Lake District Peak to Pub · Day 2 of 7
Peak to Pub Day 2: Buttermere to Wasdale
Day 2 of the Lake District Peak to Pub — Haystacks, Brandreth, Green Gable and Great Gable, from Buttermere over to Wasdale Head and its famous inn. Route notes and the GPX from our walk.
Download GPX Route
Import to Garmin, Komoot, or any navigation app
Map: OS Explorer OL4 (North-Western) & OL6 (South-Western) · View on OS Maps
Elevation profile
Getting there
Start: Buttermere village
End: Wasdale Head
Before you go
Prices and times — worth a quick check before you travel
Parking — Buttermere village
Two small pay-and-display car parks in the village (the National Trust one by the Fish Inn, and the Bridge Hotel’s). Both are tiny and fill fast in season. The Honister Rambler (77/77A) and a seasonal Buttermere bus link the village to Keswick, but services are limited — check before relying on them.
Buttermere visitor info · checked June 2026
Parking — Wasdale Head (Scafell Pike days)
The National Trust Wasdale Head car park (NY182075) is the usual base for Scafell Pike and Sca Fell. It fills early on fine weekends — get there for opening or you may be parking on the verges down-valley. There are no buses up Wasdale, so it is effectively car-only.
Wasdale visitor info · checked June 2026
Short on the map, big in the heart. Day 2 is one of the shortest days of the week, but it links Haystacks — Wainwright’s favourite fell, the one whose ashes are scattered up there — with Great Gable, which is about as iconic as Lakeland summits get. Two hills people make whole trips for, on one walk.
This was part of our 2020 week, done our own way: a base, a car to each end, and a lemonade rather than a bed at the pub on the night. Same deal as every day.
Up Haystacks
From Buttermere the climb to Haystacks goes by Scarth Gap, and Haystacks rewards the effort out of all proportion to its modest 597m. It’s a knobble of little tops, tarns and rocky steps — Innominate Tarn among them, the spot Wainwright asked for his ashes to be left. You can see why he loved it. It feels like a mountain in miniature, all character and no swagger.
Brandreth, Green Gable and Great Gable
From Haystacks the ground rises steadily over Brandreth and on to Green Gable, and then comes the bit that earns the day: the short, sharp pull from Windy Gap up onto Great Gable. Gable is a proper mountain — 899m, a big blunt pyramid that dominates the head of Wasdale, with a summit of bare rock and the Westmorland Cairn a little way off for the best view down the valley. On a clear day it’s one of the great Lakeland viewpoints. We’ve had it both ways up there over the years; this time we were lucky.
Down to Wasdale Head
The drop off Gable into Wasdale is steep and stony — Moses’ Trod or the Sty Head side, depending on the line — and brings you down to Wasdale Head, one of the most atmospheric spots in England. The Wasdale Head Inn sits right at the valley’s end, hemmed in by the highest fells in the country, and it’s often called the birthplace of British rock climbing: the walls are covered in old black-and-white photos of the pioneers. We didn’t stay, but we had our drink and soaked it in.
Practical notes
Parking at Buttermere and Wasdale Head is in the Before you go box above. Both fill early; Wasdale in particular is car-only, with no bus up the valley.
Maps: the day straddles OS Explorer OL4 and OL6 — there’s an OS Maps online link above.
The GPX above is our track from the day. Trail’s figure is 13.4km and 1,122m; ours read a little longer.
This is a frame draft — the route’s all here, but I’ll come back and add more of what the day was actually like.
Part of the Lake District Peak to Pub. Previous: Day 1, Keswick to Buttermere. Next: Day 3, Wasdale to Eskdale.