Cumbria & Lake District Walking information

We have put together this useful guide about hiking and walking in the Lake District, The Countryside Rights of Way (CROW) Act now gives better opportunities its also the largest change to rural life ever. Basically, CROW allows you to walk freely on large areas of English Lake District Countryside, near to one million hectares (4,000 sq miles) in the UK, without having to stay on public footpaths for certain of track activities such as bird watching or climbing.

In Cumbria you are able to walk on almost 60% of the land within the Lake District National Park, which is about 500 square miles of open access area.

New brown access signs should be looked out for while out and about, they inform you of areas where you may go and also let you know what you can do within those areas.

CROW does not mean you can go just where you like, but it does extend areas available for walkers. You can still walk on permitted foot paths and normal rights of way.

In certain times access may be restricted, these restrictions are in place to protect sheep, cattle and other farm animals or even the local wildlife, it could even be restricted as to not pose any threat of danger to walkers in general, so please always abide by the signs.

To find out more information you can get up to date OS maps, available at most tourist information centres, outdoor clothing suppliers in the area (there are many). Visit our Walks in the Lake District page.