Public toilets in the Lake District

If you're heading up Catbells with the family or just pottering round Keswick on market day, the Lake District is one of those places where a loo is easy to find in the towns and a long way off once you're on the fells. Keswick, Ambleside, Bowness, Windermere, Grasmere and Coniston all have public toilets within a short walk of the main car parks, and the bigger honeypots like the lake shores usually have a block nearby.

Bowness and Windermere are run by the town council and cost 60p by card (no cash, so don't count on coins), while many of the National Park's own car park loos are free but keep no fixed hours. Up high it's a different story. The open fells have no facilities at all, so once you've left the valley for Scafell Pike or the Coniston round, the next proper loo could be hours away. The advice is every seasoned Lakeland walker's: go before you go, and know where the next one is on your route.

Use the map to check what's open before you set off, especially on a wet bank holiday when half of Cumbria has had the same idea.

Accessibility

The fullest Changing Places facility inside the park is at Fell Foot Park on the southern shore, with more at Rheged near Penrith and the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, all opened with a RADAR key. RADAR-key holders use the Bowness and Windermere town-council toilets free, the one exception being Quarry Rigg, where everyone pays. Many fell-side car park loos are not wheelchair accessible and some only offer baby changing behind a RADAR key, so check the listing before you rely on one.

Seasonal

Brown Howe and Monk Coniston near Coniston, and Eskdale, close over winter, and smaller village conveniences cut their hours from the autumn half-term through to Easter. Assume anything off the main tourist drag may be shut out of season.

Where the gaps are

The gaps are all on the tops and in the quieter valleys; parking and toilets tend to come together at the honeypots, not at the trailheads for the big climbs.