Tongue Pot, Eskdale is an incredible rocky pool with steep rock walls on the River Esk that’s great for wild swimming. I love this spot and think the walk to Tongue Pot is one of the best easier to moderate walks in the Western Lake District.
The water is crystal clear, and the views of the surrounding mountains just make it such a special place. Tongue Pot itself is stunning when you reach it, but I think the real fun of this walk is the other great pools that you’ll find on the way (like Kail Pot). It’s perfect for a full day where you just want to explore, swim or dip along the way, relax and just chill out.
The walk to Tongue Pot there and back in total is 6.3km/3.9 miles with 121m/396ft. of ascent and descent. The route is pretty straightforward, but it is quite rocky in places and often fairly boggy at points so I would recommend wearing waterproof hiking boots.
I’ve walked this trail, gone swimming in most of the pools that it’s possible to and done several variants of the walk by combining the trails into the higher fells many times.
What I love is that this area offers something for everyone: incredible walk options, amazing swimming spots and chilling out and enjoying the big views around you. Even if you’re not swimming, the walk more than makes up for it. On a sunny day, it feels kind of perfect.
Below, you’ll find everything you need to get there: directions to Tongue Pot in Eskdale, a map, the best swimming spots, ways you can extend the walk and all my hints and tips to make the most of it.
Tongue Pot Eskdale Walk: Quick Stats
Distance: 6.3km/3.9 miles total
Route Type: Out & back
Elevation Gain: 121m/396ft. of ascent and descent
Approx Time Needed: 3 hours at least, though I recommend 5 hours if you want to spend time exploring, swimming and enjoying the pools.
Difficulty: Easy to moderate. The path feels like more of a gentle up and down. Some sections are rocky (and can feel slow going) and some areas very boggy (even in summer) which do get slippery.
Start Point: There isn’t a specific Tongue Pot, Eskdale postcode as a starting point, but there are a few parking areas you can use. Here’s a link to them on Google Maps. There are three main locations. Parking area No 1 is the biggest car park, and 2 and 3 are by the side of the road. There’s no parking charges and they do get full quickly on busy days like weekends and school holidays.
Eskdale Tongue Pot: Downloadable Route Map
The map below shows my custom route for the Tongue Pot Eskdale walk. It gives you the main walk from the parking area to the end of the valley where Tongue Pot is located, with the various other river spots and pools along the way (which I’ll cover below).
This route is provided through our AllTrails widget to make it easy for you to use offline. You can click on the route and save it to your AllTrails profile for offline use. You can also download the GPX file to use with other apps, print a PDF or sync it to a Garmin.
There is no signal at all in the Eskdale area, so you absolutely need to make sure you have the route saved before you go. The trail is easy enough to navigate, but there are a few sections where it’s possible to take the wrong path, so a map is needed.
Tongue Pot Walk: What to Expect
The entrance and starting point of the walk to Tongue Pot and the other great swimming spots along the river, like Kail Pot, is fairly hard to miss. The old, bright red phone box at the end of the lane you need to head down works as a great marker.
For the start of the walk, it’s pretty relaxed as you go past the farm and along the edge of the river which is lined by trees. I always love this section as you start to notice just how clear the water is, and the views of the fells open up in front of you as you follow along the trail.
The trail winds uphill from here for a while, and you do move away from the riverside for a time. Don’t worry, this does join back up a bit down the valley
At this point you’ll need to cross over a ladder type stile to get to the other side of the wall, and this is why we stayed on the upper trail as the top stile is much better than the one lower down, as it stays really boggy in that area.
I absolutely hate these types of stiles as they really cut down on how many people can enjoy the walks and what sits beyond them. Just be careful crossing it as it’s often rocky and boggy when going down the other side.
From here, the trail is a little boggy and rocky in places with some up and down, but it’s not long until your first opportunity for a swim (or even just enjoy) the gin clear pool, Kail Pot. You’ll need to head left down the hill from the main trail to reach it.
This is personally my favourite spot, and we’ve spent a lot of time swimming and relaxing here. It’s got a really nice, easy entry spot, the pool is deep (but smaller) and you can crawl through the rocks and swim through to the other side of the rocks, then get pushed back with the current – loads of fun!
I’ll go into more detail on exact entry points for these spots a bit later in the places to swim section. Once you’ve finished here you can either stay on the lower trail by the river and walk up a bit more to find other little pools for a dip (but are quite shallow) or go back up the hill and join the main trail. Both head to Tongue Pot.
Both trails have a slightly different feel, as the lower one is more about looking at the water, finding a spot to relax for a while and moving on. Whereas the upper trail gets you to Tongue Pot with no diversions. So, it just depends what kind of day you want.
From here, the trail is really simple, and you’ll know you’re reaching Tongue Pot when the mountains that seemed kind of far away at the start, become that bit closer and you start to see the waterfalls heading uphill. Before that on the left is Tongue Pot: a big crystal clear pool with steep walls and lots of smaller waterfalls reaching it.
You can enter the water from a little further down and walk over the rocks to get to the pool. This is my preferred option. Or you can jump from the rocks straight in. There’s about a 5m drop here, so I’d advise just doing this with caution if that’s what you want to do.
I’d also recommend swimming in the water and getting used to the temperature by walking in, and then doing this. Even in summer, the cold water can be a really big shock here as it stays cold, even by Lake District standards.
I’ll cover this and exact entry spots in the places to swim section below, but at this point, you’ve finished the main walk. There’s an old bridge just a little further on from Tongue Pot that’s worth taking a few minutes to head to as you get some great views of some of the other sections of river and back down the valley.
You can return the exact same way from here. We always like to follow whichever trail we didn’t do on the way out (either along the river or higher) on the way back just for slightly different views.
Key Highlights
Places to Swim
There are a couple of main places which are great for swimming on the Tongue Pot walk, which I’ve gone into more detail on and provided map pinpoints for below.
With both these places, be sure to assess the conditions before you get in. In the summer, it looks idyllic but after really heavy rain, the water can be raging and fast. This can easily be stronger than you and push you against the rocks, which can cause injuries if you’re not mindful.
Kail Pot
Kail Pot is the first actually swimming spot that you’ll come to on the Tongue Pot walk. As I mentioned above, it’s not far after the stile over the wall. You’ll then take the side trail to the left down the hill and Kail Pot is right in front of you.
It’s a short detour and really easy to find your way down and back up once you’re on the main trail. It looks shallow when you first arrive, but once you get in, you’ll find it is very far from it.
This is a great spot for relaxing, doing some swimming and just bathing in the incredible water. Kail Pot is actually my favourite swimming spot over Tongue Pot as it’s much easier to just get in over the rocks. You can also swim and scramble over the rocks to get into the second pool.
To swim back, the current pushes you back and it’s just really fun. When you’re in that second pool, it feels like you’re completely away from anything and the loud sound of the waterfalls kills any background sound.
You can also reasonably jump in from the rocks above the second pool. It is deep enough, and I’ve seen people do it, but I’d personally wait to jump in from Tongue Pot as it’s reliably much deeper. Always make sure you check water levels and acclimate to the temperature before jumping in.
I’ve pinpointed where Kail Pot is on Google Maps here. At present, AllTrails won’t allow me to add this as a waypoint on the main hiking map. Just have a look at the Google Map pinpoint beforehand as you won’t have signal when there and you will be able to cross reference it easily.
Tongue Pot
Tongue Pot is probably the most well-known place to swim toward the end of the valley. It’s located just before the bridge over the river on the main trail and it’s fairly hard to miss.
I’ve included a pinpoint for where Tongue Pot is on Google Maps here, for the same reason as Kail Pot. So, it’s best to have a look at this pinpoint in advance when you have signal so you can cross reference where it is so you can find it easily. But don’t worry, it’s not hard to find.
When you get up to it, you’ll see a tree on the right cliff side, and on the other, a higher cliffside. The steep walls make it look hard to find a good place to get into the pool if you don’t want to jump. However, if you look to the left, you’ll see there’s a little bank just down where you can get changed, and then walk in over the rocks. You can see where in my picture below.
I’d really recommend wearing neoprene swimming shoes or wetsuit boots with a sole as those rocks are not easy to walk over otherwise. I go over my favourite ones in my guide to cold water swimming gear on our sister site, This Expansive Adventure.
