Binsey

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Summited July 2024

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447 mWainwright — Northern Fells Fewer traps in Clag

Binsey at 447m (1,466ft) is a solitary, isolated fell above Bassenthwaite village, its rounded summit entirely separate from any other fell group.

Summit conditions on Binsey

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 13° to 7°C, gusts to 55 mph, 5.4 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.

Against our lines, Tuesday 27 October: wind, cold and cloud from the Met Office UKV 2 km model (daylight hours, as in the verdict above); rain from the summit line’s forecast (the whole day). A tile is large when this top is past its line.

Wind on the top

Past the line

55 mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour

The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 47 mph times our exposure factor of 1.18. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 55 mph, before any exposure factor.

The line Our line: 25 mph, where our wind Scale begins its 25–35 band: “balance affected; buffeting on exposed ground”. MWIS (opens in new tab) describes what wind does to a walker across a range rather than at a line: from about 20–25 mph it starts to affect your balance.

Estimated: it is not calibrated against summit readings, and the two forecasts can disagree by more than a band.

Also checked cold: feels like 4 °C, no ice or snow forecast; cloud: a clear-top reading of 53 out of 100, over our in-cloud line of 20; rain: 5.4 mm in the day, under our 6 mm line. Under a line is not the same as fine: it means only that these figures are under the lines we use.

Not in these tiles Lightning, river levels, snow or ice already lying, and the ground under your feet. A tile cannot see them, so an empty space here never means they are absent.

Snow figures with a second opinion: Powered by Met Office data

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

Wainwrights are scored for walking conditions each morning from the Met Office’s UK forecast model, read for each summit through Open-Meteo; the forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Routes up Binsey

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

Binsey Walk Walked by Lee

2.35 km · ~175 m ascent · ~¾–1¼ h · out and back · 1 summit

Easy effort Moderate: steepness

Park: Roadside parking for Binsey (free) · Bus: 554, 3.1 km walk from Bewaldeth, on road end

The northern outlier, and the biggest view-per-minute in the Lake District.

Distance and climb are measured from the route’s GPX track, and the time from them by Naismith’s rule; the route page says what each grade rests on. How we check →

Is Binsey an easy walk?

Yes, for most people. A short, steady pull on grass, about 20% at the steepest, with no rocky steps; a good first fell or short leg-stretch. It stands alone in the wind off the Solway with no shelter, so take a jacket even for half an hour.

Its reward is out of proportion: an isolated position gives it a huge all-round view — the northern fells one way, the Solway and southern Scotland the other.

How we check →

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 447 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast

Tue 27 Oct

13° / 7°

55 mph

5.4 mm (100%)

Wed 28 Oct

10° / 8°

36 mph

3.5 mm (98%)

Thu 29 Oct

11° / 8°

20 mph

0.1 mm (0%)

Fri 30 Oct

11° / 4°

15 mph

0.0 mm (13%)

Sat 31 Oct

12° / 2°

4 mph

0.0 mm (24%)

Sun 1 Nov

7° / 2°

9 mph

0.0 mm (16%)

Mon 2 Nov

8° / 1°

10 mph

0.0 mm (0%)

Taken 27 October 2026, 08:13 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

Parking & buses for Binsey

Parking

Where do you park for Binsey?

Roadside verge parking near Binsey Lodge, on the minor road between Bewaldeth and Ireby — informal and limited, so park considerately and don't block gates or the lane. There is no car park.

Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.

Roadside parking for Binsey (free) — at the start of Binsey Walk

Approx 3 spaces. 1.1 km from Binsey. Added from the 5 August 2026 OSM candidate review.

Directions Something changed here?

Bewaldeth, 1.9 km NW (layby) — 2.4 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Caermote Hill (0.9 km), St. John's Hill (Caermote Hill N Top) (1.3 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Caermote Hill, south-east (layby) — 2.5 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Caermote Hill (1.0 km), St. John's Hill (Caermote Hill N Top) (1.4 km). Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

2 more places to park near Binsey

Caermote Hill (layby) — 2.7 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Caermote Hill (0.9 km), St. John's Hill (Caermote Hill N Top) (1.4 km). Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Bassenthwaite (layby) — 3.0 km from summit (straight line)

Beside the A591 at its junction with the B5291 by the Castle Inn, about 1.1 km north-east of the end of Bassenthwaite Lake and 1.5 km west of Bassenthwaite village. The nearest route start is the 'Binsey Walk', 3.6 km on foot. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Positions are approximate.

