Walking

Elterwater-Cathedral Cavern Circular Walk

Posted on 3rd November 2026 by The Helpful Hiker

This route is around 6.5 miles with 247m elevation gain

I am not going to keep you guessing with this one. Straight from the off I’m going to say that this was one of our favourite Lake District walks ever.

The kids loved it and we enjoyed ourselves too. It had a bit of everything: two waterfalls, a huge cave, a picturesque bridge plus views to die for and super straightforward navigation. You can see the full route at the end of this post. For large stretches it follows the Cumbria Way, and is all on well defined, and often signposted, paths

We often make the mistake of thinking we need to climb a summit for it to be a ‘proper walk’, when in actual fact, a low level hike can be just as rewarding. The day before we did this Lake District walk we had dragged the kids up Wansfell Pike. They did it, and we were rewarded with some awesome views over Windemere, but we all agreed that this Elterwater circular was much more fun.

The Start

This Lake district walk begins and ends in the village of Elterwater, near Ambleside. It is a popular spot and it does get very busy, particularly in the summer. We parked in Elterwater car park (LA22 9JB) which is just outside the village and costs £5 to park all day. Payment is via the RinGo app and, due to the dodgy mobile signal in the area, you have 48 hours after leaving to pay.

Alternatively, there is a National Trust car park (LA22 9HU) in the village which actually marks the start of the route, so it is the most convenient option. There are also public toilets and an information point situated here. Parking costs around £9 to park all day.

In the village of Elterwater there is also a pub and a cafe. Plus the 516 Kendal to Dungeon Ghyll bus route serves the village if you are using public transport.

Elterwater to Skelwith Force

The walk begins by following the path that starts at the National Trust car park in the centre of the village. The car park will be on your left and the path is on the right, running alongside the river.

There are no stiles to contend with and this stretch is all on hard standing paths.

The start of the walk

The view over Elterwater

The first section follows the River Brathay

Skelwith Force to Cathedral Quarry

As you approach Skelwith Force, you’ll be able to hear the rushing water and you’ll see a footbridge over the river to your right. This is one of the very few points on this route where you need to choose a path. Cross over the footbridge and continue to follow the path ahead of you. You’ll know you’re on the right track as you’ll soon see signs for the Cumbria Way, which you’ll need to keep following.

This stretch, although still following a defined path, is a little bit more challenging and there are a couple of steeper bits. Still nothing too difficult, this Lake District walk is definitely in the low level/undulating category! You will pass through some farm buildings and see signs for Colwith Force.

The Cumbria Way passes right by Elterwater Park Guest House, if you’re lucky the tearooms may be open for some refreshments, on this occasion we carried on straight through as we had a lunch stop planned for Cathedral Cavern.

Once you have passed through Elterwater Park, keep following the path until you reach the road. Here you need to go right, and after a few metres you’ll see some steps and a footpath on your left. Although it is a quiet road and you’re not on it for long, please still be careful and watch out for traffic.

Here you have a choice as there are two paths which both end up at the same point. Both options are signposted: you can take the most direct route straight in front of you, or you can take the path to the right which takes a slight detour to take in Colwith Force.

Not the greatest photo, but we took the Colwith Force path

This section is uphill through the woods, but there is a clear path to follow and it soon flattens out and eventually reaches High Park tea garden. There are plenty of options for refreshment stops on this route!

Cathedral Quarry

From High Park, we bore right and followed the road all the way to Cathedral Quarry.

Once we got to the quarry, we had a lunch break in the cave (a welcome relief from the rain!) and spent a bit of time here exploring. It’s well worth having a look around as it’s a fascinating site. The National Trust site has lots of information about visiting the cave.

The main entrance is through a tunnel next to the information board. I recommend taking a torch as it is dark inside.

The tunnel entrance to Cathedral Cavern

Hopefully the figure in the centre gives an idea of how big the cavern is!

After our lunch break we headed out the tunnel and went up the hill to the next level. Here you get a great view of the next section of the walk below and to the left. There is also another tunnel you can go through which allows you to look down into the main cavern.

The path you can just make out on the left is where we were headed next

This tunnel is next to the small building and leads to the upper level of the cave

Looking down into Cathedral Cavern

Cathedral Quarry to Elterwater

Once we were done exploring the cave, we headed back down the hill and followed the path that bore left. This leads to Slaters Bridge, a 17th century packhorse bridge.

Slaters Bridge

From here we followed the path you can see to the left hand side, signposted Elterwater. This part of the walk arguably has the best views we saw all day. In fact, Luke thought they were some of the best views anywhere in the Lake District.

Once again the navigation was straightforward on this last section. We followed the path from Slater’s Bridge until we reached a road. Here, we went left and then immediately right, which led us back to Elterwater. Along here there was a farm selling hot drinks and cakes with an honesty box. As I said earlier, you won’t starve on this route!

The full route is show below: