Its sylvan charm is complemented by the towering tops of Red Pike, High Stile and High Crag, which can be reached in a similar amount of time, although requiring an entirely different level of effort. When it comes to the reward-for-effort ratio, Buttermere lake and valley offer unparalleled value for money and adventure for all abilities. Set in a similar geological landscape to Wast Water, Buttermere is just as dramatic below the surface as above. The lake is fed by becks and streams running straight down from high fells surrounding the lake. The water has little time to warm up before it reaches the lake, rendering Buttermere crisp and cool all year round despite the relatively shallow maximum depth of around twenty-eight metres.

Its edges are precipitous in places, particularly along the eastern and western shores which, for me, just adds to the thrill of swimming here. I’ve been lucky enough to live within a twenty-minute drive of Buttermere for more than ten years now. Even so, the first glimpse of Red Pike on the final descent over Newlands Hause never fails to lift my heart. It’s the first hill I climbed, and it ignited a passion for this particular part of Cumbria. I have to pinch myself that I can swim here whenever I feel like it. Buttermere will never be a workhorse swim for me. I come here for joy not exercise. The exhilaration of stepping forward into the beckoning teal-blue void never diminishes. Buttermere is a real treat, a four-finger KitKat swim.

Horse Close

Around the head of the lake is the only part of Buttermere where the path deviates from the lakeshore. It leaves the lake at Lower Gatesgarth and continues briefly on the road before crossing Warnscale Bottom to the quaintly named Peggy’s Bridge. The path remains slightly higher than the lake and would require a climb down the rough slope to get to the water. I have never been tempted to swim along this stretch in the knowledge that a favourite location lies not too far ahead. Horse Close, where a clump of larch trees cover a flat peninsula, is directly beneath Burtness Comb. Few walkers deviate off the path here and until recently there was a gate barring the gap in the wall. It is a quiet enclave on busy days. With water crashing down from Burtness Comb it is always slightly fresher around Horse Close and beautifully clear. It is also a great place for a post-swim picnic.

Buttermere village

The track out of the village towards the lake must be one of the busiest foot highways in the Lake District. Endless pairs of boots tramp along here all year round heading for the high fells or a sedate circuit of the lake. And now, increasingly, feet are carrying swimmers along the path towards the edge of the lake. At the final gate the classic Buttermere view appears. A small meadow stands between you and the water. The slope of Fleetwith Pike draws the eye down to the water and Warnscale Head broods magnificently at the head of the lake. Initially the lake bed is unforgiving, paved with awkward rocks.

Your steely determination to enter the chilly water barefoot must be matched by steely soles. On a fine summer’s day this is a popular spot for family paddling – shoes are highly recommended for splashing about. The lake bed is shallow for quite a distance, some twenty metres or so, however nonswimmers should still be supervised. 1 Light on Horse Close and Hay Stacks behind 2 Buttermere shore For early starts (or late ones) you can park on the road near Hassness and follow a sylvan path along the beck and through the wood.

The parking strip fills up during the day but the bus will stop here on request. The small bay is less than a five-minute walk from Crag Wood, but the two locations have entirely different characters and qualities for swimming – this I feel makes them worthy of separate inclusion. Lottie introduced me to swimming here one breezy October day. The beauty of Hassness is how sheltered it is by the headland of Crag Wood.

While white horses are whipping across the middle of the lake you will be guaranteed a gentler time here. Overhanging trees obscure the path along the edge of the water as it emerges over a rock step from the Hassness Tunnel; you will almost certainly have some spectators on this swim! There is a bench for non-swimmers to take in the view. A messy tangle of blue pipework right in the middle of the bay is the water supply pipe to the manor house and is easily avoided as you wade in. As with much of Buttermere the swimmable depth is reached after several purposeful strides.

Crag Wood

This narrow spit of fine slate is one of my first and most enduring loves of the Lake District. The peninsula sticks out into the water with a magnificent view of High Stile and High Crag. It is a committing swim. A couple of steps forward and you are floating freely above the edge of the deepest part of the lake. The fine shingle is a joy underfoot. Put your head underwater and marvel at the perfect clarity. The view is exhilarating above and below.

Lower Gatesgarth

Where the road runs close to the lake at Lower Gatesgarth there is a small beach just beneath the embankment. It’s rather public but a decent spot to swim from and where I usually set off to swim the length of the lake. The gravel beach is adjacent to the only strip of private lakeshore but I’m sure the landowner won’t mind you swimming past to look at the view!

