Lake District Tarn Hows Loop

If you are looking for a beautiful walk with hardly any steep inclines in the Lake District then this may well be the hike for you. This 4 hour loop walk takes you past lakes of all shapes and sizes, over heathland, along tiny country lanes, across boulder strewn tarns, past an abandoned quarry and through ancient forests.

Difficulty:

As Lake District hikes go, this is a relatively easy one. With very few hill climbs, the physical side of the walk is pretty straight forward, with only a couple of trickier terrains. From a logistics perspective though, we found this loop to be slightly challenging, getting lost a few times, but ultimately prevailing to find our way. However it must be said, we found this challenge element really added to the experience and sense of achievement at the end.

Time:

4 hours give or take depending on pace/stops.

The Adventure:

After the long drive from London we wanted a walk that would allow us to get out in nature, blast the car journey out of our systems and stretch our legs before the sunset. We settled on tackling the Tarn Hows Loop a 13.1km hike in the centre of The Lake District National Park that winds its way across several different landscapes and terrains without too many steep inclines.

We parked up at the small Tarn Hows car park and set off. We got lucky and it was a beautiful sunny afternoon, the hike first took us past Tarn Hows lake, one of the smaller but more beautiful lakes in the park. Littered with small, tree covered islands and surrounded by towering fells and mountains, you would be forgiven for thinking you’d just begun a hike in Canada, it was quite the intro to the Lake District for us first timers.

After the spectacular start things didn’t let up as the route led us through the gorgeous rolling hills of the second section, past gloriously isolated farms and up to an abandoned slate quarry. The quarry, which had been closed for slate mining for years now played home to a tantalisingly dark lake at its bottom, kept topped up by a dramatic waterfall flowing in over its steep sides.

It’s worth noting here that by this point we had come to realise that this wasn’t just a case of following the directions, but more of an exercise in navigation as the instructions were often vague and in parts outdated, this however only added to the adventure as we pieced together the clues that we did have in order to negotiate the Cumbrian landscape.

Next we crossed an almost trackless section that led us to an incredible tiny lake, hidden from the surrounding world by rocky hills and tarns. Had we had a bit more time this would have made for the perfect spot for a wild swim.

Note: If we went again we would factor that in in terms of timing and taking swimming kit.

The penultimate section of the hike felt really off-piste, and perhaps was as it became very difficult to tell if we were still on the correct path. Either way we eventually made our way down a gully, through a gorgeous forest to another spectacular lake where we stopped to watch the evening light bounce back off the water with near perfect results.

Finally we scaled our way through a large forest, hugging a parallel path to the Tom Gill waterfall, a long waterfall that divides the trees beautifully and offers the perfect end to a really good hike.

Before we knew it we were out the other side of the forest and had looped back to our car in time for sunset.

Just about perfect.   

Pointers:

• Wild Swim: There are a few lakes that you might like to dip into along the journey, all of which are small and away from the crowds. If this takes your fancy make sure to pack swimming stuff and allow for it time wise.

In Conclusion:

This is the perfect Lake District loop walk for a summers evening. For us being able to loop back perfectly to the car meant to walk was manageable, and despite starting a 4pm, meant that we were able to make it to the pub in time for dinner.

The Numbers:

/ 4 Hours

/ 13.1 km

/ £5 (snacks)