Visiting Buttermere

The walk most people come for, and one of the few lakes you can walk all the way round. A path follows the shore the whole way: through Burtness Wood on the south-west side, past the head of the lake below Haystacks and Fleetwith Pike, then back along the north-east shore and straight through a short tunnel cut in the rock.

It is nearly level, with one short rock step where you may want your hands and a short stretch of road near Gatesgarth. The National Trust suggests going round anticlockwise with children: the woods first, out of the wind, and the tunnel saved for the end.

Rannerdale Knotts is the smallest fell around the lake, but it feels like a real summit: a knobbly ridge with Buttermere, Crummock Water and Loweswater below. Our line climbs the ridge from the village, drops to the Crummock shore, then comes home up the quiet side valley of Rannerdale, which turns blue with bluebells from late April into May.

It is short but steep. Expect a rock staircase, one slightly awkward gully on the summit ridge and a stone-pitched descent that is slippery in the wet. The National Trust's shorter version skips the valley and stays under five kilometres.

Scale Force is usually called the highest waterfall in the Lake District: a single long drop of about 52 metres into a narrow, tree-hung gorge above Crummock Water. The walk there and back is low and easy to follow, over Scale Bridge and along the lake, then up beside Scale Beck.

It is wet underfoot at the best of times, with stepping stones, bog and loose stony ground near the bridges, so wear boots. It is at its best after rain.

The classic short way up the fell Alfred Wainwright loved most. From Gatesgarth you cross Peggy's Bridge, climb a pitched path to Scarth Gap, then scramble up rocky steps onto a summit that is a maze of knolls and little tarns. Wainwright called it the best fell-top of all, and asked for his ashes to be scattered beside Innominate Tarn.

The way down follows an old quarry path past Blackbeck Tarn and down Warnscale, with the whole valley ahead of you. It is short, but you will use your hands, and the top is confusing in mist.

Fleetwith Pike is the pointed fell at the head of the lake, the one in the background of every postcard. Its west ridge, Fleetwith Edge, climbs straight up from Gatesgarth, past a small white cross, with no flat ground for nearly 600 metres. The reward is the view back down Buttermere and Crummock Water, which some guides call the best in Lakeland.

The usual way down goes past the Honister slate workings and the Dubs bothy, then down Warnscale. Going up the Edge is easier on the knees and nerves than coming down it.

The high wall on the south-west side of the lake, walked end to end. You climb through Burtness Wood beside Sourmilk Gill to Bleaberry Tarn in its corrie, up red scree to Red Pike, then along the ridge over High Stile and High Crag before the steep drop of Gamlin End to Scarth Gap and the lake shore home.

On a clear day the views run into Ennerdale, out to the Solway coast and Scotland, and straight down onto Buttermere. Many walkers add Haystacks on the way down; the full Buttermere Round adds the fells across the valley too.

North of the village a path zig-zags steeply up Whiteless Breast to the sharp top of Whiteless Pike, then follows a fine edge to Wandope and up onto the high plateau of Eel Crag and Grasmoor, the highest fell in the area. Our line comes down by Lad Hows to the Crummock shore and back through the Rannerdale valley.

It is quieter than the ridge across the lake, and on a clear day you see the Solway Firth, Scotland and the Isle of Man.

Robinson is the broad fell above the village to the north-east. Our line goes up the steep path to High Snockrigg, a fine viewpoint over the lake, crosses the famously wet Buttermere Moss and climbs Robinson's west slope, returning the same way.

Fit walkers can carry on along Littledale Edge to Hindscarth and Dale Head and come back by Honister and the lake shore, a day of about 16 km.

Round the bigger, quieter lake next door: out along the western shore under Mellbreak, past the foot of Scale Beck, round the north end through Lanthwaite Wood, and back down the eastern side under Grasmoor and over Hause Point.

It is low-level all the way but rough and boggy in places, and much quieter than Buttermere in the holidays. Lanthwaite Wood holds the classic view down the length of Crummock Water.