When it comes to wild swimming in the Lake District, there is no spot more famous than Black Moss Pot. Surrounded by nothing but high fells, Black Moss Pot is a deep gorge pool with a small waterfall and craggy cliff walls - it’s not hard to see why it’s become so popular.
Added to that, you can jump from the cliffs, which attracts people looking for a bit of an adrenaline rush. The water colour is a sensational emerald, but only when the sun is shining - if you come on a dull day, it tends to live up to its name!
If you do arrive and Black Moss Pot is crowded, there are many pools both up and downstream that are better for a quieter swim, which we’ll go into later in the post. Here’s everything you need to know about visiting Black Moss Pot.
The walk to Black Moss Pot
The stats
Distance: 4 miles (6.5km) return
Elevation gain: 110m
Difficulty: Easy, but not flat
Summary: The trail to Black Moss Pot does involve a bit of gentle uphill walking, but most of the path is flat. Though there is always a defined path, the majority of it is stony and uneven under foot.
Small sections can become a bit waterlogged after very heavy rain, but you can almost always rock hop around these bits.
Starting the trail: to Galleny Force
From the parking area in Stonethwaite (full details below) the walk heads through the village, past the Langstrath Country Inn and some beautiful little cottages.
You’ll see a gate straight ahead of you. Head through the gate and follow the flat path towards the campsite.
Continue through the campsite for 800m, it’s stony underfoot, but still a flat easy stroll.
You’ll pass through a couple of gates, the final one of which has a short (one minute) descent on a rocky/tree rooty path before it levels out again. It’s not slippery when dry, but can be a little bit slippery when wet.
You’re then just 200m from the first pool of the walk, the lower gorge pool at Galleny Force - which is often missed as you can’t see the pool until you’re on top of it.
Just a touch further along the path is Galleny Force itself, a show stopper that would be far more popular if it weren’t downstream of Black Moss Pot.
I won’t go into all the details here, but if you are interested in all the pools around Galleny Force, we have you covered in this post.
Heading on to Black Moss Pot
From Galleny Force you can follow the path which hugs the river, or continue on straight from the gate just before the path curves round to Galleny Force. There is only a few minutes in it, so we’d recommend taking the path beside the river so you can see Galleny Force up close, as well as other small pools along the way.
The path is a flat dirt track with some stony sections. You’ll pass many small cascades and a few pools big enough for a dip - and all are usually very quiet.
If you don’t access them early on though you come to a fence, so if you are interested, you want to head into the river before you get to the fencing.
After 250m you’ll come to a large set of cascades, although they are behind fencing, you can still get a good view. From here it’s a brief gentle uphill walk on a stony track before it all but flattens again.
This next stretch of track is where you can get some quite wet patches depending on recent rain, although you can almost always rock hop without getting your shoes wet.
Just 350m beyond the cascades you’ll come to a bridge, this has a very nice calm pool beneath it, which is a good dipping spot.
Don’t cross the bridge though, continue along the path on the right side of the river. Although the trail on the other side of the river will also take you there, access to Black Moss Pot is easiest from the right side.
Arriving at Black Moss Pot
The stony track continues, passing a small ruin, with some lovely views out to the fells. The path is a mix of flat and a gentle uphill climb, and it does get rougher underfoot.
It’s not difficult, but you have to watch your step as it’s the sort of terrain that is easy to roll an ankle on. The good news is that because of the stones you don’t really get mud or bog on the track like you find on so many Lake District walks.
Continue following the path for a further 1.55km (3.4km from the car park) from the bridge and you’ll see a large wooden gate with a stile to the left ahead of you - you can’t miss it.
This is the entrance to the top of the gorge and Black Moss Pot. Once you’ve walked through the gate you’ll come to a large rocky platform and can look down into the gorge.
Accessing the pool at Black Moss Pot
If you’re not jumping in from the cliffs then you have two options for accessing Black Moss Pot. The first is the rocks that lead down into the water that you’ll come to from the gate. When dry, they are grippy and are tiered so that you can edge down into the water easily enough.
It’s basically climbing down some rock slabs. It will drop you down into a pretty deep part of the pool, so you don’t have to worry about walking over slippery rocks inside the water
If you don’t like the look of that, your other option is to walk back through the gate, head very briefly along the path and then make a right, downhill on the grass towards the water.
It’s worth noting the grass can be pretty boggy here, but it’s only a few steps really, so it’s not so bad. This access point allows you to walk down a couple of rocks into shallow water. The downside is that it’s shallow for a little while, so you have to do some awkward shuffling over rocks inside the water before it’s deep enough to swim off.
Wild swimming at Black Moss Pot
Black Moss Pot is a fantastic swimming hole. The pool is large enough for a few lengths, especially if you swim through the narrow part of the gorge as well as the main pool.
