Baystones (Wansfell)
Baystones at 487m (1,598ft) is the north top of the Wansfell ridge above Ambleside, giving outstanding views of Windermere and the Central Fells.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 487 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 13° to 9°C, gusts to 20 mph, 2.2 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 11 Sep 2026, 08:30 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 487 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Baystones (Wansfell) at a glance
Baystones (Wansfell)
Routes up Baystones (Wansfell)
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Baystones (Wansfell) a Wainwright?
Baystones (Wansfell) is a Wainwright. It is also on the Synge list, the Fellranger list and the HuMP list.
Where do you park for Baystones (Wansfell)?
The nearest car park we hold is Baystones car park (free), about 1.3 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Baystones (layby), 1.4 km out. We only look within 2.5 km, measured straight-line: over longer distances a road may cross a pass and the drive bears no relation to the line.
My hikes over Baystones (Wansfell) (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Bagging a couple of Fells with Laura and the kids. (opens in new tab) — 11.1 km · 553 m ascent · 3h 12m moving · 1 Jun 2023
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Baystones (Wansfell)
Best parking to hike Baystones (Wansfell)
Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).
Positions are approximate — zoom the map to confirm. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.
Tip: pan and zoom the interactive map at the top of this page to spot other potential parking near your route.
Vehicles are left entirely at their owner’s risk. We list places people park; we cannot vouch for any of them. Judge it on the day: take valuables with you, leave nothing on show, and if a spot feels wrong when you get there, park somewhere else.
Getting to Baystones (Wansfell) by bus
The 505 stops at Ambleside, at Hayes Garden Centre, 250 m from the start of Wansfell Pike and Baystones. Last bus: Monday to Friday 22:43 towards Grasmere (555) and 20:29 towards Keswick (555) and 09:47 towards Coniston (505) and 09:21 towards Dungeon Ghyll (516); Saturday 22:43 towards Grasmere (555) and 20:29 towards Keswick (555) and 09:47 towards Coniston (505) and 09:21 towards Dungeon Ghyll (516); Sunday 19:09 towards Grasmere (555) and 18:15 towards Keswick (555) and 09:47 towards Coniston (505) and 09:21 towards Dungeon Ghyll (516). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Hazards on Baystones (Wansfell)
No hazard card for this fell. The usual open-fell rules apply: check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected.
Navigating Baystones (Wansfell) in cloud
StraightforwardA broad, gently-sloping top with little to steer by — easy to lose your bearings and hard to relocate in mist. Navigation here is relatively straightforward even in cloud — but carry map and compass and know how to use them; a low score never means “safe”.
In winter — snow, whiteout, cornices, buried features — every top demands full winter navigation skills whatever its band, and a broad, gentle summit can be the worst place of all. See walking in bad weather and the navigation guide.
How Baystones (Wansfell) compares with all 214 — the Clag Index: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Baystones car park (free), about 1.3 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Baystones (Wansfell) (within 3 km)
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits — detour to them on this walk and they are pure profit. Distances are straight-line; allow extra for terrain.
Routes over Baystones (Wansfell)
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
On the hill: terrain and water on Baystones (Wansfell)
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Wansfell Pike and Baystones route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
The view from Baystones (Wansfell)
The 360° skyline from Baystones (Wansfell)
A computed 360° skyline — every visible named top labelled by distance and bearing, from the terrain model in perfect clarity, not photographed. Drag to pan; reveal the far four-nations horizon.
What you can see from Baystones (Wansfell), by direction
- North: Caudale Moor (5 km), Stony Cove Pike (5 km), Place Fell (12 km)
- North-east: Yoke (4 km), Ill Bell (4 km), Thornthwaite Crag (6 km)
- South-west: Brim Fell (15 km), The Old Man of Coniston (15 km)
- West: Codale Head (12 km), Wetherlam (12 km), Pavey Ark (12 km), Sergeant Man (12 km), Thunacar Knott (13 km), High Raise (13 km), Low White Stones (13 km), Pike of Blisco (13 km), Swirl How (14 km), Little Carrs (14 km), Great Carrs (14 km), Great How (14 km), Cold Pike (14 km), Crinkle Crags (15 km), Crinkle Crags South Top (15 km), Crinkle Crags (15 km), Crinkle Crags (15 km), Shelter Crags (15 km), Little Stand (15 km), Crinkle Crags (16 km), Bowfell (16 km), Esk Pike (17 km), Allen Crags (17 km), Great End (18 km), Ill Crag (18 km), Broad Crag (19 km), Scafell Pike (19 km), Scafell (20 km), Great Gable (20 km)
- North-west: High Pike (5 km), Great Rigg (7 km), Fairfield (8 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (170 km, Wales), Carnedd Llewelyn (158 km, Wales), Moel Siabod (166 km, Wales), Arenig Fawr (178 km, Wales), Pendle Hill (75 km, England), Moel y Gamelin (160 km, Wales), Cadair Berwyn (176 km, Wales), Boulsworth Hill (87 km, England).
