May marks National Walking Month, and we're celebrating by highlighting our favourite local walks. Our university happens to be located in the UK's best walking county (yes, we're a little biased!) Whether you are bagging Wainwrights, climbing the tallest peaks in England, going for a seaside or lakeside stroll or completing a national trail, Cumbria has a walk suitable for everyone.
Are you an alumnus with fond memories of the area, a local Cumbrian, or someone who's always longed to visit? A walk offers a fantastic way to get to know the area better. So put away your phone and earbuds and discover the sights and sounds of our beautiful county.
“Walking provides us with many great health benefits and is free. Just walking at a moderate pace can improve your cardiovascular health, reduce body weight and boost your immune system, protecting you from diseases and infections. It is also a great way to help with muscle stiffness and bone health as we get older. Even better, it is great for improving our wellbeing, being outside in green spaces will make you feel refreshed, happy and positive. Contact with nature has been found to reduce stress, anxiety and depression and improves sleep quality.” Kathryn Wain, Principal Lecturer for Sport
“We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things.” Charlotte Mason
Here are our favourite walks in Cumbria. Don’t forget to pack your waterproofs!
The Wordsworth Way
A brand-new dedicated trail, walking in the footsteps of William Wordsworth. This is a day’s walk and can be challenging in parts as it goes into the high fells. The trail can be done as a 14-mile point to point walk or split into four shorter sections. Starting from the Ullswater Information Centre in Glenridding, taking in Grisedale Tarn, Grasmere, Rydal and ending at our Ambleside campus, where a new way marker post has recently been installed.
The Wordsworth Way walking guide has been written by class of 2024 MA Literature Romanticism and the English Lake District alumnus, Jade Cookson. Jade describes the route and how each section relates to Wordsworth’s life together with poetry, quotes and snippets from journals.
Find out more about The Wordsworth Way and download GPX route files HERE.
Purchase the walking guide HERE.
Walney Coastal Path
Located just across the channel from our new university campus in Barrow, Walney Island offers 16 miles of footpath, as part of King Charles III England Coast Path national trail.
Connected to the mainland by Jubilee Bridge, Walney, part of Barrow-in-Furness, is home to some of Cumbria’s most spectacular coastline as well as two nature reserves to the north and south of the island.
The circular coastal path, starting and ending at the Jubilee Bridge, takes just over five hours to walk. This route through salt marshes and meadows is a significant wildlife area, home to Cumbria's only grey seal breeding colony. Look out for rabbits, peregrines, oystercatchers, and ringed plovers to name just a few, as well as numerous wildfowl and waders that nest here in winter.
If you fancy a much shorter walk South Walney Nature Reserve, looked after by the Cumbria Wildlife Trust, has dedicated trails. Find the trail guides HERE.
Find out more about the Walney Coastal Path HERE.
The Hadrian’s Wall Path
Starting (or ending) in Tyne & Wear, technically, not all of this walk is located in Cumbria. But as one of our campuses is located along Hadrian’s Wall, we could not leave it out of our favourites.
This is a long-distance 84-mile footpath so will take multiple days to do the whole thing. It is common to break the route into five or six days or break it up into smaller sections. This point-to-point walk follows the line of Hadrian’s Wall from Wallsend, just 4 miles out from Newcastle upon Tyne to Bowness on Solway on the Cumbrian coastline. Taking in the pretty towns of Corbridge, Hexham and Brampton and Roman forts Housteds, Chesters and Birdoswald. The route can be done in either direction and most guidebooks are written for both.
As the walk reaches Carlisle, you pass through Rickerby Park, if you climb the steps or follow the road out of the park to Brampton Road you will come across our university campus. Our Brampton Road campus sits on the site of the vallum for Hadrian’s Wall. The vallum, built around AD122, was a wide, deep ditch flanked by large mounds of earth, providing an extra defence for the wall.
The Hadrian’s Wall Path is a National Trail; more information can be found HERE.
Literary Walking Tour of Carlisle
.jpg)
A perfect one if you are back visiting the city! A Literary Walking Tour of Carlisle details the city’s long history of literary associations through a 2-mile walk, accompanied by words of many celebrated poets and novelists who visited or had connections with the city, including the Wordsworths, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, and Melvyn Bragg.
Beginning on the shores of the River Eden at the edge of Rickerby Park, the walking tour takes in a number of key locations which have inspired authors from the medieval period to the present day.
Locations include Carlisle Cathedral, where the university hosts its annual graduations, as well as the Citadels and neighbouring railway station.
The pocket-sized guidebook is written by Dr Penny Bradshaw, thematic lead for Cultural Landscapes within the Research Centre for National Parks and Protected Areas at the University of Cumbria. Penny is also Programme Leader for the MA in Literature, Romanticism, and the English Lake District, based at our Ambleside campus.
Purchase the walking guide HERE.
The Eamont Way
Starting from Penrith railway station on the main West Coast line this walk is very easily accessible without a car and a fantastic one to do if you are visiting your campus. Penrith station is only 15 minutes from Carlisle, just over half an hour from Lancaster.
At 5.5 miles long this walk can be done within a few hours, there are buses back to Penrith from Pooley Bridge or simply turn around and head back on foot for a longer day’s walk. Taking you through ancient lanes, permitted paths and farmer’s fields, with quaint villages along the way, this is a beautiful, quiet walk.
The linear walk ends at the honey pot village of Pooley Bridge on the shores of Ullswater. Here you will find pubs, cafes, ice cream and a lovely bookshop (check opening times if visiting out of the summer season). Be sure to have a walk over the bridge and look down at the flagstones, each one is engraved with a name of an individual, family or business who sponsored the new bridge. ‘University of Cumbria’ is amongst the names; can you spot it?
Find out more and download maps and gpx files HERE.
Ambleside to Wray Castle
This easy, flat 4.5-mile walk starts from our Ambleside campus and ends in a tearoom!
Head through the village down Rothay Road to the footbridge across the river. Join the footpath along the A593 along to Brathay. Be careful on the corner of the road here as you turn down the B5286 towards Hawkshead, you soon join the footpath again. Cross the road at Skelwith Fold campsite to join the path again on the opposite side of the road and across Pull Beck. The path turns off the road and heads down permitted paths through the exclusive Pullwood Estate. As you leave the road and follow the pretty path through the woodland you will soon see Wray Castle in the distance. Keep on the easy marked path until the castle driveway.
The gothic style Wray Castle, on the shores of Windermere, was built in 1840 by a wealthy surgeon from Liverpool. The house was acquired by the National Trust in 1929. The castle is currently closed to the public for refurbishment, but the grounds and the cafe are still open. You can walk through the picturesque grounds right to the shores of the lake.
Earlier this year class of 2004 Journalism graduate, TV presenter Helen Skelton, declared her favourite walk was Wray Castle to Ferry House along the shore of Windermere. If you wish to continue your walk from the Castle, this section will add on an extra 8 miles. Alternatively, you could explore a little way along the lake before returning back to Ambleside.
More information about Wray Castle to Ferry House can be found HERE.
Did you walk much as a student? Have you discovered some good walks since you graduated? We would love to hear about your favourite Cumbrian walks, email alumni@cumbria.ac.uk