Rosthwaite to Grasmere
Stage 3 of the Coast to Coast Path (16 stages, walked west to east) is the first of the route's true high mountain crossings, climbing out of Borrowdale to a wild watershed col before dropping to literary Grasmere. From Rosthwaite the path threads Stonethwaite Beck past Galleny Force, then climbs Greenup Gill to scramble up the rock step of Lining Crag (500 m). Above it lies Greenup Edge (about 620 m), a broad, peaty saddle on the Borrowdale–Far Easedale watershed where the line of small cairns is easily lost in cloud. Most walkers take the gentler standard descent through glacial U-shaped Far Easedale, crossing Far Easedale Gill at Stythwaite Steps; the fitter swap it for the airy ridge over Calf Crag, Gibson Knott and Helm Crag, the 'Lion and the Lamb'. Grasmere itself is one of the loveliest villages in England, forever bound to William Wordsworth, who wrote much of his finest poetry at Dove Cottage and lies buried in St Oswald's churchyard. Roughly 8 miles (13 km), it is graded moderate, the difficulty coming from sustained ascent, a short scramble and genuinely boggy, navigation-prone ground over the top rather than length. The Coast to Coast Path was designated a fully waymarked National Trail in 2026.

Rosthwaite to Grasmere