The Lake District · Circular

Carron Crag trail, Grizedale

A strenuous forest loop from the Grizedale visitor centre to the highest point in the forest.

Official trail page (opens in new tab)Forestry England: Carron Crag trail at Grizedale

Take this walk offline

Near the start, along the way and at the finish

Grizedale Forest, Coniston & Hawkshead
Near the start: Grizedale Forest (under 1 km away)Photo: James Burke, CC BY 2.0
Brantwood, Coniston & Hawkshead
Near Grizedale visitor centre: Brantwood (about 2.8 km away)Photo: Myself, Public domain
Coniston Water, Coniston & Hawkshead
Coniston Water (about 2.9 km from the start)Photo: Ian Greig, CC BY-SA 2.0
Esthwaite Water, Coniston & Hawkshead
Esthwaite Water (about 3.3 km from the start)Photo: Ian Dick, CC BY 2.0

Photos of named places from our guides closest to each point of the walk, with the straight-line distance. They show the area, not the path itself: follow the waymarks and the official page.

The route

Follow the purple waymarkers from the visitor centre along the valley stream, then climb to the trig point on Carron Crag. Forestry England rates the walk hard and warns that it can be wet and muddy in places.

The interactive map needs JavaScript. The start and finish are listed below.

Along the way

  1. Start: Grizedale visitor centre

The line is drawn from OpenStreetMap data and simplified to 425 points. It can differ from what is on the ground: waymarks and the official page take priority.

Route and map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), saved 2026-10-25. Spotted a mistake? Fix the map.

Download GPX Official trail page (opens in new tab)

The GPX file holds the route as a track and the start, finish and waypoints, for use in a walking or hiking app. It is a planning aid, not a navigation guarantee.

Before you go

Safety and access notes come from official pages. Conditions change, so read the linked page for the day you walk.

Getting there

  • Nearest station or stop to the start in our dataLakeside (heritage, Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway), about 8.3 km in a straight line.

Straight-line distances from our station list, not walking distances. Check timetables and the route to the start before you travel. Getting between regions

Step-free and pushchair access

The official page does not say whether this route is step-free or suitable for pushchairs, so we do not either. Check the official page (opens in new tab) or ask the site.

Safety

How these figures were worked out

  • Distance: route length measured from OpenStreetMap geometry. The official page gives no distance. It is a straight-segment sum along mapped paths, so it can differ from a waymarked figure.
  • Grade: taken from the official page.
  • Time: only shown when an official page states it.

Sources

  1. Forestry England: Carron Crag trail at Grizedale (opens in new tab). circular, Hard/strenuous, purple waymarkers, start at visitor centre, wet and muddy; page gives 3 miles (8 km), which is not self-consistent, so the build uses the OSM length. Checked on 2026-10-25.
  2. Lake District National Park: What to pack (opens in new tab). weather and kit safety advice. Checked on 2026-10-25.
  3. OpenStreetMap relation 4154763 (Carron Crag Trail) (opens in new tab). route geometry (c) OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL; measured 7.77 km. Checked on 2026-10-25.
  4. OpenStreetMap contributors (opens in new tab) (ODbL). Route geometry. Saved 2026-10-25.

More walks in the Lake District

  • Tarn Hows circular

    A level-ish loop round a landscaped tarn above Coniston, with a Miles Without Stiles route description.

  • West Windermere Way

    Newby Bridge to Lakeside YMCA through woods above the western shore of the south basin.

  • Dodd Summit trail

    A steep waymarked climb through forest to the open top of Dodd above Bassenthwaite Lake.

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