Downstream to Derwent Walk, Borrowdale and Derwent Water

This is a point-to-point linear walk, 7.52 km / 4.67 mi one way, from the Honister Pass National Trust car park down to the Grange Bridge bus stop. It is not a loop, and it is downhill overall: you start around 363 m at the top of the pass and finish near 78 m in the valley. GPS and mapping apps often read a little longer, closer to 7.8 km, which is normal for a route with this much twisting descent.

Worth being clear about this: the walk keeps going past Stang Dub. Shorter versions of the same descent stop there, so if you are aiming for Grange Bridge, plan for the full 7.52 km.

• Leave the car park at the summit of the pass and drop down paths and fell tracks beside Hause Gill, with the working slate landscape all around you.
• Follow the gill down into Borrowdale and through Seatoller, where the walk swaps quarry ground for valley pasture and woodland.
• Continue past the Stang Dub crossing, then on along tracks and quiet lanes through Grange to the bridge and the bus stop.

Rated easy for the effort involved, mostly because gravity is doing the work, but it is not a smooth or accessible path. Expect rough fell track, stony ground, some road and track sections, and one steep rocky section with a fixed chain to hold. That chain and the rock around it get slick in the wet, so give it time and care after rain. Typical completion is about 2 hours, and quick walkers manage closer to 1 hour 40. Steady downhill on stony ground is hard on knees and toes, so poles and shoes with real grip earn their place here.

The character changes as you descend. Up top it is quarried fell, all cut slate, spoil and open sky, with Honister Slate Mine still working the green Westmorland slate that gives the area its colour. Lower down you get the gill, riverside pasture and the oakwoods of Borrowdale, including Johnny Wood and High Stile Wood near the valley floor. There are short rolling rises in the second half, so the profile is not a pure downhill line.

Dogs are welcome on this route and across Borrowdale and Derwent Water. Keep them on a short lead around sheep and other livestock, in close control elsewhere, and be mindful of ground-nesting birds and burrowing animals on the open fell.

Start at the Honister Pass National Trust car park, off the B5289 at the top of the pass, reached by steep road either side. It is pay and display, and overnight parking or sleeping is not allowed. The honest tradeoff with this walk is that the easy downhill direction leaves you 7.5 km from your car and several hundred metres below it. Options:

Sort the return before you start walking. Climbing back up the pass on foot at the end of the day is a much bigger day than the one you signed up for.

• The seasonal Honister Rambler bus back up to the pass when it is running.
• A second vehicle left at the Grange end.
• A taxi or other arranged transport from Grange.