Computed from terrain in perfect clarity, not photographed · distances are straight-line.
Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.
Sunrise and sunset on Baystones (Wansfell)
Baystones (Wansfell) waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls at midsummer, when the sun is up for 35 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 05:12 against an almanac sunrise of 04:37. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the north-east from here (52.5°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 3.44°.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 05:12 BST ±5.0 min | 04:37 | +35 min |
| Equinox | 06:18 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:15 | +3 min |
| Midwinter | 08:32 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:32 | — |
The northern horizon stands at about 2.64° from here.
Last light — when the sun leaves Baystones (Wansfell)
The evening here runs close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its earliest evening of the modelled year (at midsummer) last light is only 11 minutes before almanac sunset, so the published sunset time is a fair guide on Baystones (Wansfell).
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:40 BST ±5.0 min | 21:51 | -11 min |
| Equinox | 18:16 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:26 | -10 min |
| Midwinter | 15:55 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:49 | +6 min |
Computed, not photographed. First light is the first minute the sun’s upper limb clears this summit’s own skyline and last light the last minute it is still clear of it, both solved against the 360° horizon profile behind The View from Baystones (Wansfell). Almanac sunrise and sunset are the flat-horizon convention. Every time carries a ± band from the 30 m elevation model — it smooths arêtes and cornices, so nothing here claims better than five minutes. These are daylight figures, not a descent plan: the light goes on fading for a good while after the sun leaves, and going down in it is a decision about your own ground and party, not about this table.
What you can see from Baystones (Wansfell)
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales.
- Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) Wales
- Carnedd Llewelyn Wales
- Ingleborough Yorkshire Dales
- Whernside Yorkshire Dales
- Morecambe Bay bay/estuary
All 45 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Troutbeck Tongue, Sour Howes, Sallows, Red Screes, Yoke, Low Pike, Ill Bell, Froswick, High Pike (Scandale), Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor), Nab Scar, Loughrigg Fell, Thornthwaite Crag, Heron Pike (Rydal), Great Rigg, Black Fell, Fairfield, Silver How, Holme Fell, Lingmoor Fell (Brown How), Blea Rigg, Tarn Crag (Easedale), Calf Crag, Wetherlam, Pavey Ark, Sergeant Man, Harrison Stickle, Thunacar Knott, Loft Crag, High Raise (High White Stones), Pike of Stickle, Pike of Blisco, Swirl How, Great Carrs, Cold Pike, Brim Fell, The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man), Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Bowfell, Esk Pike, Allen Crags, Great End, Scafell Pike, Scafell, Great Gable
How Baystones (Wansfell)’s view compares with all 214 — the View Report: every Wainwright ranked by what you can see from the top.
Sightlines from a bare-earth terrain model (forests and buildings not included), corrected for the Earth’s curvature and average atmospheric refraction. “Distant” sightlines and any over 100 km depend on exceptionally clear air. Modelled from Copernicus GLO-30 open elevation data — a guide to the view, not a guarantee of any single one.
Places to stay near this fell
From Ambleside or Grasmere: 10 places
Frequently asked questions about Baystones (Wansfell)
Is Baystones a hard walk?
No. Baystones is the true summit of Wansfell — a broad grassy top a little way back from the more popular Wansfell Pike — and the walking between the two is easy. Many people climb the Pike and never cross to it, which is why the name is unfamiliar.
Our round over both is 11.9 km with 534 m of ascent, and we grade its navigation easy. The climb out of Ambleside is steep and stepped, so the effort is all in the first part of the day.
Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-08-30 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)
Other fells near Baystones (Wansfell)
- Angletarn Pikes (Angletarn Pikes North Top)
- Arthur's Pike
- Beda Fell (Beda Head)
- Bonscale Pike
- Branstree
- Brock Crags (Wainwright)
- Froswick
- Gray Crag
- Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell)
- Hallin Fell
- Harter Fell (Mardale)
- Hartsop Dodd
- High Raise (High Street)
- High Street
- Ill Bell
- Kentmere Pike
- Kidsty Pike
- Loadpot Hill
- Mardale Ill Bell
- Place Fell
- Rampsgill Head
- Rest Dodd
- Sallows
- Selside Pike
- Shipman Knotts
- Sour Howes
- Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa)
- Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor)
- Tarn Crag (Sleddale)
- The Knott (High Street)
- The Nab
- Thornthwaite Crag
- Troutbeck Tongue
- Wether Hill
- Yoke