A Short Walk to The Bowder Stone
The Bowder Stone is often thought to be a glacial erratic, however according to recent study it is now thought to be from a rock fall. The hillside above is littered with impressively large boulders, but none quite matching the Bowder Stone. It is thought to weigh around 2000 tons and sits 30 feet high. The steps on to the top have been there since at least 1890.
Its name possibly comes from the Norse god Baldr, although there are no references to really confirm this.
Parking is available at the National Trust Bowderstone pay and display car park.
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Paul and Beth
The Bowder Stone
- Maps:
50K: 89, 90
25K: OL4
- Start:
- NY253167 (get directions via Google Maps)
- Near to:
- Borrowdale, Braithwaite, Derwent Water, Keswick
- Distance:
- 1.6km (1.0 miles)
- Ascent:
- 76m
- Min. time:
- 0 hrs 27 mins
- View in 3-D:
-
- Terrain:
- 1 - easy
- Bog Factor:
- 1 - none
- Tech Diff:
- 1 - easy
A very easy walk. Suitable for pushchairs if you bypass the steps by using the car park entrance road instead. - Dog issues:
- None
Purchases:
Buy walk in Adobe/PDF format to print or for your phone or tablet
Buy route for your GPS
Route Description
From the parking area, return to the ticket machine near the entrance and bear left down the steps to the bus stop. Bear left again on to the track to the right of the fence, signposted "Bowder Stone 600m". The track climbs a little to a gate, go through and continue on the track to the Bowder Stone.
A set of steps enables the non-climber to attain a lofty perch.
Return back along the track.
Track to the Bowder Stone
The Bowder Stone (with the wooden steps)
Top of the Bowder Stone
If you like this walk then why not try one of our other nearby walks:
Unless otherwise stated the text in this walk is the copyright of Hug Solutions Ltd trading as The Hug and the photographs are the copyright of Elizabeth Oldham. Hill data is derived from Database of British and Irish hills which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Maps contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2011 and paths © OpenStreetMap Contributors,CC-BY-SA, 2011