The old railway line along the River Greta — flat, surfaced and wide, from the edge of Keswick out to Threlkeld. You can walk all of it, or any part of it, and it works with a pram, a wheelchair, a dog or a bike.
The walk
Almost everything written about walking near Keswick sends you up something. This does not. The railway trail runs along the floor of the River Greta valley on the trackbed of the old Keswick to Penrith Railway, which means it was engineered for locomotives and is therefore flat — properly flat, the whole way, with a made surface underfoot from one end to the other.
It is also unusually wide. You can walk several prams abreast, or ride three bikes side by side, or keep a group together in a line rather than strung out in single file. Nobody has to step into a hedge to let a bike past. That width, more than anything else, is what makes it the route locals use when they want a walk that everybody in the party can actually do together.
It is 3.2 miles one way, a little over an hour at an ordinary pace, and 6.4 miles there and back at around two hours twenty. It is entirely off-road — no traffic at any point — and there are no stiles, no gates to wrestle and no steps, which is why it carries a Miles without Stiles grading from the National Park.
Want the honest version? The first mile out of Keswick is hemmed in and a bit enclosed. The trail opens out properly once you are through the tunnel — so if you only have half an hour, walk from the Threlkeld end instead.
Step by step
The trail begins behind Keswick Leisure Centre on Station Road, on the site of the town's old railway station — the line closed in 1972 and the trackbed became this. The first stretch is the enclosed one: fenced on both sides, pleasant enough but with the views held back.
The path settles in beside the river and stays with it. The Greta is the whole character of this walk — it swings from side to side beneath you, and the trail crosses it again and again on the old railway bridges rather than climbing away from it.
The old railway tunnel is the landmark of the walk and the point where the route changes character. Come out the far side and the valley opens up around you — this is where the trail earns its reputation.
The best of it. Woodland, river, fellsides rising on both hands, and the bridges coming one after another. This is the section worth walking if you are only doing part of the trail.
The trail runs out at Threlkeld, a village sitting directly under Blencathra. There are public toilets in the village hall and coffee shop, about 300 metres from the end of the trail, and the Horse & Farrier for a proper stop. A permitted path also leads on to Threlkeld Quarry, about 1.2 km further, though that path is not suitable for all wheelchair users.
Walking it the other way? Threlkeld to Keswick works exactly as well, and it is the better direction if you want to finish in town with somewhere to eat. At the Keswick end the trail delivers you to the leisure centre, and it is about 100 metres down the road from there — past Fitz Park — into the town centre.
You don't have to do it all
This is the part nobody writes down, and it is the thing that makes the trail usable for ordinary days out. It is not an all-or-nothing route. There are at least ten points along its length where you can get on or off — field gates, lane ends, footpath junctions and road crossings — so you can take on as much or as little of it as suits the legs you have with you.
In practice that means you can walk out for twenty minutes and turn round with no sense of having failed at anything, or start partway along and do the good bit, or split it across two visits from opposite ends.
Roughly halfway along, the trail passes the petrol station on Penrith Road (CA12 4SP) — a filling station and shop right on the roadside, and the easiest of all the access points to find. From there it is about fifty yards to the Twa Dogs (Penrith Road, CA12 4JU).
That is the answer to "can we do a shorter version". Half the trail, then a pub. Walk out from Keswick, stop there, and either turn for home or carry on having had a sit down.
Getting there
The trail starts from the back of the site. Keswick Leisure Centre is a working leisure centre and the landmark to aim for — postcode CA12 4NE, Station Road.
The town centre is about 100 metres away down the road, past Fitz Park, so you can walk to the start from anywhere in Keswick.
/// what3words — exact start ///daffodils.alone.clarifies A 3-metre square. More precise than the postcode.The petrol station on Penrith Road — a filling station and shop on the roadside, about halfway along the trail and the simplest mid-route access point to find. Postcode CA12 4SP.
The Twa Dogs (CA12 4JU) is about fifty yards away — the reason this is the most useful of the ten access points.
/// what3words — exact access point ///elect.prude.hillside A 3-metre square. More precise than the postcode.The eastern end of the trail, under Blencathra. Start here and you get the open, scenic half of the route first rather than last.
Public toilets are in the village hall and coffee shop, about 300 metres from the trail end, and the Horse & Farrier is in the village.
/// what3words — exact start ///befitting.slides.ladder A 3-metre square. More precise than the postcode.Doing it one way? Park at whichever end you want to finish at, and travel out to the other end to start. Finishing in Keswick gives you the most choice of places to eat; finishing at Threlkeld gives you a quieter village and a pub.
What you're walking on
The Keswick to Penrith Railway ran through this valley from the Victorian era until it closed in 1972. What is left is the engineering: a cutting, a tunnel, and a run of bridges carrying the line back and forth across the River Greta. Walking it is the closest most people get to standing on a working railway alignment without a train involved.
The tunnel is the one thing everyone remembers, and the point where the walk turns from enclosed to open. It is short, it is lit well enough to be unremarkable in practice, and children love it.
The bridges are a mix. Some are the original Victorian ironwork the line was built with. Others are modern spans, because Storm Desmond destroyed several of them in December 2015 and the route was impassable for five years afterwards. It reopened in December 2020 after a substantial rebuild — which is why the surface and the crossings are as good as they are today.
The one-way question
It is a linear trail, so the return is the thing people plan around. There are three answers, and none of them is complicated.
The simplest option, and it makes the day a 6.4-mile round trip of around two hours twenty. The trail looks genuinely different in the other direction.
Threlkeld sits on the main road between Keswick and Penrith and is served by a regular bus. Check the operator for current times and fares before you set off.
Bus operatorKeswick has taxi firms and Threlkeld is a short run out of town. Worth booking ahead at busy times rather than expecting to flag one down in the village.
On two wheels
The same qualities that make this a good walk make it the best family bike ride in the Lakes — flat, surfaced, traffic-free and wide enough for three riders abreast, so nobody is stuck in single file behind a nervous child.
You do not need to bring bikes with you. There are hire shops in Keswick town centre within easy reach of the trail head, doing both regular bikes and e-bikes.
Common questions