Wansfell Pike Walk from Ambleside: Route Map, Parking & What to Expect

I think the Wansfell Pike from Ambleside walk really shows you just what can change in a few km. You quickly head out of town to the famous Stock Ghyll Force (waterfall). The trail then heads uphill with stunning views towards the Langdale mountains, the Kirkstone Pass and Rydal. At the top, it opens up into an amazing panorama that also includes Windermere and east towards Troutbeck.

There’s a detail about the Wansfell Pike walk that’s worth explaining if you’re interested in ticking off Wainwrights. Wansfell Pike is the prominent summit above Ambleside and where you’d probably assume the walk ends. However, Baystones, around 1km further along the ridge, is very slightly higher and is technically considered the Wainwright summit.

My guide to the Wansfell Pike walk is 7.25km / 4.5 miles with 588m / 1,929 ft. ascent and descent. This includes continuing onto Baystones after Wansfell Pike itself.

If you’re not so bothered about Wainwright bagging and just want the views (which I think are best from Wansfell anyway), you can ditch the additional walk from Wansfell Pike to Baystones, which takes the route down to around 5km / 3 miles with 431m/ 1,414 ft. ascent and descent.

Below, you’ll find everything you need to know for the Wansfell Pike walk from Ambleside that also continues onto Baystones. It includes what to expect, parking and how to get there, what to bring and my downloadable, easy-to-follow Wansfell Pike walk route map, all from firsthand experience.

Wansfell Pike Walk from Ambleside: Quick Stats

Distance: 7.25km / 4.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 588m / 1,929 ft. ascent and descent
Start Point: Ambleside
Approx Time Needed: 3 to 4 hours
Route Type: Linear (out and back)
Family friendly: Yes, if you’re all used to hill walks

Difficulty: Moderate. The Wansfell Pike walk from Ambleside is a steep one all the way up, but easy enough to navigate. The path is a combination of grassy hillside, earth tracks, rock steps and some boggy sections at times depending on rainfall between Wansfell Pike and Baystones.

Wainwrights covered: Wansfell Pike/Baystones. This one is a bit ‘contentious’ in terms of Wainwrights, which I won’t go into here. These two summits are pretty close to each other, sitting about a km apart. My route covers both just to remove any doubt that you’ve covered those ones 😉

Your first stop on the Wansfell Pike walk from Ambleside is Stock Ghyll Force. The trail that winds up the side of the waterfall (which we also have a guide to) is an incredibly popular route in its own right: it’s a short trail, it’s beautiful, especially after heavy rain, and it’s significant to the industrial history of Ambleside.

I think it’s a really lovely start to the Wansfell Pike walk route, as you get the waterfall and surrounding woodland before the landscape changes quite quickly.

You carry on ascending past the waterfall before heading out into more open land and along the quiet Stock Ghyll Lane for a short distance before turning onto the trail that takes you up towards Wansfell Pike. This is where the number of people you’ll probably have experienced at Stock Ghyll Force starts to trail off.

From here, the trail is sharp and steep, and at times it feels like it’s never going to end! You gain a lot of height very quickly as you make your way up towards Wansfell Pike.

The good thing is that the higher you get, the more the views open up, which gives you plenty of excuses to stop for a breather.

Make sure you do stop and turn around at points as you’ll have beautiful views towards the iconic Langdale mountains in the distance. These mountains have a way of playing with the weather and the light on them seems to change so quickly.

If you’ve headed up towards the end of the day, the sun will be setting behind them, which can give you some utterly incredible views and photos. If you’re lucky enough to walk up Wansfell Pike in summer, you’ll also have blankets of ferns surrounding sections of the trail.

As you get higher, the views open up more and more towards the Kirkstone Pass and the surrounding mountains too.

The trail itself isn’t technical, but it is rocky with some steep steps. So be mindful if it’s been raining as these can become slick and slippery in places. Some of the grassy and muddier sections can also become waterlogged and slippery after wet weather.

There are a few sections on the way up where you’re closer to the edge as the trail twists around and approaches the top of Wansfell Pike, but it’s nothing too bad or that lasts very long at all.

Once you reach Wansfell Pike, the views are pretty stunning, with a huge panorama opening up around you. One slightly confusing detail is that the rocky area with the best views isn’t technically the summit of Wansfell Pike itself.

If you want to be pedantic about it, the actual summit is just a few metres further on, through the gate with the sign on the ground. It’s a lot less showy than the rocky viewpoint.

Mountains are all about the views for me, so this is where I’d spend my time enjoying them, but if you want to properly tick off Wansfell Pike itself, carry on those few extra metres, with Windermere over to your right.

From here, my Wansfell Pike walk route continues onto Baystones, which you’ll be able to see easily from Wansfell Pike. As I mentioned earlier, Baystones is only around 1km further along and is technically considered the Wainwright summit, so my route includes both to remove any doubt if you’re ticking them off.

