Smithy Beck Trail

This is a 2 mile loop, and that 2 miles is the total distance for the full circuit, with no need to retrace your steps. Most people walk it in about an hour, though an hour and a half to two hours is realistic if you stop at the waterfall and look around the old remains. It starts and finishes at Bowness Knott Car Park at the far end of the road along Ennerdale Water. Difficulty sits at about 3 out of 10.

From Bowness Knott you follow the wide lakeside and forest track, with open water on one side and the fells beyond. Watch for the red waymarkers, which take you off onto a narrower woodland path. You cross a small stream, then reach Smithy Beck, where a bridge sits beside the waterfall. The path continues through the trees past old settlement and forestry remains, then the loop returns by the forest track and the lakeshore to bring you back to the car park.

The beck and its waterfall are the payoff, and they repay the short effort to reach them. The rest is quiet woodland, mostly sheltered by trees, with the lake views concentrated at the start and finish. Look for the old settlement and forestry remains and traces of historic ironworking in the woods. Deer and red squirrels live in this valley, so walk quietly and keep looking around, but sightings are not guaranteed.

Easy overall, with one section that asks a bit more. The opening and closing track is asphalt and gravel and very straightforward. The woodland part in the middle is uneven underfoot, rooty and rough in places, and briefly steep. Wear proper walking shoes if it has been wet.

Because of that middle section, the route is not suitable for most pushchairs. With a buggy, the lakeside track alone makes an easier option.

Bowness Knott Car Park is the correct start, at the road end by Ennerdale Water. Parking is paid. No overnight stays, and coaches cannot use it. No permit is needed to walk the trail.

There are no facilities anywhere on the route, so bring water and use the toilet before you arrive. Nothing is available to buy along the way.

Dogs are ordinarily allowed. Cattle, pigs and sheep graze in the valley, so keep your dog close and under control, especially on the open track sections.

The full circuit of Ennerdale Water begins from the same area and is considerably longer and more demanding, with rougher ground in places along the shoreline. Treat Smithy Beck as the short option and the lake circuit as the step up.