Technical information MAXIMUM DEPTH 28.6 metres AVERAGE DEPTH 16.6 metres LENGTH 1.28 miles MAXIMUM WIDTH 0.34 miles PRIMARY INFLOWS Gatesgarthdale Beck, Warnscale Beck, Comb Beck OUTFLOW Buttermere Dubs into Crummock Water.

Getting there

Leave your car and take the Honister Rambler (77/77A), Easter to October only, from Keswick. It is a fantastic journey. Strong cyclists can take on the epic sweeping descents of Honister Pass or Newlands Hause (expert level). A gentler approach is via Lorton and Crummock Water. There is very limited car parking in Buttermere; there is a small Lake District National Park car park (parking charge) and toilets in Buttermere village (next to The Fish Inn) or the National Trust car park (parking charge), which is a short walk from Buttermere village in the direction of Crummock Water. Limited free parking can be found above Buttermere village beyond the church. At the head of the lake there is a small car park at Gatesgarth Farm (parking charge).

Refreshments

» Croft House Farm Cafe, Buttermere village. This cafe has wooden benches for seating, positioned over long, low radiators. What could be better after a chilly swim than a warm bum and close proximity to cake!

» Syke Farm Tearoom, Buttermere village. Serves amazing home-made ice cream and delicious cakes, and now dog friendly inside. This is my top recommendation for those with dietary requirements, offering an unrivalled selection of gluten-free, dairyfree and vegan food.

» There are also two great pubs in Buttermere village – The Fish Inn and The Bridge Hotel, both serving hearty fare for hungry swimmers. General notes on Buttermere From 1 April until 30 June the National Trust close a section of the northern shore to protect nesting sandpipers. Gates are locked to prevent access; swimmers on an end-to-end or point-to-point swim should be aware for exiting the lake. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/buttermere-valley/features/springwildlife-in-buttermere-valley Although boats are allowed by permit you will rarely see one. Buttermere is peaceful on, in and around the water. A permit is also required to launch a canoe, kayak or paddleboard.

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Unless you are travelling outside normal working hours or not in peak season expect roads to be busy with local and tourist traffic. Windermere is one of the best-served lakes for public transport; on foot or by bus is often the most convenient way to get around. Bike hire is available within a short walk of the bus and railway station in Windermere village from Total Adventure Bike Hire and Country Lanes Cycle Centre. Stagecoach buses operate along the eastern shore. The number 6 operates a limited service between Windermere railway station and Barrow-in-Furness calling at Bowness-on-Windermere Ferry Pier, Fell Foot and Newby Bridge.

The 555 (Kendal to Keswick) serves the north of the lake and the 599 operates between Bowness-on-Windermere and Grasmere. The 505 shuttles between Windermere and Coniston via Hawkshead and Ambleside. If you are arriving from further afield, Windermere is linked via regular services from Keswick, Penrith, Kendal, the southern Cumbrian peninsulas and Lancashire. Windermere Railway Station is the terminus for the single branch line service that offers connections with the West Coast Main Line and Manchester Airport. A quaint chain ferry crosses the lake between Bowness-onWindermere and Far Sawrey. If you find yourself in Bowness-onWindermere and wanting to be in Hawkshead, or vice versa, the ferry is the quickest way across.

Refreshments

» Homeground, Windermere village. I love a good breakfast after an early morning swim and Homeground is a royal treat. They only serve breakfast and brunch, along with good coffee and cake.

» Method @ Fell, Kendal. This comes recommended by local swimmers who travel from Kendal to Windermere for early morning dips.

» 1st Floor Cafe, inside Lakeland, Windermere village. Not an obvious choice, but the combination of a lovely cafe and the opportunity to browse the Tupperware in the shop downstairs is weirdly compelling. Best for home and kitchen gadget fetishists.

» Bandito Burrito, Windermere village. This spicy Mexican street food makes a refreshing change to twee Lake District coffee shops. I save this as a winter treat as my palate is hopelessly unaccustomed to spice.

Windermere has long been associated with open-water swimming and first hosted the Great North Swim in 2008. Its original base was at Low Wood Bay with 2,200 people swimming in the mile course. The event now takes place over an entire weekend at Brockhole and attracts 10,000 swimmers tackling the six different distances on offer. The Great North Swim has been and continues to be many people’s first and possibly only experience of openwater swimming in the Lake District. As the longest lake in England and a qualifying distance for prospective swimmers of the English Channel, Windermere is a siren call for long-distance swimmers.

Since the railway first brought Victorian tourists to a small fishing village on the shores of Windermere, it has been the most popular visitor destination in the Lake District. The eastern shore is predictably busy where the main road hugs the side of the lake pretty much tip to toe. The western shore feels wilder though. It feels different from other parts of the Lake District, with dense broadleaf woodland offering tantalising secretive glimpses of the lake while gnarly mountain scenery is in short supply.