Vehicles are left at their owner’s risk: we list places people park and cannot vouch for any of them. Take valuables with you and leave nothing on show.

Buses

The 554 stops at Bewaldeth, on road end. From there it is 3.1 km and 136 m of ascent to the start of Binsey Walk — a route we rate Moderate overall (hardest: steepness) — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 8.6 km in all, with the walk. We haven’t published last buses, Sunday or winter service yet, so check the timetable before you rely on getting back.

Stagecoach 554

Carlisle to Keswick via Dalston, Thursby, Wigton, Bothel and Bewaldeth, then the west shore of Bassenthwaite Lake (Castle Inn, High Side, Ravenstone, Osprey View Point) and the Portinscale road ends

Catch it from: Keswick · Carlisle

Seven days a week on the current timetable: eight journeys each way Monday to Friday and on Sundays, ten on Saturdays, run by Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire. The Carlisle side's way into the Northern fells without a car - Castle Inn and the Village turn for Binsey and the Uldale fells (Brae Fell, Little Sca Fell, Meal Fell), the Bassenthwaite Lake stops for Skiddaw, Dodd, Carl Side and Long Side, High Side Farm for Bakestall, The Pheasant for Latrigg and Lonscale Fell. Every stop's times are on this site's 554 page under Buses; last buses home are shown only where we have checked them.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat

Hazards on Binsey

Notes from the Binsey Walk route

Binsey is exposed to the west with nothing to shelter it — it can be far windier on top than the short climb suggests.
This is a short walk on open, exposed moorland with no shelter. It is over quickly, but Binsey stands alone on the northern edge of the Lakes and catches the weather off the Solway — a hat and a jacket are worth having even for half an hour.

Quoted from the route page: its warnings.

We have not written a hazard card for this fell yet, and that is not a sign that it is low-hazard. Read the warnings on the route pages that climb it, check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected. The National Park Authority’s What to pack page, AdventureSmart’s hill walking kit list and Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s safety page are linked from our what to carry guide.

Navigating in cloud

Fewer traps in cloud

Of the three things our terrain model measures, the highest reading here is the amount of near-level ground around the summit. This top is in the lowest of the index’s four bands, and a low band never means “safe”: carry map and compass and know how to use them.

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 Binsey compares with all 214: the Clag Index (experimental).

If you need Mountain Rescue

Dial 999 or 112 and ask for the Police, then Mountain Rescue.

Before you call, have ready: where you are (a grid reference if you can – the OS Locate app shows yours on your phone), what has happened, how many of you there are, and your mobile number.

Then stay where you are until the rescue team contacts you.

If you cannot make a voice call because of a hearing or speech impairment, emergency SMS works only if you have registered first: text “register” to 999.

From Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s guidance on calling them out (opens in new tab) (read 26 October 2026).

Map, GPX and nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).

Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.

Birketts within 3 km of Binsey

No bonus Birketts within 3 km.

Routes over Binsey

Binsey Walk

2.35 km · ~175 m ascent · out and back · ~¾–1¼ h

Easy effort Moderate: steepness

Summits: Binsey

Quite possibly the second-simplest Wainwright there is. It took me 33 minutes car to summit and back. You park at the bottom, walk up, and walk straight back down. If you want a Wainwright on a day with no time in it, or a first one for somebody who is not sure about hills, this is the walk.

Download GPX Walked by Lee, July 2024

Warnings: Binsey is exposed to the west with nothing to shelter it — it can be far windier on top than the short climb suggests. This is a short walk on open, exposed moorland with no shelter. It is over quickly, but Binsey stands alone on the northern edge of the Lakes and catches the weather off the Solway — a hat and a jacket are worth having even for half an hour.

Route guide: Binsey Walk →

Every line here is a guide, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate for yourself and carry a map and compass. How to use this guide.

