This stage can seem longer than it is; there is an alternation of ascents and descents, and a greater variety of scenery than on any other stage. If you make an early start you can be at Skelwith Bridge or even Elterwater in time for a pub lunch. Otherwise carry a picnic. The first part consists of a walk through parkland and woodland, then a short road section to the tourist honey-pot of Tarn Hows, a shallow and irregularly shaped lake whose shores are planted with spruce. The way then descends to pass the waterfalls of Colwith Force in Little Langdale and Skelwith Force in Great Langdale, and then the placid and secretive lake of Elterwater. There are pub lunch opportunities at Skelwith Bridge and at Elterwater village. From here you follow the Great Langdale Valley into even more dramatic landscape as you approach the famous twin peaks of the Langdale Pikes, which are known as Harrison Stickle (736m) and Pike of Stickle (709m). There is a popular footpath (not part of the Cumbria Way) which leads up from New Dungeon Ghyll to Stickle Tarn, a tiny glacial lake just below the rock face of Harrison Stickle.