Windermere has a more pastoral setting with the immediate lake edges made up of rolling countryside and woodland, not the crags and precipitous ridges of Ullswater or Wast Water for example. While the Lakeland hills beckon in the distance, it’s the lake that really takes centre stage. Gummer’s How in the south and Wansfell above Ambleside are lovely low-effort viewpoints where you can really appreciate the majesty of the lake and its stunning 10.4-mile serpentine length.

Roughly halfway along the lake is perennial favourite Orrest Head. Alfred Wainwright was so moved by the view from Orrest Head that it inspired him to write his famous fellwalking bibles. I wonder how he felt about swimming. Despite its well-known association with outdoor swimming, I haven’t always found Windermere the easiest place to swim and it was difficult to know where to start. It’s the biggest of all the lakes and it can be as busy out on the water as it is in the heart of bustling Bowness-on-Windermere. I swam with local swimmers and chatted with those who know the lake best. Pete Kelly of Swim the Lakes pointed out that where public rights of way exist you can swim anywhere that a path leads to water. All the places to swim are there if you know where to look. So with that in mind, and armed with a map, off I went.

Borrans Park

Best reached on foot (or from the handy car park at Ambleside RUFC), Borrans Park is on the very northern tip of Windermere by Waterhead. It’s a short walk from the centre of Ambleside and a peaceful enclave from the madness of the central Lake District in summer. In the park there is a long slate shelter where you will often bump into local swimmers on their lunch break. The shelter would definitely benefit from a row of hooks but as far as changing facilities for the outdoor swimmer go, this is one of the best! Borrans Park is right on the water and has steps leading down to a shingle beach – watch your step on the last one, it’s so high it feels as though the last step is missing.

Benefiting from a steady top-up from the River Rothay the water is somewhat fresher than other places on the lake and algae blooms are rarely an issue. Litter is a problem though and I pick glass out of the water on most visits. Mind your step. A stone’s throw across the water from Borrans Park is Waterhead. There are boats moored in the bay, and lake steamers and launches operate from here. Smaller motorised craft and rowing boats are available for hire. Waterhead has a small promenade with cafes overlooking the water. Needless to say, swimming in that direction or from that shore is not recommended. When I launch from Borrans Park I head west towards Seamew Crag and the interesting shoreline around Brathay where cormorants and goosanders patrol the water.

Jenkins Field

The roadside buildings near Jenkins Field look a little forlorn. Prior to the introduction of a six miles per hour speed limit, this area was busy, and speedboats and jet-skis frequented the bay. With their high-speed activities curtailed, Jenkins Field is now a peaceful peninsula edged with trees rising to an impressive crag viewpoint towards Langdale. Across the road is Stagshaw Garden, another peaceful antidote to this busy part of the Lake District. In spring the woodland floor is carpeted with bluebells and wild garlic and the garden is home to the 57.8-metre Skelghyll Grand Fir, reputedly the tallest recorded in England. The gardens are owned by the National Trust and are free to wander round – great for non-swimming companions or as a warm-up after a chilly swim.

At the crack of dawn, the lay-by on Rayrigg Road fills up with cars. By 8.00 a.m. they have gone, and as rush hour begins it’s as if they were never there. Millerground is where bleary-eyed swimmers from across South Cumbria and beyond meet for an early morning swim. I love swimming here not for the location – it’s completely out of my way and inconvenient – but for the lovely group of people I meet when I come here. It’s an unofficial group with a strong ‘swim at your own risk and stay within your own capabilities’ policy. Swimmers tend to congregate at Millerground. Rayrigg Meadow is a family friendly location a stone’s throw to the south, benefiting from a wheelchair and buggy-friendly path from the car park to the lake, a kids play area and accessible toilets.

Fell Foot

Fell Foot is a neatly manicured country park at the foot of Windermere, run by the National Trust. For just £2 you can get a day pass which enables you to change in the luxury of a heated changing room and enjoy a hot shower after your swim. By its very nature outdoor swimming is often less than friendly for swimmers with a disability, but Fell Foot goes a long way to redress the balance. Here you will find wheelchair-friendly paths, a Changing Places facility – the first in the national park – and a free-to-hire allterrain wheelchair. Dedicated slipways make it much easier to get in the water and although the lake bed is soft and stony and doesn’t shelve you should still enter with care. Non-swimmers can watch from the picnic benches or the comfort of the cafe making this a very family friendly place to swim.

