Blea Tarn Trail

This is a 1.8-mile (2.88 km) total round trip, out and back on the same path, and it takes most people one to two hours with about an hour and a half being a fair guess. It is rated easy, and that rating holds up: short, mostly level compacted stone with gentle gradients and one modest rise at the end. The pay-and-display car park is free to National Trust members.

Retrace the same path past the tarn on the way back. Returning by the road is possible but not the recommended option, and it is the less pleasant way to finish.

• Cross the road from the car park and go through the gate
• Follow the compacted stone path steadily down toward Blea Tarn and through a second gate
• Drop to the tarn outflow and cross the footbridge
• Continue through a wooded stretch with benches
• Leave the wood by a gate and climb gently on the main path to the open-fell viewpoint over Great Langdale

Despite the easy profile, sections can be wet or muddy, which does affect footing, and boots are needed in bad weather. The other bit of friction is traffic: you cross the road right at the start, and there is road nearby at the viewpoint end too, so keep children and dogs close at both points.

The tarn itself sits in a hollow with crags around it, and the viewpoint opens onto Great Langdale with the Langdale Pikes as the headline shape. Depending on where you stand along the way you also pick up Lingmoor Fell, Pike of Blisco, Little Langdale, Wetherlam and the Furness Fells. Blea Tarn holds SSSI status, and its sediment has not been disturbed since the last Ice Age, which is why the water and its bed matter to scientists as well as to walkers. The shores are noted for alpine flowers in spring and summer.

The surface is mostly level compacted stone and is described as suitable for all abilities and all-terrain mobility scooters, with the caveats that you have to cross the road and that wet or muddy patches can appear. Dogs are welcome on leads, and that rule matters here: much of the route is grazed by livestock.

If you want a hard day, the bigger fells around Langdale will give you one, and they are a different proposition entirely. The tradeoff with this route is straightforward: it offers broad views without a major climb, so it works when you have an hour or two, mixed abilities in the group, or simply want the tarn and the Langdale outlook without committing to a full mountain day.