Lake District is said to be the most beautiful scenery in England. There are several towns in the Lake District , most of the tourist will stop at Windermere since it is the terminal station where trains head for the Lake District arrive, there is also a hub for buses to other towns. Numerous accommodations are located near the train station, including luxury hotels with lovely gardens and small B&Bs with warm service. In addition, there are many rich villas in the Lake District, and it is also famous as a city to live after retirement of wealthy people in England, so high-level restaurants and unique pubs are there. Just a few minutes walk from Windermere Station, you’ll be in the heart of the city with restaurants and pubs. The fun of this city is that there are many courses where you can enjoy nature just outside the center of the city. There are several trails that can be walked, hiked and trail run alongside forests, mountains, rivers and lakes, passing by luxury residential areas.
Windermere is definitely a city that tourists go to in the Lake District. It’s a small town with a very calm feel, but I was surprised when I first went there because there were many high-quality restaurants which are equal or better than one in London.
Here are two recommended courses that you can easily walk from the city which you cannot find on Google Maps. It is a footpath course where you can enjoy the change of scenery from the town to the residential area, from forest area to the lake with just one hour walking.
Great course for a morning walk around the lake from the city of Windermere
Overview of walking course
Easy course that you can walk in about 1 hour.
Circular route along the starting from the center of Windermere city
Total walking distance 4.7km
Elevation difference 65m
It is a walking course where you can experience all the fun of a walk in the Lake District, which is just one hour from the center of the city. Many B&B in Windermere start their breakfast around 8:30 am. However, in the summer in England, it’s very bright at 5am, so a walk before breakfast is recommended. If you stayed in Windermere, please enjoy this course.
If you tap the mark on the upper right of the map with a smartphone, you can see the route of the walking course and your place on Google Map, so you can walk along the course without problem. This course does not appear even if you just open Google Maps, but the course will appear if you open from the blog page. (Please note that the map may not be visible on some commercial PCs and smartphones depending on the settings.)
You can download GPX data of this course by clicking the above button on your computer.
Course picture
(1) Center of Windermere town where nice restaurants and a little fashionable pubs gather. It not so busy in the early morning. Start walking from here.
(2) It says “Private No Through Road”, so I’m a little worried if I can enter this road, but this is the footpath entrance. Although cars cannot pass through, pedestrians can walk through here. (3) Gorgeous houses line up on the left and right when you enter the footpath. This is a house with a nice garden. You can see the spacious garden over the low wall. The Lake District gets a lot of rain, so the lush lawn is very beautiful even in winter.(4) This is also a nice mansion along the footpath. There are many gorgeous houses around here.(5) If you walk along the footpath, you will arrive at a place that can only be seen as the gate of a private house. UK footpaths often run through private grounds like this. There is a yellow arrow at the gate here, which is the footpath mark. There is a sign that tells you to go straight, so follow the arrow and go straight through the gate.This footpath sign is on the wall of a private house. After entering the private gate, follow the sign to continue footpath walking..(6) After passing through private garden, you will walk at narrow down road with a width of about 1 meter. You can feel the sense of adventure as if you are walking through a secret loophole.(7) If you walk between the stone walls for a while, you will pass by a mansion with a very large garden. The lawn in the large garden is also trimmed neatly.(8) The entrance to the next footpath is also a narrow entrance that is hard to find. Follow the arrow and enter the narrow path.(9) A narrow gravel road with a width of about 1 meter surrounded by high hedges on both sides. It’s a hedge up to the top of my head, so I’ll go down the road for a while without knowing what’s on the left and right.(10) After passing through the narrow gravel road, I walked down the well-maintained road lined with forests on the left and large houses on the right. (11) You can hear birds singing from the forest. This is also a footpath sign. This sign has three yellow arrows. When there are many arrows like this, I’m worried about which way to go next. It would be great if the name of the place was written, but most footpaths do not show the destination name but only with the arrow. , It is easy to get lost by going through the wrong direction. Walk in one direction of the arrow and you will find the next footpath entrance. The entrance of the footpath often opens the door like this.(16) When you open the door and go inside, there is a river in the forest where pure water flows. I can only hear the sounds of birds and the sounds of the river even thought this place is not so far from town center. As you descend the road beside the river, you will see Lake Windermere.
(13) Panoramic view of Lake Windermere. A great place for a morning walk from the city of Windermere. Click the photo to enlarge it, so please enjoy the morning scenery of Lake Windermere.