Red Nab

Red Nab is a small wooded National Trust car park (parking charge). Its secluded location on the western shore is a dead end for vehicles and one of the quieter places on Windermere. It is a great starting point for swimming adventures on the western shore.

Wray Castle

My only swim here was a memorable one thanks to a low mist hanging over the lake on a muggy August evening. As the mist thinned and lifted the busy lights of Bowness-on-Windermere briefly appeared from across the lake before grey swept back with a vengeance. The craggy shoreline is thick with overhanging trees and vibrant heather; surrounded by mist it felt quite otherworldly. In clear conditions you have a duck’s-eye view of the bustle on the eastern shore, while suspended in soft, moss-green water. A great place to watch the world go by. Wray Castle is a National Trust property; parking is available at the castle (parking charge).

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Elter Water is on the 516 bus route which runs from Kendal, via Windermere and Ambleside, to Dungeon Ghyll. Alight at Skelwith Bridge and walk just over half a mile north along the River Brathay or alight at Elterwater village and walk half a mile along the Cumbria Way to reach the water. Parking is available at the National Trust car park (parking charge) in Elterwater village.

Refreshments

» Chesters By The River, Skelwith Bridge. For post-Elter Water refreshment this is just the ticket, a short walk away along a good path by the River Brathay. It serves a vegetarian menu which is so deliciously creative that this meat-eater did not notice the lack of meat for several visits.

» The Britannia Inn, Elterwater village. Traditional pub. » The Eltermere Inn, Elterwater village. For a little more luxury.

General notes on Elter Water

Elter Water is privately owned and permission to swim is not explicit, so if you are asked to leave the water please do so.

Elter Water is something of a grey area for swimmers. Its situation is undeniably pretty and the backdrop of Great Langdale is much photographed. While researching Elter Water I failed to get a definitive answer on permission for swimming there as the water is privately owned. Plenty of people do swim there though, so I diligently attempted to check it out for myself. Fed by the River Brathay and Great Langdale Beck, Elter Water reaches a maximum depth of seven and a half metres. It’s made up of three mysterious pools, only one of which you can get a good look at as a pedestrian.

The swampy fringes make it impossible to get close to the edge of the water. For swimmers, the only realistic entry point is at the mouth of the river where it leaves the largest pool. Limited access is not the only problem facing swimmers in this lake. Beneath the surface, dense elodea (the fancy name for waterweed) bars the way. Then there’s a thick layer of silt lining the lake bed which sucks your ankles like quicksand. In short, swimming in Elter Water is not an attractive proposition.

I’m not a fan of wading through mud or silt to get into any water. Not only does it feel desperately unpleasant, I worry I am disrupting the ecosystem and organisms within it. I prefer to leave it be and go elsewhere. I felt Elter Water deserved an explanation, and an excuse to use the photos we took on a cold winter morning. By way of apology to the stoic swimmers Anna, Ben, Emma, Fay, Faye and Sarah who braved the sludge, I have included my research for completists, and for those that won’t be told. For swimmers intent on ticking this lake off their list, the mouth of the largest pool is your best option.

The Cumbria Way passes the edge of the pool and you are bound to have an audience here. To negotiate the tricky entrance to the water, try floating forwards and sculling over the worst of it. Out in the middle though, the water is fresh and cool, benefiting from the steady top-up from the River Brathay and Great Langdale Beck. My attempts to explore the two smaller pools have ended in retreat. The narrow channels are bottlenecks of shallow water edged with reeds, making onward progress difficult. More than once I have come face to beak with a swan and being at eye level with them makes me incredibly reticent to argue.

Incidentally, the name Elter Water derives from the Old Norse for ‘the lake frequented by swans’ and it remains the best place to observe whooper swans as they spend the winter on the lake. My best experience of swimming in Elter Water was a crisp October morning with Anne and Lottie. We left the Cumbria Way and bushwhacked through undergrowth to reach a channel of the Great Langdale Beck. After wading most of the way we made it to a pebble beach in a northern corner of Elter Water and plunged towards the middle of the lake. One for intrepid swimmers.

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Brothers Water is served by the 508 bus (seasonal service), which runs between Penrith and Windermere, although this may be subject to local weather conditions on Kirkstone Pass if travelling from the south. Check before you travel as snow and ice can affect the route well into April. This bus operates between railway stations. For experienced cyclists the approach over Kirkstone Pass, the highest road pass in the Lake District, is undoubtedly tough and absolutely thrilling. An easier, longer approach is from Glenridding and Patterdale as well as a bridleway between Side Farm and Deepdale Bridge. Parking is available in the small free Lake District National Park car park at Cow Bridge.

