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Fairfield Horseshoe from Ambleside — Lake District National Park

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Hiking trails & Routes

Fairfield Horseshoe from Ambleside — Lake District National Park

Hard

4.8

(482)

3,874

hikers

Fairfield Horseshoe from Ambleside — Lake District National Park

06:01

17.7km

890m

Hiking

The Fairfield Horseshoe from Ambleside offers a challenging circular hike through the Lake District National Park, renowned for its incredible panoramic views. This difficult route covers 11.0 miles (17.7 km) with a significant elevation gain of 2918 feet (889 metres), typically taking around 6 hours and 1 minutes to complete.…

Last updated: April 23, 2026

Tips

Your route passes through a protected area

Please check local regulations for:

Lake District National Park

Waypoints

Start point

Parking

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4.72 km

View of Windermere from High Pike

Highlight • Viewpoint

A great point along the Fairfield Horseshoe to stop and enjoy the view, particularly down to Windermere. Is this also not one of the longest dry stone walls in the …

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6.37 km

Dove Crag summit

Highlight • Summit

Dove Crag is named for the impressive cliff adorning its steep, east-facing flanks, which fall sharply to the exquisite Dovedale. The cliff contains the Priest's Hole, one of the national …

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8.71 km

Fairfield Summit

Highlight • Trail

Centrepiece of its namesake horseshoe, Fairfield is rarely a walker’s sole goal. Instead it is renowned as the highest point of the much-frequented Fairfield Horseshoe, a looped ridge walk bagging …

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10.1 km

Great Rigg summit

Highlight • Viewpoint

Great Rigg is a muscular, 2,513-foot (766 m) summit that forms one of the central fells on the classic Fairfield Horseshoe circuit above Ambleside. Keeping in character with Fairfield's western …

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12.3 km

Heron Pike

Highlight • Viewpoint

Heron Pike is a fell in the Eastern Wainwrights. It's commonly hiked as part of the Fairfield Horseshoe. It can be reached using either Grasmere or Rydal as a starting point.

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17.7 km

End point

Parking

Way Types & Surfaces

Way Types

10.2 km

5.50 km

1.24 km

682 m

< 100 m

Surfaces

9.67 km

3.35 km

2.16 km

1.31 km

944 m

< 100 m

Elevation

Nothing selected – click and drag below to see the stats for a specific part of the route.

Highest point (860 m)

Lowest point (50 m)

Weather

Thursday 9 July

28°C

16°C

0 %

Additional weather tips

Max wind speed: 8.0 km/h

to get more detailed weather forecasts along your route

Comments

April 17, 2022,Hiking Tour

Very windy and cold well worth the trip, brilliant views and well worth the effort, especially my partner shoe brilliant 👏👏👏👏

May 14, 2022,5. Fairfield Horseshoe | Eastern | Challenging Lake District Family Hike

This is the longest walk I've undertaken with my parents in the Lake District, it's also the walk with the most amount of ascent. So we were sure to select a day in May with lots of daylight and we started early. The Fairfield Horseshoe is a Lake District classic, whether walked clockwise or anti-clockwise, the route loops either side …

July 12, 2024,Fairfield Horseshoe

Starting altitude 60

8 Peaks
* Low Pike (508)
* High Pike (656)
* Dove Crag (792)
* Hart Crag (823)
* Fairfield (873)
* Great Rigg (766)
* Heron Pike (612)
* Nab Scar (455)

April 6, 2025,Fairfield horseshoe and stone arthur from Ambleside

Stats say 5.5 hours, actually 9.5 hours with stops and chats. Lovely day!

March 7, 2025,Fairfield Horseshoe

A very foggy loop of Fairfield from Ambleside. Heron Pike, Great Rigg and Fairfield, then back via hart Crag, Dove Crag, High Pike and Low Pike.

September 12, 2024,fairfield horseshoe

I forgot to start the app, so I missed the start of the walk, I have never done anything like this before, going up I found easy but going down took its toll, the scenery was stunning and we were very lucky with the weather cool but with little wind.

April 30, 2026,Fairfield Horseshoe loop from Ambleside

Day 4: Fairfield Horseshoe loop from Ambleside

A long day doing the well-known Fairfield Horseshoe starting from Ambleside town that takes you up onto Fairfield, taking in Low Pike, High Pike, Dove Crag, and Hart Crag before getting to the sun-kissed top of Fairfield itself. All on good trails with fantastic views looking back over Lake Windermere. Then it was …

March 9, 2025,Hike

This route is from my garmin watch. It's funny how they are both different

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This route was planned by komoot.

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Fairfield Horseshoe from Ambleside — Lake District National Park

View of Windermere from High Pike

Dove Crag summit

Fairfield Summit

Great Rigg summit

Heron Pike

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