Carron Crag Trail

A waymarked circular walk in Grizedale Forest that starts and finishes at the Grizedale Visitor Centre and tops out on Carron Crag, 314 m, the highest point in the forest. Counting the full visitor loop, allow 5 km (about 3.1 miles) and around 3 hours. The signed route picks up just beyond the visitor centre access, so look for the first marker post rather than expecting it to begin at the door.

Navigation is straightforward if you commit to one colour: follow the purple waymarkers from the visitor centre and keep checking them at junctions, since forest roads and side tracks cross the line of the walk in several places. The first stage follows the stream along the bottom of the valley, gentle enough as a warm up, before the trail turns uphill.

The upper section is the reason this walk is graded hard. It climbs steadily out of the valley on rough tracks, forest road and steps to a rocky outcrop crowned by a concrete trig pillar. From the top the view opens out over Coniston Old Man and the central fells, a genuine panorama that feels earned after a walk that spends much of its length under trees. The descent gives back everything you gained, so tired legs get a second workout.

Three hours is a realistic figure rather than a slow one. Two hours only works if you keep moving and skip the summit loitering, which rather defeats the point.

• The path can be wet and muddy, and stays that way well after rain given the forest ground and stream section.
• Surfaces are mixed and uneven: rock, roots, ferny margins, steps and hard forest road.
• Boots with grip and a willingness to get dirty make a real difference.

You will see this walk quoted at anything from about 3 miles to 5 miles. The mapped closed corridor of the signed loop measures close to 3.1 miles (5 km), while official trail information gives 8 km (5 miles) for the walk as visitors actually complete it, including the approach from the visitor centre and the way the route is laid out on the ground. Some older measurements land in between at around 3.9 miles. We list the 5 miles (8 km) figure because it matches the current signed and published visitor loop, and it is the safer number to plan your day around.

Dogs are welcome on the forest walking trails. Keep them under control, clean up after them and give wildlife space. For photographs, the trig pillar on its rocky perch with the fells behind is the obvious shot, and there is a small wooden sculpture beside the path lower down that makes a nice contrast to the summit view.