About Binsey

Wainwright was fond of it for this very reason — the views from the top are surprisingly wide and unobstructed, with Bassenthwaite Lake to the south, Skiddaw to the east and the Solway to the north all visible. The short ascent from Binsey Lodge is rewarding for the effort involved. A good fell for children or beginners wanting a genuine Lakeland summit with wide views.

Field notes

447 m above sea level isn't much in Lakeland, and if you park where I did at the bottom to the south east of the “summit” then Binsey is probably one of the easiest Wainwrights to bag — perhaps after the Latrigg to the north of Keswick, and not the one that's literally a stone's throw away. Not many people will relish or brag about claiming this one. It may be a nothingburger in terms of stature, but it does have a quaint charm and is a welcome distraction from the large fells. Wainwright gave us variety, at least.

— Lee McCoy, who walked it on our Binsey Walk route in July 2024

My Strava hikes over Binsey

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Binsey - Boring. But not as boring as being stuck in the house (opens in new tab) — 2.4 km · 181 m ascent · 33 min moving · 27 July 2024

Data from Strava.

Classifications & hill data

Selected lists

447 m

Height

1,466 ft

In feet

NY 2251 3553

Grid ref

This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.

The summit is also a Birkett.

Lists, height and summit position from the Database of British and Irish Hills; the feet are converted from its metres and the grid reference from that position. How we check →

The view from Binsey

The 360° skyline from Binsey

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.

drag to pan · arrow keys

The skyline as a list, by direction

South-east: Broad End (7 km), Skiddaw North Top (7 km), Skiddaw (7 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (8 km), Skiddaw South Top (8 km), Knowe Crags (12 km), Atkinson Pike (12 km), Gategill Fell Top (12 km), Blencathra (13 km)
South: Carl Side (8 km), Grisedale Pike (13 km), Hobcarton Crag (14 km), Hopegill Head (14 km), Sand Hill (14 km), Eel Crag (15 km), Crag Hill (16 km), Sail (16 km), Grasmoor (16 km), Robinson (19 km), Dale Head (20 km), Combe Head (25 km), Great Gable (25 km), Glaramara (25 km), High Raise (27 km), Allen Crags (27 km), Great End (27 km), Broad Crag (28 km), Esk Pike (28 km), Ill Crag (28 km), Scafell Pike (28 km), Harrison Stickle (29 km), Scafell (29 km), Bowfell (29 km), Crinkle Crags (31 km), Great Carrs (35 km), Wetherlam (35 km), Swirl How (35 km), Black Sails (35 km), Brim Fell (37 km), The Old Man of Coniston (38 km)

On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Slieve Donard (186 km, Ireland), Merrick (94 km, Scotland), Snaefell (95 km, Isle of Man), Cairnsmore of Fleet (79 km, Scotland), Corserine (89 km, Scotland), Lamachan Hill (89 km, Scotland), Tinto (102 km, Scotland), White Coomb (80 km, Scotland).

Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills v18.4 (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.

Sunrise and sunset on Binsey

Binsey sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (on 1 January) first light is only 17 minutes after almanac sunrise, so the published sunrise time is a fair guide here.

Midsummer. The filled shape is the skyline as seen from the summit; the line is the sun’s path. Where they meet is first light — everything left of that point is the wait.

Times for 2026, in Lakeland clock time (GMT in winter, BST in summer) — and model outputs rather than observations.
	First light	Almanac sunrise	Difference
Midsummer	04:33 BST ±5.0 min	04:36	-3 min
Equinox	06:23 GMT ±5.0 min	06:16	+7 min
Midwinter	08:51 GMT ±5.0 min	08:35	+16 min

A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.23°).

Last light — when the sun leaves Binsey

Binsey holds the light. On not one of the sixteen dates modelled does the sun leave this summit before almanac sunset — the ground falls away westward rather than standing over you, and at midsummer it is still in the sun 2 minutes after the valley has lost it.

