The Ullswater Way : Aira Force to Glenridding

The Ullswater Way is a 20 mile circular route around Ullswater in The Lake District. It boasts incredible views of the lake, and you can even bag some Wainwrights along the way. The best thing about this walk though? You can easily break it up into sections, and take it at your own pace. So today I’m going to take you on the Aira Force to Glenridding section, a gentle 3 mile walk, perfect to do on a dry winters day!

Aira Force to Glenridding Route

Where to Park and starting the route

If you’re doing the section from Aira Force to Glenridding, the easiest place to park is the Aira Force National Trust Car Park. If you’re a National Trust member, it’s free, or it’s £9.00 for a full day.

From the carpark, you walk towards the cafe, through the gate and from there, follow the path on the right side of the road towards Glenridding. Once through the gate, you follow the path along, and there are various view points along the way, to Glencoyne Bay car park.

It’s recommended to keep your dogs on the lead as there is often life stock in the fields, both sheep and cows, and they are often near the path as well.

Sections on the road

Walk through Glencoyne Bay car park (and in the summer you’ll often find a coffee van here!), and the path continues. Not long after, you do have to cross the road. Take car here, however you do have a good view point on either side.

Once you’ve crossed the road, the path does become more narrow and uneven.

There is a second point, just before Glenridding, where you have to walk approximately 100m on the roadside. In the summer, the road is busy, so keep dogs on short leads, children in sight at all times, and walk single file.

Wordsworth’s Daffodils

This is a short but mighty walk, and if you walk between February and May, you’ll be able to see and walk along the daffodils that inspired William Wordsworth’s poem, I wandered as a lonely cloud (Daffodils).

How to get back to your car

Whilst the whole walk is circular, when walking the Ullswater Way in sections, you will need to rely on public transport back to your car.

There are two ways to travel around the lake on public transport at Ullswater; by boat and by bus.

For the bus, you’ll catch the Stagecoach 508 and you can catch this from both Aira Force and Glenridding. It’s only a 5 minute journey, and is £2.50

You can also catch the Ullswater Steamers between Pooley Bridge, Glenridding and Aira Force and you can see where you’ve walked from the lake.

Note : check whether the Ullswater Steamer is running before you rely on it. They’re currently (Jan 2026) doing a lot of renovation work and both Aira Force Pier and Pooley Bridge Pier are closed, and you can currently only do round the lake trips from Glenridding.

Carrying on The Ullswater Way

If you’re wanting to carry on The Ullswater Way, the other three sections are Pooley Bridge to Aira Force (6.5 miles), Glenridding to Howtown (6.5 miles) and Howtown to Pooley Bridge (5 miles).

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