Abraham's Tea Round
You earn a free cup of tea at Abraham's Cafe by touching every summit you can see from its top-floor window: a proper Keswick fell-running rite of passage.
Effort: Ultra distance and major ascent
Underfoot: Technical, navigation required
E5·T4 — how we grade routes
Climb to High Stile on Abrahams Tea Round
A real mix of running and walking — expect significant climbing.
A 50km round of the North Western Fells from George Fisher in Keswick, taking in the tops visible from Abraham's Cafe window, with around 3,389m of climb over ten fells.
You earn a free cup of tea at Abraham's Cafe by touching every summit you can see from its top-floor window: a proper Keswick fell-running rite of passage.
The route
Abraham's Tea Round, also known as the George Fisher Tea Round, is a 50km circuit that starts and finishes at the doors of George Fisher in Keswick. The challenge is simple: touch the tops you can see from the cafe window on the top floor of the shop. The line follows the Cumbria Way to gain Catbells, then heads into Newlands and over Robinson before dropping to Buttermere. It picks up High Stile, then crosses to Grisedale Pike and Hopegill Head above Coledale, and returns over Eel Crag, Sail, Causey Pike, Rowling End and Barrow on one of Lakeland's finest ridges back into Keswick. This GPX measures around 3,389m of ascent, in line with the roughly 3,300m the round is commonly cited at.
The Wainwrights and the reward
Every top on the round is a North Western Fells Wainwright: Catbells, Robinson, High Stile, Grisedale Pike, Hopegill Head, Eel Crag (Crag Hill), Sail, Causey Pike, Rowling End and Barrow. The round was devised in 2017 by former George Fisher staffer Jacob Tonkin, and the prize for completion is a free cup of tea from Abraham's Cafe, named for the pioneering Keswick mountain photographers the Abraham brothers. It is a tough, varied tour over some technical and occasionally pathless ground.
Why it works
At 50km with ten summits this is a serious all-day outing that links the quiet Newlands and Buttermere fells with the dramatic Coledale horseshoe, and the final ridge over Sail and Causey Pike is fast, joyful running to finish. The ground is rough and route-finding matters between the groups, especially in cloud, so carry map and compass and know your descents. Pace the early Robinson and High Stile climbs; the Coledale tops bite back when you are tired. There is a logbook at George Fisher to record your time, and the round has become a local benchmark for North Western Fells fitness rather than a formal event. Pick a long, dry summer day, fuel well at the halfway point in Buttermere, and you finish on the airy Causey Pike ridge with Keswick and Derwentwater laid out below and a free brew waiting at the top of the shop.
A long, committing 50km day over rough and partly pathless North Western Fells with serious cumulative climb. Route-finding between the Newlands, Buttermere and Coledale groups is demanding in cloud, and there are steep, rocky descents off Robinson and Causey Pike.
Summits on this route
Safety on this route
- No signal? Text 999 — pre-register first: text register to 999
- Tell someone your route and expected return time before you head out
Leave No Trace
- Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories.
- Please respect the countryside and all its inhabitants.
- Dogs on leads near livestock, and around ground-nesting birds from March to July.
- Gates as you find them — open or closed, leave it that way for the farmer and the next runner.
- Take it all home — wrappers, peel, tissue, the lot. It doesn't count as biodegradable if you can still see it.
- Stick to the path where the ground either side is wet, planted, or nesting habitat.
Common questions
Run by us· last checked July 2026
Jason Millward has run this route and written it up from the ground. How we check routes
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Runner reports
Nobody's logged a run here yet. If you get out on it, a few lines about how it went helps the next person plan their day.
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