30/08/2026
🐾 Everyone stopped at Ashness Bridge… we carried on walking. And suddenly, we had the Lake District almost to ourselves. ⛰️❤️
Yesterday we decided to explore Ashness Bridge and Walla Crag, and this is definitely one to save if you're visiting the Lakes with your dogs.
We parked at the little National Trust car park at Ashness Bridge. It was £6 for two hours when we visited.
And Ashness Bridge itself?
Absolutely beautiful. 😍
It's one of the most photographed packhorse bridges in the Lake District, and when you see that little stone bridge with Derwent Water, Bassenthwaite and Skiddaw behind it, you can understand why.
It is proper biscuit-tin Lake District scenery. ❤️
It was also BUSY. 😂
Cars arriving constantly. People taking their obligatory photograph of the bridge.
And then something quite funny happened...
Most of them got back into their cars about 10 minutes later and left. 😅
We thought we'd actually see what was beyond the bridge, so decided to head towards Walla Crag, one of Alfred Wainwright's famous Lake District fells.
And within a very short distance...
Silence.
Hardly anyone around.
And not ONE other dog did we encounter on our walk. 🐶❤️
There were a few sheep dotted around the fell, although actually far fewer than I expected. Dogs should be kept on leads here because of livestock and ground-nesting birds.
But the VIEWS. 😍😍😍
As you climb, Derwent Water opens up below you with Keswick and the surrounding fells beyond.
From Walla Crag itself, on a clear day, apparently you can see across Derwent Water and Bassenthwaite towards the Solway Firth and even the hills of Galloway in Scotland.
The walk itself is manageable for most reasonably able walkers, but I do have one warning...
If you don't like heights, you might want to think twice. 😂
It gets rocky and fairly steep in places and about halfway up the kids decided the combination of the climb and the drop was getting a little too vertigo-inducing.
Considering they're only 4 and 13, though, I think they did amazingly well!
I headed back down with them while my friend continued to the summit.
And something else I hadn't realised before we arrived...
There are SO many walks around here. 🥾🐾
You could easily come back several times and do something completely different.
There are paths through the beautiful woodland around Great Wood, including shorter waymarked National Trust trails if you don't fancy climbing a Wainwright.
You can also:
🌲 Wander through the woods towards Great Wood
🌊 Head down towards Derwent Water and join the lakeshore path towards Keswick
⛰️ Tackle Walla Crag and make it into a longer circular walk
🌉 Walk from Walla Crag across to Ashness Bridge
😍 Walk up towards Surprise View
🐾 Or continue further into Borrowdale towards the tiny hamlet and tarn at Watendlath
The National Trust's full Walla Crag and Ashness Bridge circular is around 4.5 miles, so what we did was only one little part of a much bigger network of paths.
There is even the option of arriving by Keswick Launch, getting off at Ashness Gate and walking up from the lake, which sounds like a brilliant doggy day out for another time. 🚤🐶
There's some fascinating history here too.
A narrow cleft in Walla Crag is known as Lady's Rake, and legend has it that the Countess of Derwent Water escaped this way after her husband was captured for his involvement in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.
Looking at that crag, she was considerably braver than me. 😂😂
But our adventure wasn't quite finished...
🚗 We then drove further up the little road to Surprise View.
By this point the Lake District had decided we'd had quite enough sunshine and the heavens OPENED. ☔😂
But even through the rain...
WOW.
You are about 220 metres above sea level here, looking straight out over Derwent Water towards Keswick and Skiddaw.
It's one of those enormous Lake District views where you just stand there for a minute and take it all in. ❤️
Apparently the dramatic drop at Surprise View was actually created during the last Ice Age, when glaciers carved out Borrowdale.
And looking south you can see some of Borrowdale's Atlantic oak woodland, which is so important that it's designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Surprise View was VERY busy too, despite the rain. 😂
So yesterday's discovery was really quite funny...
Ashness Bridge: packed.
Surprise View: packed.
The actual trails: wonderfully quiet. 🐾❤️
🐶 MY DOG WALK VERDICT
✔️ Incredible views over Derwent Water
✔️ Lots of different walks to choose from
✔️ Woodland walks available if you don't fancy the fell
✔️ Surprisingly peaceful once away from the tourist viewpoints
✔️ We encountered NO other dogs on our walk
✔️ A few sheep on the fell
✔️ Dogs need to be kept on leads around livestock and wildlife
✔️ Rocky and steep in places towards Walla Crag
✔️ Good footwear needed
✔️ Not ideal if you're nervous of heights
✔️ Our 4 year old managed half of it in croc wellies, yes 🙌
✔️ Walla Crag is a Wainwright
✔️ You could easily make an entire day of exploring this little corner of Borrowdale
I think yesterday summed up something I absolutely love about the Lake District.
Hundreds of people can arrive at the same beauty spot, take the same photograph and leave...
But walk just a little bit further than everybody else and you can discover an entirely different Lake District. ❤️🐾⛰️
And I have a feeling we'll be coming back here because we barely scratched the surface.
Next mission?
Perhaps the woodland trails and Watendlath.
And I still need to actually make it to the top of Walla Crag. 😂😂