Hartsop to Hayeswater Gill Trail

This is a 2-mile circular walk from Hartsop village, returning to the same car park. Allow about two hours. Follow the tarmac road past the sheep pens and old filter house, drop to a footbridge over Hayeswater Gill, then climb briefly onto the gravel track. The return drops through fields by the beck to the remains of Myers Head Lead Mine and an old corn mill before rejoining the road.

The walk is moderate rather than strenuous, but it is not a flat stroll. Expect a mix of worn tarmac, compacted gravel, loose stone, grass, and a narrow footbridge, with steep or slippery sections and some marshy ground in the fields. Hayeswater Gill is the visual thread throughout. Look for cascades, old ash pollards, stone walls, Grey Crag, and Hartsop Dodd. Red deer use the surrounding fells, and the mine and mill remains give the short loop more substance than a simple beck walk.

The stored 2-mile route is the lower historical loop. From the gravel track, Hayeswater Reservoir is an optional continuation of about 600 metres, then you return to rejoin the loop. Continuing farther around the reservoir becomes a different, longer fell walk, with rougher and wetter ground.