Refreshments

» Brotherswater Inn, Patterdale. A traditional, welcoming pub at the foot of Kirkstone Pass, the glowing lights of which guided me back from my second (accidental) benighting on a Lakeland fell. I’ve never drunk a pint so fast or so gratefully. They also have an extensive whisky shelf and serve hearty meals.

» Sykeside Camping Park, Patterdale. The campsite is dog friendly and open all year round; it has a small shop (seasonal opening). The Barn End Bar (seasonal opening) is part of the campsite.

» The Kirkstone Pass Inn. Although it’s over 280 metres above Brothers Water and nearly three miles away, the chance to combine a swim in the smallest lake with a pint in the highest pub in Cumbria is unmissable.

Introduction

Ask a child to draw a mountain scene and the chances are they will draw a couple of smooth pyramid slopes, perhaps with a dusting of snow on top. Nestled at the foot of the steep-sided Dovedale and Hartsop valleys, the setting of Brothers Water bears a striking resemblance to a child’s drawing. The elegant peaks soar above the water, belying their modest heights. The route to the top is as steep as any of the high ground across the Lakeland fells. Here the tarn or lake argument rears its head. Brothers Water has all the qualities of a tarn but the situation of a lake. Of all the recognised lakes it is definitely the smallest and as tarns go it is smaller than several found higher up in the fells. A swim here has all the qualities of a tarn dip without the effort of a big hike up a hill.

Let’s stick with calling it a water! Originally called Broad Water, the name was changed in the nineteenth century in memory of two brothers who drowned here. In the course of my research I came across an incredibly detailed account written by Raymond Greenhow in his blog Scafell Hike. His account does the tale far more justice than I ever could, and his blog is well worth a look if, like me, you are fascinated by obscure historical information about Cumbria. www.scafellhike.blogspot.com Nearly and quite neatly square in shape you can walk round Brothers Water in less than an hour. Despite its relatively shallow depths the water is generally cool, being fed straight from the fells. It was once twice the size, although not in living memory.

From the concrete lonning (Cumbrian dialect meaning ‘lane’) between Hartsop Hall and Sykeside Camping Park the damp wetland plain is obvious, long since filled in by debris washed down from Dovedale Beck, Kirkstone Beck and Caudale Beck. For its tiny acreage, Brothers Water supports a large amount wildlife which is relatively uncommon for a lake of this size. This has led to it being selected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

The designation shouldn’t prevent you swimming unless you are disturbing the factors that warrant the SSSI status. In particular, these are botanical features and breeding grounds of a diverse number of bird species. Brothers Water is also home to the schelly, a very rare and endangered freshwater fish only otherwise found in Ullswater, Haweswater and Red Tarn. Don’t forget your snorkel. Brothers Water benefits from a Miles without Stiles footpath along its western shore.

The way into the water isn’t as easy, with tricky boulders underfoot on the first and most obvious way into the water, a gravel beach not far from the car park. On one swim with friends Emma and Paul, in an attempt to avoid the rocky lake bed, we waded Goldrill Beck almost to our waists only to encounter a banked lip at the mouth of the beck that we had to step over, finding ourselves back at ankle height in the lake proper. Further down the path is my preferred place to swim.

A grassy peninsula where you can step immediately off the path or continue on the path to the end of the meadow and turn to come back on yourself for step-free access. There is a narrow shingle beach where the water is ankle deep before shelving downwards suddenly into sediment and weeds. There is a slight current here, one of the few places I really notice one. Dovedale Beck, Caudale Beck and Caiston Beck feed into Kirkstone Beck to supply the lake with a steady flow of fresh cool water and it runs along this shore. The movement of water is noticeable, but you are unlikely to be swept down the beck into Ullswater.

You should avoid swimming close to the reed-fringed southern shore; it’s one of the reasons that Brothers Water is an SSSI and is an important nesting ground for many species of bird, notably redbreasted merganser, teal, coot, sandpiper, snipe and cute little dippers. When aquatic life awakens from hibernation and starts to bloom I turn my attentions elsewhere to avoid disturbing the delicate flora and fauna. Swimmers are unlikely to be bothered by fishermen on the water.

No permit is required to fish here – often an indication of how poor the fishing is. Boats are not allowed on Brothers Water. It would be a crime to visit Brothers Water and not walk all the way round. It’s a pretty little walk taking in broadleaf woodland and passing Hartsop Hall, a sixteenth-century farmhouse. A concrete lonning links Hartsop Hall to Sykeside Camping Park and then the path continues along the lake, hugging the wall beneath the road. On this side of the lake mature oak, hazel and ash all overhang the water and lilies spread from the eastern corner.

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