Just watch for the rocks when swimming in the narrow section, they are on on either side of the gorge walls and you can easily bump into them. It’s still fun to swim through though!
The main pool is really deep until you reach the far end where there are some large rocks in the water - high enough for you to sit on.
Depending on the flow of the falls there can be quite a current, but there’s room to almost entirely swim outside of it.
When the water level is low, the current is very light and you can swim all the way up to the small waterfall, which creates a jacuzzi like effect in the narrow gorge.
On a warm day, and again, when the water levels aren’t too high, the water is not cold at all. At other times it will feel cold, but you can swim to warm up, so it’s not too bad.
When it comes to cliff jumping, we didn’t actually do it, but saw people jumping from both sides of the pool.
The left side was pretty high and most people stood up there a while before jumping! As always, do a depth check first.
The downside to Black Moss Pot
The downside to this spot is the crowds, particularly if you’re here to swim and not cliff jump. There are few things less relaxing than swimming along and wondering if someone is about to jump on your head! From our experience over a number of visits, if you’re coming in the summer holidays, people are there by 8am and on our most recent visit, as we walked back down the trail at 7pm, people were still walking up it!
This was in the summer holidays, but not on a weekend. I am sure you’d be fine at sunrise or a couple of hours after, but otherwise summer is a very difficult time to get the pool to yourself.
And just to quantify, when I say crowds, I mean that there would have been around 40 people there between 7-8pm and it’s not a huge pool!
However, if you can visit on a weekday in September or May/June there is every chance you’ll get at least some time in the pool with little to no crowds. If you’re a year round swimmer, all the better!
Our visit in September was definitely the best experience we had, and even at 1pm on a 27C day, I got the pool to myself for a while - even when others joined there were only a few of us at a time.
It was a much more chilled and fun experience than any of our visits in the summer holidays.
Keep them wild
Please remember to take all rubbish with you and keep these places wild and pristine - as with anywhere in the outdoors. It’s important to leave them exactly as you found them so they will remain beautiful for generations to come.
Litter tends to breed litter, so if you do spot any and are able to pick it up and dispose of it outside the park, it will go a long way to keeping the area clean. Sadly we often see litter here as it is so close to a campsite which is a real shame.
Water colour at Black Moss Pot
If you want to swim in the glistening emerald water of Black Moss Pot, you’ll need the sun to directly shine into the pool. To ensure this, you want to come on a sunny day and the sun needs to have risen not just above the fells, but above the walls of Black Moss Pot as well.
We arrived at 10.30am in September on a crystal clear day and the water colour was still dark as the sun was not yet on the pool. When we returned at about 1pm it was emerald paradise!
That’s not to say that it’s not nice to swim in the dark water; when you’re actually inside the pool, it appears green even when it looks black from above - but if you want to see it really shine, then you need to consider the sun and time of day.
The water is also greenest when there hasn’t been too much rain, that’s also when the current is lightest and the all round best time to visit.
The pools beyond Black Moss Pot
If you arrive at Black Moss Pot and it’s too busy for you, there are other options upstream. None are as good for swimming and you can’t cliff jump, but if you’re looking for beautiful spots to laze around in the same emerald colour water, then you’ll find them just a little further along the track (the gorge pool, Tray Dub, is 1.2km beyond Black Moss Pot).
Camping by Black Moss Pot
The campsite mentioned in our trail notes is Stonethwaite Campsite, which is just a five minute walk from the falls. It’s a beautiful location right by the river and surrounded by fells. It’s understandably popular, so it definitely isn’t a secluded camping experience.
Prices at time of writing are £10 per adult and £5 per child. The access road to the campsite is stony and though doable in any car it may not be something everyone is comfortable with.
Parking for and getting to Black Moss Pot
Parking for Black Moss Pot is very limited and you must not block access in and out of the village. There is room for a small number of cars to park fully off the road by the phone box at postcode CA12 5XG.
If you don’t get a space here we noticed the school further up the road were advertising parking spaces in the summer holidays and proceeds go towards supporting the school.
I did notice the campsite had a sign up saying parking there was £5 per day and I wasn’t sure if this was for anyone or just campers, but you could always get in touch with them to find out - do this ahead of time if you think you might want this option as there is no phone signal in Stonethwaite.
If driving, Stonethwaite is roughly a 20 minute drive from Keswick, 55 minutes from Ambleside and 40 minutes from Cockermouth.
You could also come by bus, taking the 77A or 78 Borrowdale Bus from Booths in Keswick. It takes about 35 minutes and you’ll need to hop off at the Stonethwaite Road End stop and walk about half a mile to the trailhead.
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