If you’re not bothered about Wainwright bagging, though, you really don’t need to bother and can start making your way back down from Wansfell Pike.

My Wansfell Pike walk from Ambleside returns the same way you came up. Another option is to continue down the other side of Wansfell Pike towards Troutbeck, turning the walk into a linear route, and from there you can continue towards Windermere if you want to extend it.

If you do this walk at sunset, bear in mind that it will probably be fairly dark by the time you get back down to Stock Ghyll Force. If that’s the case, I actually recommend taking the road that runs close to the original Stock Ghyll Force trail for the final section back into Ambleside. It’s quiet and you can see much better, whereas the woodland around Stock Ghyll Force gets dark very quickly because of the tree cover.

If you do the walk earlier in the day, I’d recommend taking a slight detour when you get back to Stock Ghyll Lane from the main trail up Wansfell Pike. A few hundred metres further up Stock Ghyll Lane on your right is Grove Barn Café (you’ll see signs as you get back down to the road). Their food is hearty, and it’s well worth a stop, even just for coffee.

Key Highlights

Best Views & Photo Spots

As I mentioned above, I think the best panoramic views at the top are actually from the rocky outcrop rather than the ‘technical’ top of Wansfell Pike. When I’m at Wansfell Pike, this is where I always stop to take photos.

You can pretty much just turn around on the spot and see incredibly different things in every direction: Windermere, Baystones, Rydal, Kirkstone Pass and all the mountains surrounding it, and that’s just a few of the things you’ll see.

If you’re not bothered about Wainwright bagging, I personally prefer the views from Wansfell Pike to Baystones. That prominent rocky outcrop makes all the difference for framing photos on Wansfell Pike.

Be sure to turn around when you’re ascending to see the Wansfell Pike views out towards the Langdales, which will be straight in front of you. The light changes on this mountain range so quickly. It’s not just that, though: as you ascend, the views change from grassy land with the Langdales behind to more rugged mountain views as you get higher.

It’s not all about the Wansfell Pike views, though. On the way up, you’ve got Stock Ghyll Force. There is a beautiful viewpoint of the waterfall just before the top of it, where the view will be on your left-hand side. After heavy rain, this is a great spot to stop, take it in and get photos.

Wansfell Pike Walk Route: Difficulty Breakdown

Terrain and Conditions

There’s a real mixture of conditions on the Wansfell Pike walk route, which is part of what makes it such a nice trail. There’s woodland, a short country lane section, grassy lower fell paths and rocky, stone stepped trails.

The main ascent to Wansfell Pike is rocky in places with some quite steep steps, and after rain they can become quite slick and slippery. There are also sections that can become muddy and waterlogged, so I’d always recommend waterproof hiking shoes or boots. You descend the same way you ascend, so these areas are where you’ll need to pay the most attention and take care.

The route becomes more open as you gain height and get closer to the summit, which does leave you more exposed to the elements and on windy days, it can feel quite cool. Likewise, on hot days, it can feel very exposed and sunny without any real shade.

Technical Difficulty, Exposure, Navigation and Steepness

I think this is actually a really good introductory fell. The Wansfell Pike walk’s difficulty comes mainly from its steepness rather than being technical. You gain a lot of height over a short distance, but there’s no real scrambling involved, although some of the steep rocky sections do need extra care.

In terms of exposure, it’s generally on the low side.  There are a few short sections approaching Wansfell Pike where the trail gets closer to the edge, but nothing that lasts very long or feels particularly severe.

Navigation is generally straightforward, particularly on the main trail up Wansfell Pike after Stock Ghyll Force. The route becomes more open between Wansfell Pike and Baystones, and if visibility isn’t the best, you will need to pay more attention to your navigation.

What I Like About the Wansfell Pike Walk

I think Wansfell Pike is a really good introductory fell. Yes, it’s steep, but you get some brilliant views for the effort involved: the views over the Langdale mountains are pretty special, and that’s just one direction.

When you get to the top of Wansfell Pike, the panoramic views are just gorgeous and it starts to give you a real feel for this part of the Lake District.  

I also like how much the Wansfell Pike walk changes over a fairly short distance. You go from Ambleside and the woodland around Stock Ghyll Force to open fell, a steep climb and some incredible mountain views incredibly quickly.

Wansfell Pike Walk: Parking & Transport

Parking

There are a decent amount of car parks in Ambleside you can use as a base for the Wansfell Pike walk. They’re all well sized and fairly fluid, so you shouldn’t be waiting for a space for too long, even if you have to try a couple of the car parks in the town.

Ambleside is a busy place and one of the main hubs in the Lake District and as such, there are certain times when parking is usually busier: school holidays, weekends, public holidays, events happening in Ambleside. So, arriving earlier or later in the day is likely to give you a better chance of finding a spot.

