Black Sails
Black Sails at 745m (2,444ft) is an intermediate top on the ridge between Swirl How and Wetherlam, a rocky summit that sits at the head of Greenburn Beck above Little Langdale.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 745 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 11° to 8°C, gusts to 33 mph, 1.9 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 745 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Black Sails at a glance
Routes up Black Sails
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Black Sails a Wainwright?
Black Sails is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Nuttall list.
Where do you park for Black Sails?
The nearest car park we hold is Hell Gill Pike (verge, south), about 2.0 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Three Shire Stone, Wrynose Pass (verge), 2.0 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 Black Sails?
The shortest way up we hold is Black Sails & Great How — 10.8 km, 773 m of ascent, about 3.4 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.
All axes: steepness: Severe · navigation: Hard · exposure: Hard · length: Moderate · terrain: Moderate.
My hikes over Black Sails (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Awesome trek up Wetherlam, Swirl How, Great Carrs, Grey Friars, Brim Fell, Dow Crag & Old Man of Coniston. (opens in new tab) — 19.2 km · 1417 m ascent · 5h 34m moving · 31 Aug 2024
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Black Sails
Best parking to hike Black Sails
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 Black Sails by bus
The 517 stops at Little Langdale, outside Three Shires Inn. From there it is 4.6 km and 352 m of ascent to the start of Black Sails & Great How — a walk in before the walk. We haven’t published last buses, Sunday or winter service yet, so check the timetable before you rely on getting back.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Hazards on Black Sails
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
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Hell Gill Pike (verge, south), about 2.0 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Black Sails (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 Black Sails
✎️ 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.
Places to stay near this fell
From Wrynose Pass: 2 places in Grasmere
Other fells near Black Sails
- Allen Crags
- Black Fell
- Bowfell
- Brim Fell
- Cold Pike
- Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle)
- Dow Crag
- Esk Pike
- Glaramara
- Great Carrs
- Great End
- Green Crag
- Grey Friar
- Hard Knott
- Harter Fell (Eskdale)
- Holme Fell
- Illgill Head
- Lingmell
- Lingmoor Fell (Brown How)
- Pike of Blisco
- Rossett Pike
- Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
- Scafell
- Scafell Pike
- Seathwaite Fell (Wainwright summit)
- Slight Side
- Swirl How
- The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man)
- Wetherlam
- Whin Rigg (Wasdale)