I’d like to thank Lee Benson for this contribution to our Family Walks blog.  He walked it in April 2016, and we followed in his footsteps in April 2017!

This walk is to the very quiet and peaceful Small Water, and can be found at the end of Haweswater.  OS map OL5, GR 468108, starting at Mardale Head.

The drive along Haweswater is stunningly beautiful, and we stopped several times to take photos.

Once you get parked in the free car park (or along the road on busy days), head through the gate. Take the path that leads straight ahead, and you’ll come to a fork in the path, the centre one takes you all the way to Small Water tarn.

This walk was enjoyed by both the kids, as there were rocks to climb at the side of the path and streams to cross all the way up. There are several small water falls as well and the landscape is quite dramatic. In spring time you can find frogspawn/tadpoles in the puddles. The path was easy to follow and not too steep for little legs.

We walked there and back within two hours, and it was approximately 2 miles.  This video shows some of the walk back down from Small Water towards Haweswater:

There is the possibility to add Blea Water to this walk and make it a circular walk which we will be doing when we have a little more time and a picnic with us. Although it does make it quite a bit harder (steeper and longer), so maybe better for more experienced little legs.

This is the first time we have walked in this area of the Lakes and there looks like there is a lot more exploring to be done here!

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