The evening of the same three days. A negative difference means a ridge takes the sun before the valley loses it.
	Last light	Almanac sunset	Difference
Midsummer	21:56 BST ±5.0 min	21:54	+2 min
Equinox	18:31 GMT ±5.0 min	18:27	+4 min
Midwinter	15:54 GMT ±5.0 min	15:48	+6 min

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 Binsey

On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.

67Wainwrights in view+2 marginal

186 kmFurthest sightlineSlieve Donard · possible under favourable refraction

2Sea in viewIrish Sea, Solway Firth

On the clearest days the view reaches across to Scotland, the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland.

Far horizons

Slieve Donard Northern IrelandWSW · 186 km clear
Snaefell Isle of ManWSW · 96 km clear
Merrick ScotlandWNW · 95 km clear
Criffel ScotlandNW · 38 km distant
Irish Sea open waterWSW · 31 km in view
Solway Firth bay/estuaryNW · 27 km in view

All 67 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)

Longlands Fell, Great Cockup, Meal Fell, Bakestall, Brae Fell, Sale Fell, Great Sca Fell, Ullock Pike, Skiddaw, Long Side, Knott, Great Calva, Carl Side, Ling Fell, Barf, Broom Fell, Lord's Seat, High Pike (Caldbeck), Graystones (Graystones North Top), Whinlatter (Brown How - Whinlatter), Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Grisedale Pike, Barrow, Hopegill Head, Outerside, Whiteside (Whiteside West Top), Fellbarrow - Mosser Fell, Causey Pike, Scar Crags, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Sail, Low Fell, Cat Bells (Catbells), Grasmoor, Maiden Moor, Mellbreak (Mellbreak South Top), Robinson, Hindscarth, High Spy, Blake Fell, Hen Comb, Dale Head, Gavel Fell, Great Borne, Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot, Sergeant's Crag, Crag Fell, Green Gable, Great Gable, Glaramara, High Raise (High White Stones), Allen Crags, Great End, Esk Pike, Thunacar Knott, Scafell Pike, Pike of Stickle, Harrison Stickle, Scafell, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Pike of Blisco, Great Carrs, Wetherlam, Swirl How, Brim Fell, The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man)

How the view from Binsey compares with all 214 — the View Report: every Wainwright ranked by what you can see from the top.

How the skyline, light and sightlines are computed

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 Binsey. 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.

Sightlines from the Copernicus GLO-30 elevation model, which is a surface model: each 30 m cell holds the top of whatever stands there, trees and buildings included, rather than bare ground. 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

Puddleduck Cottages (opens in new tab) guest houseabout 2.9 km
Bassenfell Manor Christian Centre (opens in new tab) hostelabout 3.0 km

We have not stayed at any of them. We take no bookings or affiliate fees. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).

Frequently asked questions about Binsey

How long does it take to walk up Binsey? Answered above: Routes up Binsey.

Is Binsey an easy walk? Answered above.

Is Binsey a Wainwright?

Yes — at 447 m (1,466 ft) it's a Wainwright, and a distinctive one: it stands alone in the far north-west, detached from every other fell in the district. That isolation is exactly why the view is so good.

Where do you park for Binsey? Answered above: Parking for Binsey.

Is Binsey dog friendly?

Yes — OpenStreetMap shows three gates and no stiles on our route (checked July 2026), so a dog should not need lifting; mapping can miss things. It's open grazing land, so keep dogs on a lead around the sheep.

Questions from Google’s “People also ask”. · Last updated 2026-07-19 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)

Binsey

Summit conditions on Binsey

Wind on the top

Routes up Binsey

Is Binsey an easy walk?

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Parking & buses for Binsey

Parking

Where do you park for Binsey?

Buses

Hazards on Binsey

Notes from the Binsey Walk route

Navigating in cloud

If you need Mountain Rescue

Map, GPX and nearby Birketts

Birketts within 3 km of Binsey

Routes over Binsey

About Binsey

Field notes

My Strava hikes over Binsey

Classifications & hill data

Selected lists

The view from Binsey

The 360° skyline from Binsey

Sunrise and sunset on Binsey

Last light — when the sun leaves Binsey

What you can see from Binsey

Places to stay near this fell

Frequently asked questions about Binsey

Other fells near Binsey