If you want to jump in, just to the right of the tree on the bank you’ll be stood on is a good place as the water is deep there. However, it’s a decent jump so only do this if you’ve done things like this before: this isn’t a great one to start with.
Likewise, I just think it’s best to get in the water from the shore first, get used to the temperature, and then jump in. That said, this is a great spot even if you don’t jump at all. The water is so clear, fresh and the waterfalls are gorgeous to swim near (if the current isn’t too strong).
Best Views & Photo Spots
There are some pretty amazing views throughout this trail. The waterfalls, the river, the view of the mountains in the background. It just feels incredibly picturesque, and I can guarantee you’ll be wanting to take photos throughout this walk.
Whilst there are plenty of incredible shots and views looking up toward Tongue Pot, Lingcove Bridge and the upper fells, don’t forget to turn around and look at the view going back down the valley.
This is something that a lot of people miss because they’re focused on getting to Tongue Pot, but this whole walk is filled with some absolutely stunning scenes.
These are especially good if you walk a bit further on and up the hill from Lingcove Bridge as the higher elevation reveals all the layers of the fells back down to where you came from.
I also think this is a great walk to do at any time of day. The light changes throughout and you’ll always get something different.
We always do a hike on the longest day of the year so that we’re out really late into the evening to enjoy every minute of daylight. One year, this was the walk we did and being out past 10pm with purples and blues in the sky was incredible.
The light and look of the water in all the waterfall pools changed too, and it was just so atmospheric.
Seasonal Differences
In spring and summer, this walk feels like one of the best places in the world to visit, especially on a sunny day. The sun, the light, the opportunity to swim, it’s perfect.
In both spring and summer, the temperature outside can feel warm, but the water is a lot colder, so bring some warmer layers to put on after. Especially if you’re there earlier or later in the day.
The path itself can also still be quite boggy in spring and summer, so I’d recommend wearing waterproof hiking shoes or boots as there are some sections that are unavoidable and can be quite deep in places.
This walk is also gorgeous in autumn as the colours start to change and if there’s been heavy rain, it completely changes the look and feel of the landscape. It also feels very different if the waterfalls are raging with white water.
In winter, you do need to be careful visiting this spot. First of all, it’s really remote, so signal is difficult. You also either need to reach it via the Hardknott Pass or the Ulpha Fells. Both of these roads can be impassable in winter, especially the Hardknott Pass which can get significant black ice.
Tongue Pot Lake District: Difficulty Breakdown
Technical Difficulty
The Tongue Pot walk isn’t technical. You’re following a well-trodden path for the whole walk. The main areas for consideration are needing to walk over rocks that may be submerged in water, and the stile that is set up like a ladder to cross the wall to the pools.
Exposure
There is no real exposure on this walk at all. The only exposure you’ll experience is if you decide to jump from the rocks into the pool at Tongue Pot.
Navigation
Navigation is pretty easy on this one, the path is really clear at all times. The side path down to Kail Pot is also very clear to find your way down and back up once you’re finished.
Steepness
The main trail itself isn’t particularly steep. There are some sections with noticeable uphill, but they’re quite short so the terrain feels more undulating than anything.
The main steepness comes from heading down on the side trail to Kail Pot, as this hill section is short and sharp, but it’s over very quickly.
Why I Personally Love the Tongue Pot, Eskdale Walk
This is one of my favourite walks to do in summer when the sun is shining, and it feels really warm outside. It’s a perfect one where you can either decide to take it nice and slow and swim along the way, or head up into the fells after Lingcove Bridge for a more full on mountain day.
I can’t think of a single time I’ve done the walk to Tongue Pot where I haven’t enjoyed it, and I think that the spot just after Tongue Pot is possibly one of the best places to eat lunch I’ve ever found!
Tongue Pot Eskdale: Driving, Parking & Transport
Driving
The trailhead for Tongue Pot is fairly remote in the Western Lake District. Whichever way you come from to get to it, there are lots of narrow, winding roads. Sometimes these can be closed without any warning with diversions, so allow plenty of time to get there.
One of the main caveats if you’re coming from central Lakes is that you’ll need to drive over the Hardknott Pass. This is pretty steep in places, bendy and with some drop offs. There are sections that can be quite slick, so in summer, can make your tyres spin as they don’t get traction very well.