The mirror-like lake surface surrounded by the murmuring of the river and the chirping of birds is impressive.(14) Walk for a while on the road beside the lake. Even in the early morning, many people walking with dogs or jogging here.(15) A yacht floating on Lake Windermere. The quiet lake is ideal for yachting.It is the news of spring that narcissus begins to bloom here and there.Follow the yellow arrow on the footpath to leave the lake and open the wooden gate to go into pasture.(16) It looks like it is easy to walk, but it is often difficult to walk in the pasture after rain because it is muddy. Walk through the pasture and walk on the open road for a while. It is a road with many cars during the day, but it is a quiet road with almost no cars in the early morning. Since the sidewalk is maintained, you can walk safely even when there are many cars during the day.(17) After a short walk you will pass by Windermere Jetty – musium of Steam boat. It is a nice building with a large glass in a wooden construction.(18) If you go up the narrow road that goes into the hill from the wide road, you will pass through a group of large houses lined up in the forest. Those houses has a gate with a long slope where the house cannot be seen. It’s fun to walk while wondering what’s going on inside.(19) After passing through the side of the mansion, you will reach quiet forest. It’s also a pleasure to walk in UK to greet everyone with a smile when they pass by during walking or jogging. As you pass through the forest, you will see a large house in front of a pasture where sheep are eating grass.(20) As you get closer to the town center, you’ll pass through a row of gorgeous mansions with lovely gardens. The maintained garden is wonderful.(21) Narcissus is starting to bloom in this garden. I’m sure it will be full of different kinds of flowers in May.
Please enjoy the scenery of the walking course seen from the sky.
When I first visited Windermere, I didn’t realize there was such a good course nearby. This course is definitely recommended as it has all the flavors of City & Trail Walker.
Good hiking trails just behind the Windermere station
Overview of walking course
Easy course that you can walk in about 1 hour.
Circular route along the starting from Windermere station
Total walking distance 3.7km
Elevation difference 100m
It is a hiking course that climbs the mountain just behind Windermere Station. It is an easy hiking course that takes less than 30 minutes to reach the summit, but the view from the summit is superb. This is a course where you can enjoy a variety of landscapes, such as pastures that walk beside sheep, quiet rivers, forests where you can hear birds, and the side of a calm mansion. There are various courses where not only those who want to enjoy relaxing mountain walks, but also those people who run trails running through the mountains. If you just make a round trip to the top of the mountain, you can go back and forth from Windermere Station in 40-50 minutes, so you can enjoy it while waiting for the train or bus at Windermere Station. After climbing to the top of the mountain and descending toward the pasture opposite to the station, you can choose various courses such as a course through the pasture or a course through the forest. Here I will introduce walking course that descended and headed for the forest through pasture.
Tap the mark on the upper right of the map above with your smartphone to open the Google Maps app. You can see the walking course and where you are on the map of Google Map, so you can walk along the course without hesitation when you actually go to the site.(Please note that the map may not be visible on some commercial PCs and smartphones depending on the settings.)
Windermere, the last train stop for the Lake District. When I’m at the platform, I often see rabbits running alongside the tracks.Walking start from Windermere station.There are taxi and bus stations in front of the station.(1) The Windermere Hotel has a nice stone building right outside the station. The footpath entrance to the mountain is right next to this Windermere hotel.(2) The entrance of the footpath to Orrest head- summit of this mountain. I’m used to seeing small footpath arrows, so I didn’t notice such a big sign at first. (3) There are nice houses lined up along the way to the summit.(4) A house with a nice view just up the mountain.(5) There are several routes to climb the mountain, but this time I’ve climbed this winding road.(6) A wooden object that suddenly appears on the way. When I walk in the forests of the Lake District, I sometimes encounter such objects.(7) Stairs that go straight up toward the summit. There is also a gentle detour route, but here I will climb straight up.(8) The entrance just before the summit. If you climb the stairs ahead, you will reach the summit.
(9) A view of Lake Windermere from the top of the mountain. Click on the screen and enjoy the panoramic photos.(10) When you descend from the top of the mountain in the opposite direction to the station, you will find a vast pasture. Sheep are eating grass here and there.(11) Walking along this course I often pass by young people who do trail running.(12) In this route, the course is divided into 2 and 3 directions. To get to the left course, go through the wooden door, and to get to the right course, climb over the stairs made on the fence. UK footpaths are designed to keep sheep out of the enclosure.(13) Even if you walk a little, the course is divided into 3 directions again. It’s good that you can enjoy various courses, but be aware that you will end up going farther than you thought if you take wrong route.(14) Walk down the slope by a small river and walk toward the forest.(15) Pass through the quiet forests managed by the National Trust. National Trust is a civic activity that began in UK over 100 years ago to manage and preserve the natural environment and historic buildings. (16) The station is just around the corner if you walk along the narrow path by the stone wall.(17) The mossy stone wall is beautiful.A supermarket next to the station. Booth is a supermarket with a slightly high-class image, but this store next to Windermere Station is very large and convenient because it is open even on Sundays.
Please enjoy the scenery of the walking course seen from the sky.
When I first went to Windermere, I only walked the course that went up to the mountain top written in the guidebook and returned to the station as it was, but when going from the mountain top in the opposite direction to the station, there is a very pleasant course to walk in, so if you have time, I recommend stretching a little.
Thank you for reading this blog.. How was the walking course in Windermere? I hope you can enjoy the these course when you can visit the Lake District.
