The Ambleside floor reads as a Lake-District-specific selection. We carry depth in the kit walkers actually need on these fells, and tell you honestly if we do not have something you want.
Fifty-four years of putting boots on Lake District walkers. Bavarians for the Old Crown round, narrow lasts for steady scree feet, approach shoes for the Coniston scrambles. Meindl, Scarpa, La Sportiva, Oboz and Grisport on the Rydal Road floor, plus the staff knowledge to read a foot in five minutes. We will tell you honestly if a boot does not suit you. We would rather sell you nothing than the wrong pair.
Shells and midlayers chosen against the climate you actually walk in. Rab and Montane stocked deep on the men's and women's walls, Columbia and Jack Wolfskin for the long-day breaks, base layers from Sealskinz and Trekmates that handle a soggy October on Loughrigg. We carry depth in proven kit rather than breadth in everything.
Deuter, Lowe Alpine, Highlander and Sea to Summit on the rucksack wall. Lifeventure flasks and The Brew Company sachets for the summit brew. Sit mats, gaiters, gaiter pegs, head torches, dry bags. If the walk needs the kit we stock it; if we do not stock it we will tell you where in Ambleside or Keswick does.
Order online before 4pm and pick up at 1-3 Rydal Road. Useful for walkers staying in Windermere or Coniston who want a specific size waiting on arrival. In-store returns on online orders, no postage, no quibble. Dogs welcome inside the shop.
Stewart Cunningham, a Lake District native, opened the Ambleside store in 1971 to meet the needs of the many walkers drawn to the Lakes. The shop watched outdoor kit evolve from Ventile jackets and canvas rucksacks to the advent of Gore-Tex and modern technical fabrics, and Stewart bought through every shift in the trade.
Today his son Ross and daughter Wendy run the four-store family group from Ambleside. The Rydal Road shopfront has not moved. The boot-fitting bench has not moved. Three further shops have opened, each one stocked for its own walking country: Newton Stewart for Galloway, Betws-y-Coed for Snowdonia, Hawes for the Yorkshire Dales.
We would rather sell a walker nothing today than the wrong boot. Fifty-four years of fitting Lake District feet has taught us that.
A walker buying a boot in Ambleside is going to put it through Helvellyn scree, Striding Edge, the Borrowdale soak, the Langdale Pikes, the limestone of the south Lakes. We have fitted boots against those routes for half a century. That knowledge is the thing the chain stores in Bowness cannot reproduce, and it is why we ask three or four questions about your walks before we put a single pair on your foot.
The Rydal Road shop sits four minutes' walk from Wansfell's back door and twelve minutes from the Loughrigg fell gate. The buying for this floor reflects that. The Hawes shop reads the Yorkshire Dales differently. The Betws-y-Coed shop reads Snowdonia. None of the four shops shares a stock list. The chains do.
Send us a note and we will get back to you the same working day. For quicker answers on stock or sizes call 015394 32636 Monday to Saturday during shop hours. The web store office (a separate phone line) is staffed Monday to Friday 10:00 to 16:00.
The shop sits on the A591 spine of Ambleside, three minutes' walk north of Bridge House. No on-street parking on Rydal Road itself. The closest pay-and-display car parks are Rydal Road (90 seconds), Lake Road and Compston Road (three minutes each).
Closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Easter Sunday.