I would not attempt the Hardknott Pass after snow and ice or cold weather as there can be patches of black ice on the road, where you can slip, get stuck and get into some dangerous situations pretty quickly.
This isn’t to put you off, just to make you aware of what the road conditions are like. In busier times, you can also expect driving from central lakes via the Wrynose Pass and then the Hardknott Pass to be slow. As there will be people who are not used to the roads driving very cautiously as well as people needing to pass safely.
Just allow extra time if this is your route to the trail for Tongue Pot.
From Western Lakes, your main route in is from Eskdale. If you’re coming from further south, you’ll cross the Ulpha Fells and then meet up at Eskdale/Boot. These routes all still have windy roads, so again, just allow extra time.
Parking
There are no specific car parks to get to Tongue Pot. There are a few laybys which you can use that do have a decent number of spaces along the road very close to the trailhead.
There is also a slightly bigger area just up the road from the starting point too. Any of these spots are perfect to start the walk from, and they’re all marked on a Google Map for you here.
They’re free to use, and they can get busy on weekends or in school holidays, but saying that, I’ve never had an issue getting a space. This spot isn’t that well signposted and obvious from the road, so that works in its favour for getting parking.
The roadside laybys are suitable for quite a lot of cars if you park nose in, so try to park this way if you can. You’ll see some cars or campers parked lengthways and taking up way more space than they need to, and it just stops other people from being able to park up too.
Public Transport
Sadly, there are no public transport options to get to this trail. This is set in a very remote area of the Lake District where no bus services run.
Tongue Pot Eskdale: Optional Route Extensions
If you like the idea of a longer walk or a bigger adventure that carries on from Tongue Pot, my favourite route is to make this trail into a circuit by heading into the fells from the bridge and walking over the tops above the river.
This does increase the walk to about 10km and with about 300m of elevation gain, but the views make it well worth it! When you’ve climbed up the fell and can see back into the valley, trust me, you’ll be happy you did it!
This also opens up the upper fells that feel so different from what they do when you’re looking at them from below. For me, that experience becomes quite addictive.
I’ve included this as an extra trail on AllTrails that you can see here. We also love to do this route by going CCW, so you are up high first and then come down to the waterfalls on the return. Great on a hot day for a swim to cool down.
It is also possible to head up to Scafell Pike from here too. This isn’t a route I’ve done yet, and I need to test it properly before I recommend it, but it’s on the list. It adds a fairly significant extra amount of distance and elevation gain but looks absolutely incredible!
Other Similar Walks You May Enjoy
If you’re interested in hikes you can swim on and also have a remote feel, then I’d recommend reading my guide to Harter Fell from Mardale Head which takes in Small Water.
Likewise, my guides to places like Rydal Caves feature plenty of opportunities to swim in locations like Rydal Water and Grasmere.
What to Bring on the Tongue Pot Walk
This isn’t a very technical walk, but weather conditions can change. This is a rough list I’d recommend, especially if you want to swim:
- Waterproof hiking shoes or boots
- Swimwear
- A towel/changing towel
- Swimming shoes or neoprene boots (the rocks are slippery and sharp so these make it much nicer)
- Warmer layers, waterproof layer just in case
- Food and water
- Sun protection and sunscreen
- Map saved offline – there is no signal in this area
I’d also recommend taking a look at the guides on our sister site, This Expansive Adventure such as UK hiking essentials, what to wear hiking, gear for cold water swimming, day hiking checklist and our dedicated gear guides.
Why Trust Our Lake District Walking Guides
As someone who lives in the Lake District, this guide was written to actually help you get out and enjoy the Tongue Pot walk as much as possible. The aim with all our guides is to give you the information you actually need, including maps and the right level of detail to get you out and feel prepared.
When I write a walking guide, it means I’ve done this walk and the swims I’ve included multiple times, assessed it using my years of experience in the fells and spent time thinking in detail about what is actually important for you to know.
This just means that when you know what to expect, it’ll feel safer, you’ll feel better prepared and overall, this has a better impact on you and the place you’re visiting, so it’s a win-win.
About the Author
- Based in the Lake District, Fay Doyle is also co-founder of This Expansive Adventure
- Walks these routes regularly
- Writer and photographer specialising in the outdoors, with extensive local hiking experience
- Focused on firsthand experience walking guides