Coast to Coast: the Lake District
Stages 1–5 of 16, St Bees to Shap: 59.5 miles (95.8 km) with 3,879 m of ascent, about 31.4 hours of walking over 5 days. The route is inside the Lake District National Park for most of this section.
The first five days, and the hardest walking on the route. From the sea wall at St Bees the path crosses to Ennerdale, over Borrowdale and Grasmere to Patterdale, and out over Kidsty Pike — at 780 m the highest point of the whole walk — before dropping to Shap. Four of these five stages are mountain terrain, and two are graded hard with one very hard.
Every stage in this section
Figures are the ones each stage page publishes, so the totals below always match the stages they add up. Every row links to the full guide for that day — elevation profile, surface underfoot, water points, history and what to see.
| Stage | Route | Miles | km | Ascent | Time | Grade | Terrain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge | 17.1 | 27.5 | 885 m | 8.6 h | Hard | Mixed |
| 2 | Ennerdale Bridge to Rosthwaite | 13.2 | 21.3 | 671 m | 6.6 h | Hard | Mountain |
| 3 | Rosthwaite to Grasmere | 6.7 | 10.8 | 601 m | 3.9 h | Moderate | Mountain |
| 4 | Grasmere to Patterdale | 7.2 | 11.6 | 594 m | 4.1 h | Moderate | Mountain |
| 5 | Patterdale to Shap | 15.3 | 24.6 | 1,128 m | 8.2 h | Very Hard | Mountain |
| Section total | 59.5 | 95.8 | 3,879 m | 31.4 h |
Places along the Lake District section
9 places on these stages have a full history on this site, and 9 free audio guides between them.
St Bees Head
Stage 1 · 1 audio guide
St Bees Head is the great red headland that launches the Coast to Coast, and the only stretch of Heritage Coast on the English coast between the…
Read moreSt Bees Priory
Stage 1 · 1 audio guide
St Bees Priory — the Priory Church of St Mary and St Bega — is where most Coast to Coasters take their first steps inland, and it richly repays the…
Read moreBlack Sail Hut
Stage 2 · 1 audio guide
Black Sail Hut is England's most remote youth hostel — a tiny whitewashed former shepherd's bothy standing utterly alone at the head of Ennerdale,…
Read moreEnnerdale Water
Stage 2 · 1 audio guide
Ennerdale Water is the most westerly lake in the Lake District and among the wildest — uniquely, it has no public road along its shore and no village…
Read moreHonister Slate Mine
Stage 2 · 1 audio guide
At the wild summit of Honister Pass (356 m / 1,167 ft), gouged into the flank of Fleetwith Pike, stands the last working slate mine in England.…
Read moreGrasmere & Wordsworth's Grave
Stage 3 · 1 audio guide
Grasmere is the spiritual heart of the Lake District's Romantic legacy. William and his sister Dorothy Wordsworth moved into Dove Cottage in December…
Read moreHaweswater & Mardale Green
Stage 5 · 1 audio guide
Haweswater is the long, steel-blue reservoir that the Coast to Coast meets at the foot of the steep Kidsty Howes descent on Stage 5 — the point where…
Read moreKidsty Pike
Stage 5 · 1 audio guide
Kidsty Pike, at 780 m (2,560 ft), is the highest point reached on the entire Coast to Coast walk — the climax of the Lakeland high-fell crossing on…
Read moreShap Abbey
Stage 5 · 1 audio guide
By the River Lowther, about a mile and a half west of Shap, stand the serene ruins of Shap Abbey — and its full-height west tower, glimpsed across…
Read moreCommon questions
How long is the Coast to Coast in the Lake District?
59.5 miles (95.8 km) over 5 of the walk's 16 stages, St Bees to Shap. That is about 31.4 hours of walking, and most people take 5 days over it — one stage a day.
How much climbing is there in the Lake District section?
3,879 m of ascent across the section, an average of 775 m a day. The biggest single climb is Patterdale to Shap at 1,128 m.
How hard is the Lake District section of the Coast to Coast?
The stages here are graded moderate, hard, very hard. The toughest is Patterdale to Shap (very hard), and the terrain is mixed, mountain.
Can you walk just the Lake District section?
Yes, and people do. It is 5 days end to end, St Bees to Shap, and both ends are reachable by public transport — see getting there for the trains and buses that serve each stage end. Walking the Coast to Coast a section at a time over several trips is common, and it is how most people with a working week fit it in.
What is there to see in the Lake District section?
We cover 9 places along it in depth, with 9 free audio guides between them: St Bees Head, St Bees Priory, Black Sail Hut, Ennerdale Water, Honister Slate Mine, Grasmere & Wordsworth's Grave, Haweswater & Mardale Green, Kidsty Pike, Shap Abbey.
Planning the whole walk rather than this section? Itineraries sets out 12-, 14- and 16-day plans, best time to walk goes month by month, and getting there covers the trains and buses to every stage end.
