There is a persistent myth that the Lake District's best views must be earned with a hard climb. It isn't true. Some of the finest views in England sit a few steps from a road — framed by centuries of travellers, painters and road-builders who found them long before hiking was a hobby. Here are the great no-boots viewpoints, all of them stops or highlights on our scenic tours.
A gap in the trees on the Watendlath road above Derwentwater, and then — all at once — the whole lake laid out three hundred feet below, islands and all, with Bassenthwaite Lake beyond and Skiddaw rising behind. The name is not marketing; even guests who have seen the photographs make an involuntary noise. It is a few steps from the road, which is exactly why we route the 8 Lakes tours and the The 10 Lakes Full-day Tour past it.
Just below Surprise View, a small seventeenth-century packhorse bridge crosses a beck with Derwentwater and Skiddaw perfectly composed behind it. It has appeared on more calendars, biscuit tins and jigsaw puzzles than any other bridge in the country, and standing in front of it costs nothing more than stepping out of the vehicle. Early in the day, before the light flattens, it is at its best — one argument for the morning departure.
Castlerigg was built around 3000 BC — older than Stonehenge — on a plateau above Keswick, ringed on three sides by mountain ridges with Skiddaw filling the northern sky. Whoever placed it understood exactly what they were doing: it may be the finest naturally-sited prehistoric monument in England, and the level field it stands in asks nothing of your knees. The stones are a scheduled stop on our scenic tours, and the story your guide tells there is one of the day's highlights.
At 1,489 feet, Kirkstone is the highest pass in the Lake District you can drive over, and the entire crossing is the viewpoint: Brothers Water appearing far below as you descend towards Ullswater, the fells crowding in on either side. From the passenger seat of a minibus, with someone else on the wheel and a guide explaining how ice carved the whole thing, it is pure theatre. From the driver's seat of your own car, it is mostly gear changes.
On the full-day tour, the road over Newlands Hause passes Moss Force, a waterfall dropping a hundred metres from the open fell, close enough to the road that you can feel the spray after rain. There is no visitor centre, no car park queue, no signage — just a mountain doing something spectacular a few steps from the tarmac. The same crossing gives you the long view down over Crummock Water and Buttermere.
One gentle exception to the no-walking rule, because it is barely a walk: a level ten-minute stroll from Keswick's lakeside — comfortably done within the 10 Lakes Full-day Tour's lunch hour — brings you to Friar's Crag, the low promontory over Derwentwater that John Ruskin counted among the finest views in Europe. Flat path, benches at the end, and a view that has been stopping people in their tracks since the Victorians.
Yes. Many of the finest viewpoints — Surprise View, Ashness Bridge, Castlerigg Stone Circle, the Kirkstone Pass summit, Moss Force on Newlands Hause — are a few steps from a road. A guided scenic tour links them all in a single half day or full day.
A famous viewpoint on the Watendlath road above Derwentwater, where the trees open suddenly to reveal the whole lake about three hundred feet below, with Bassenthwaite Lake and Skiddaw beyond. It is a scheduled stop on our scenic tours.
Very much so. Built around 3000 BC — older than Stonehenge — it stands on a level plateau above Keswick surrounded on three sides by mountain ridges, and requires no walking beyond crossing a field. Its mountain setting is considered among the finest of any prehistoric monument in Britain.
A great deal of it is. Minibus-based scenic tours keep walking to a minimum — most stops are a few steps from the vehicle — and our team is happy to discuss individual needs before you book. See our accessibility guide for detail.
A small 17th-century stone packhorse bridge above Derwentwater, with the lake and Skiddaw framed behind it — one of the most photographed scenes in the Lake District. It sits directly beside the road.
Yes. Surprise View, Ashness Bridge and Castlerigg feature on the 8 Lakes Morning and Afternoon tours and the 10 Lakes Full-day Tour; Moss Force and Newlands Hause are part of the 10 Lakes Full-day Tour, which also includes a Keswick lunch hour within easy reach of Friar's Crag.
More easy-going exploring: