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559 m · Birkett — Central (not a Wainwright summit) · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Birkett — Central (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)

Bell Crags at 559m (1,834ft) is a rocky Birkett top on the broad moorland between Thirlmere and the Langdales, rising above the boggy expanse of Long Moss.

559 m
Height
+10
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX → Parking & buses →

Home › Fells › Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)

559 mBirkett — Central (not a Wainwright summit)+10 bonus Birketts within 3 km

Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast

Modelled guidance for the 559 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Sat 12 Sep): 15° to 7°C, gusts to 40 mph, 20.2 mm of rain forecast.

Sat 12 Sep
🌧️
15° / 7°
💨 40 mph
🌧 20.2 mm (100%)
Sun 13 Sep
🌦️
14° / 8°
💨 13 mph
🌧 0.3 mm (12%)
Mon 14 Sep
🌦️
15° / 12°
💨 36 mph
🌧 3.5 mm (100%)
Tue 15 Sep
🌧️
15° / 9°
💨 37 mph
🌧 10.6 mm (98%)
Wed 16 Sep
🌦️
10° / 8°
💨 27 mph
🌧 4.1 mm (54%)
Thu 17 Sep
🌧️
10° / 8°
💨 35 mph
🌧 16.8 mm (97%)
Fri 18 Sep
🌧️
12° / 8°
💨 37 mph
🌧 13.8 mm (92%)

Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 18:50 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 559 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell) at a glance

Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)

Bell Crags at 559m (1,834ft) is a rocky Birkett top on the broad moorland between Thirlmere and the Langdales, rising above the boggy expanse of Long Moss. Part of the Blea Tarn Fell massif, it gives views across the central plateau towards the Helvellyn range to the east and the Langdale Pikes to the south. A pathless, solitary summit.

Routes up Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)

Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.

Birketts West of Thirlmere
23.1 km · ~6.4 hr
Ten tops on the rough ground west of Thirlmere — Wythburn Fell, Standing Crag and the Coldbarrow Fell saddles among them — in 23.1 km with 1,047 m of climbing and nothing steeper than about 10%. Severe for length; roughly 6.4 hours.

Classifications & hill data

Birkett
Fellranger
Synge
559 m
Height
1,834 ft
In feet
NY 2982 1430
Grid ref

The short answers

Is Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell) a Wainwright?

Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell) is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.

Where do you park for Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)?

The nearest car park we hold is Dob Gill, Thirlmere (United Utilities, paid), about 1.8 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Fisher Crag (layby, south), 1.9 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.

How hard is Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)?

The shortest way up we hold is Birketts West of Thirlmere — 23.1 km, 1047 m of ascent, about 6.4 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.

All axes: steepness: Severe · length: Severe · exposure: Hard · terrain: Moderate · navigation: Moderate.

Parking & buses for Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)

Best parking to hike Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)

Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).

Dob Gill, Thirlmere (United Utilities, paid) — 1.8 km from summit (straight line)
West shore of Thirlmere - Harrop Tarn and Ullscarf. Fees: pay and display; coins and cards (LDNP directory, checked Aug 2026). Open Closed until Easter 2026; pedestrian access allowed (LDNP directory, checked Aug 2026). Pay and display (visitlakedistrict.com) (United Utilities, checked Aug 2026).
Directions Something changed here?
If it is full: Steel End, Thirlmere (paid) (1.4 km, 36 m up); Wythburn Church, Thirlmere (paid) (2.5 km, 97 m up)
Fisher Crag (layby, south) — 1.9 km from summit (straight line)
0.7 km from Fisher Crag.
Directions Something changed here?
Fisher Crag (layby, north) — 1.9 km from summit (straight line)
0.6 km from Fisher Crag.
Directions Something changed here?
Fisher Crag (verge) — 2.1 km from summit (straight line)
0.4 km from Fisher Crag.
Directions Something changed here?
Steel End, Thirlmere (paid) — 2.6 km from summit (straight line)
South end of Thirlmere for the Wythburn valley and Armboth fells. Fees: pay and display (Lake District National Park car-parks directory, checked Aug 2026). Pay and display (visitlakedistrict.com); named as a UU Thirlmere car park on unitedutilities.com, which states no fee details (United Utilities, checked Aug 2026).
Directions Something changed here?
🚺 Dob Gill Car Park (~1169 m straight line) — Free

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 Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell) by bus

The 555 stops at Thirlmere, at Armboth turn. From there it is 1.8 km and 54 m of ascent to the start of Birketts West of Thirlmere — a walk in before the walk. Last bus: Monday to Friday 20:55 towards Keswick (555); Saturday 20:55 towards Keswick (555); Sunday 18:46 towards Keswick (555). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

Stagecoach 555
Kendal – Staveley – Windermere – Ambleside – Rydal – Grasmere – Thirlmere (Wythburn & Swirls) – Keswick
Catch it from: Windermere · Ambleside
Year-round, roughly hourly. The backbone bus of the A591 — ideal for Helvellyn (Wythburn/Swirls), Fairfield, the Central fells and anything around Grasmere/Rydal. From Penrith, take the X4/X5 to Keswick and change.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Hazards on Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)

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.

Map & nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.

Nearest parking: Dob Gill, Thirlmere (United Utilities, paid), about 1.8 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell) (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.

0.8 km ENEBrown Rigg462 m · Central
1.0 km SStanding Crag611 m · Central
1.1 km WNWWatendlath Fell (Long Moss)515 m · Central
1.4 km NWShivery Knott491 m · Central
1.4 km SWLow Saddle656 m · Central
1.6 km SSWColdbarrow Fell - High Saddle675 m · Central
1.7 km NArmboth Fell (Birkett)479 m · Central
1.8 km NWMiddle Crag484 m · Central
2.1 km NNEFisher Crag421 m · Central
2.2 km SEWythburn Fell508 m · Central

Routes over Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)

Birketts West of ThirlmerePlanned
23.11 km · ~1047 m ascent · loop · ~6–8.5 h
Summits: Wythburn FellStanding CragColdbarrow Fell - High SaddleLow SaddleBell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)Watendlath Fell (Long Moss)Shivery KnottMiddle CragHigh ToveFisher Crag

⬇️ Download GPX

⚠️ Warnings: Access: The summit of Fisher Crag lies outside mapped CRoW open-access land. That records no statutory right of access — it is not a statement that access is forbidden, and permissive access is not recorded in that layer. This line is computed rather than walked, so treat the access as unchecked and look for the courteous way through — how we work this out.

Full route guide ↗

✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.

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 Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)

Water & shelter on the way up

On the Birketts West of Thirlmere route:

🚺 map (29 m)

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.

Places to stay near this fell

Dale Head Hall Lakeside Hotel hotel

about 3.5 km from the start, in a straight line

It is the only property in this cluster whose own site answers a family question. The rooms page names sixteen rooms, numbered Room 2 to Room 17, and states the floor for each: rooms 10, 11, 12 and 13 are ground floor, and of those, Room 10 ("This room can accommodate two extra single beds for a family") and Room 11 ("This room can accommodate one extra bed for families and can be made as a twin") take extra beds - so a party with children and someone who cannot face stairs can be housed in one room without phoning first. Room 11 and Room 12 also state "Private patio space"; Room 10 does not. Against that, the site is silent on everything a wet walker asks - see unknowns - so this is a good family bed and an unproven walking one.

The hotel's grounds are inside a designated red squirrel reserve, and rather than lean on its postcode it publishes its front door as a what3words address, CRACKS.DIAMOND.RESPECTED.

  • Family rooms “A warm, traditionally designed family room, with one double and two single beds.”
  • Evening meal “Why not enjoy a trip out to nearby Keswick for the day before coming back and enjoying a delicious bar meal.”
  • Children “This room can accommodate two extra single beds for a family.”

What each place says about itself, quoted from their own site. We have not stayed at any of them, and there are no prices, no booking and no affiliate links. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap.

Other fells near Bell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)