there after he got off the train having travelled from his home in Blackburn. Wainwright fell in love with the Lake District, and the rest is history. His impact on walking and recording of walking routes is such that the 214 significant peaks in the Lake District are now referred to as Wainwrights.
At the summit of Orrest Head (which you may recall we have visited before on our School Knott & Orrest Head walk), there is a panorama identifying the key fells which include the Old Man of Coniston, Scafell Pike, Great Gable, Fairfield and the Langdale Pikes.
From the top of Orrest Head we see the path we arrived on, the accessible path up from Windermere, and a third path heading north toward Near Orrest. This is the path we take for the next part of our walk. After just 100m this forks – there is a route through a gate to the left which we ignore, to go right over a stile into open fields.
The path on the ground is clear and well walked, but we noted that it deviates from the line on the OS map a little. We head downhill through farmland for 500m until we arrive at a minor road – this is just to the right of Causeway Farm, so if in doubt use the farmhouse as a landmark.
Once at the road, we turn right and walk on the road for a short while – it’s very quiet, and traffic will not be a problem. After 200m we pass Near Orrest where there is a grade II* listed farmhouse with a very attractive garden. There is a public footpath through Near Orrest – which goes over to Far Orrest – an attractive path, but not for us today: We press on along the road for a further 300m until we get to a crossroads. We head left – walking north for the next 300m to arrive at a T junction where we see Bishop Plantation ahead of us.
The road we have just arrived at is Moorhowe Road, and we go left here to walk along the road for the next 100m. This road is slightly busier than the farm lanes we have been on so far, but not enough to be problematic.
We soon arrive at a point where the road bears left, and there is a track to the right. We take that track and head up the access lane to a water treatment works at Dubbs Reservoir. Originally built to supply water to Windermere (the town not the lake), Dubbs Reservoir is now used as a supplement to the Thirlmere system. The reservoir is surrounded by a wall, with access is permitted for fishing. There is no footpath round the lake, but the track to the east which we are currently walking, and which is known as Dubbs Road enables us to see all of the reservoir, with Wansfell Pike behind it.
We continue up Dubbs Road for another 800m or so until we arrive at a point just before a plantation where there is a stile on both sides of the lane. The stile to our right is a path onto Backstone Barrow. We ignore that and head left and then downhill aiming slightly right and toward the left hand corner of the plantation.
There we meet a track where we go left going steeply downhill toward Limefitt, and a caravan park. Over to our right along this section of the track, we have great views of the Troutbeck Tongue – a fell that rises out of the flatish valley bottom in a very striking manner – it’s also one of the Wainwrights.
The track continues downhill for a while, to a point where two tracks cross at a shallow angle, to make a crossroads. We are heading for the caravan park, which is now slightly behind us, so we take the hard right and almost reverse our direction to continue.
We stay with the track for another 400m, now heading north, with the Tongue ahead of us, to arrive at another T-junction. This time we go sharp left and continue downhill for 100m to arrive at the left hand side of a pub on the caravan site.
From here we have one of the access roads through the site in front of us, and at the far end of this we see an old mill adjacent to the Trout Beck. We aim straight for that mill.
The road bears left here and climbs to the busy A592. We need to walk left along the road for a short while – about 100m, looking for a stile in the wall opposite. This is within a layby to the right of Jesus Church, so depending on what’s parked there it may be difficult to see.
Once over that stile, we cross one small field and then either continue along a clear path toward the village of Troutbeck ahead or chose to take a moment to divert to Jesus Church, simply because it’s a lovely building in an idyllic setting. There has been a church here since at least 1506, but all of what is now visible dates back to a complete rebuild in 1736 – many of the features of the original church were retained however, so the appearance is more ancient than the reality.
Of particular note is the fine stained glass within the church: The east window has Perpendicular-style tracery and Pre-Raphaelite stained glass depicting scenes from the life of Jesus. It dates to 1873 and was designed by William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Ford Madox Brown.
The path next to the church rises uphill, and meets the footpath coming over from the A592, and we continue uphill toward Troutbeck – a great place to pause for lunch. The Old Post Office offers great refreshments, and there are ample places to sit within the village for those who have their own provisions. Troutbeck is one of those places that feels special even when you can’t quite put your finger on why. The National Park authority obviously agree, they have designated Troutbeck as a conservation area – almost every building in the village is listed.
Just to the left of the Institute is a lane leading up to houses on the valley sides – this is signposted as Robin Lane, and this is the route we take for the remainder of the walk – Ambleside is just 2 ½ miles away now. We climb steeply at first, and it is a good idea to combine a catching of one’s breathe with a view back over the valley toward where we were walking just an hour ago. Of note is a clear remnant of mineworking and spoil tipping just to the left of the planation where we left Dubbs Lane.
After a while the steep climb reverts to a more gentle contour around the hillside, a couple of tracks come in from the left – we ignore them, and then just 600m or so after leaving Troutbeck, we arrive at a fork in the track. To the right is the Hundreds Road track, we need to keep left and head toward Skelghyll. It would be unfortunate to get lost here – the trip up Hundred’s Road does not have an easy route back, so we recommend having the map or our GPX track to hand. If in doubt, the continuation of Robin Lane to Ambleside is slightly downhill, the Hundreds Lane is uphill. Confirmation that we are on the right path is provided when we see a whitewashed farmhouse ahead. The path goes just to the left of the farmhouse and then via a couple of gates onward toward Skelghyll Wood.
Once we arrive at the Woods, the key to navigation is always to stay on the large wide path – this arrives at Ambleside, but between the start of the woods and the arrival at the town next to the Mountain Rescue Centre, there are a myriad of smaller paths that could lead us astray.
If you do inadvertently take one of these smaller paths downhill, all that will happen is that you will arrive at the A591 south of Ambleside. So, if your arrival is not immediately adjacent to the Mountain Rescue centre, just turn right and follow the road back into Ambleside.
Our walk ends in Ambleside, and so we need to catch a bus back to Windermere. Fortunately, the bus stop is almost next to the end of our path, and the service is frequent, as the 505, 516, 555 and 599 services all use this route. Current timetables are displayed at the stop or on the Stagecoach website.
Bentham Footpath Group walks are classified according to distance and elevation change. This route falls into the “moderate” category. It was measured on the day at 14.5km making it less than the 15km challenging threshold – but if you have more luck with parking, it will be shorter.