After 6pm, it is often possible to find on street parking around the town, but this is never guaranteed.

Here are the main car parks in Ambleside, with Google Map links to each. Most are open 24 hours a day, but I’d recommend checking in advance if you have any special requirements:

• Miller Bridge Town Centre Car Park
• Lake Road Car Park
• King Street Car Park
• Rydal Road Car Park

Public Transport

I actually think it’s often better to get the bus to the start of the Wansfell Pike walk from Ambleside as it can can work out cheaper and less stressful than parking.

It also gives you the option to turn this into a linear route, where you can start in Ambleside, head up to Wansfell Pike, down to Troutbeck and then either finish there or continue to Windermere.

 Ambleside is relatively well served by regular buses that connect various parts of the Lake District, so if you’re staying in any of the major towns and villages, you should be able to reach Ambleside fairly easily.

Here are the main bus routes that run through Ambleside with links to specific route information:

• 555: Kendal (and ultimately Lancaster) to Keswick
• 599: Bowness-on-Windermere to Grasmere
• 516: Kendal to Dungeon Ghyll (mostly Ambleside to Dungeon Ghyll)
• 505: Windermere to Coniston via Hawkshead

There are a couple of extra seasonal routes on top of this, but worth checking in advance if they’ll be running when you’re visiting using either your phone’s journey planner or the Stagecoach app/website.

Wansfell Pike Walk: Route Extensions & Other Walks in the Area

One of the most obvious walks to mention here is Stock Ghyll Force, which is already included in the Wansfell Pike walk and which we also have a guide to. This walk is pretty low level, and it’s worth revisiting another day if you’re staying in the area, just so you can fully enjoy the waterfall.

An extension that I think is really worth doing, especially if you’re using the bus, is a linear version from Ambleside, up to Wansfell Pike and then down to either Troutbeck or Windermere, depending on how far you want to walk. It’s also really common to do the Wansfell Pike walk from Troutbeck or Windermere.

A Wansfell Pike circular walk from Ambleside is another really good option if you want to turn it into something longer. This route is really beautiful and takes in some quintessential Lake District scenery. After Wansfell Pike and Baystones, you descend towards Troutbeck before following the hillside above Windermere and passing Stagshaw Gardens. I’ve included a route map for this here.

There are plenty of other walks from Ambleside that are well worth checking out. Either from the town itself or just a short distance away, you’ve got some of the most iconic mountains, tarns, waterfalls and scenery in the central Lake District.

Some of my favourites, either within walking distance or a short drive or bus journey from Ambleside, are Loughrigg Fell, Rydal Cave, the Rydal Falls to Buckstones Jump walk, the Alcock Tarn walk from Grasmere, Helm Crag and some of the great walks from Elterwater, including Cathedral Caves and Elterwater to Skelwith Force with a stop at Chesters By The River cafe at the end of course.

What to Bring on the Wansfell Pike Walk

The Wansfell Pike walk is relatively straightforward in relation to the difficulty of some of the walks you’ll come across in the Lake District. Though, the fact that this is one of the smaller peaks in the area and you can see the town down below doesn’t mean that it’s a walk in the park either.

This peak is exposed, can get very cold (or very warm depending on the time of year) and it’s still in a remote place where weather plays a big part. Weather conditions in the Lake District change quickly, so being prepared for this will give you extra peace of mind and likely mean you have a better time.

On a basic level, here’s what I’d recommend bringing on the Wansfell Pike hike, with adjustments based on the time of year you visit:

• Waterproof jacket (and waterproof pants depending on just how much rain is forecast)
• Waterproof hiking shoes or boots: the trail can become waterlogged and boggy in places, especially after heavy rainfall. There are certain areas where slipping is easier due to slicker rock surfaces. If you do this trail after snow, bring snow spikes just in case.
• Warm layers including an insulated jacket, these are really handy as you get higher, or if you head up to Wansfell Pike for sunset, as temperatures can drop really quickly around this time.
• Comfortable daypack that fits you well. I usually go for something between 18-24l depending on how long I plan to be out for.
• Gloves and a hat (or a sun hat and sunglasses in summer)
• Water and snacks: nearby Grain and ASAP Coffee are great places to stop on your way from Ambleside for some walk fuel.
• Map saved offline: signal is patchy, and while the trail itself isn’t too difficult to navigate, there are a couple of turns.

Why Trust Our Lake District Walking Guides

This Wansfell Pike walk guide has been written by someone who lives in the Lake District. When I write a walk guide, it means I’ve done the route multiple times in different seasons, weather conditions and assessed it in detail using my years of experience in this landscape.

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. Overall this will help you feel more confident and have a better impact on you and the place you’re visiting, so it’s a win-win.