Blea Rigg
Blea Rigg at 541m (1,775ft) is a craggy, complex ridge above Easedale and Langdale, giving excellent views down into Great Langdale from its rocky summit.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 542 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Sat 12 Sep): 14° to 8°C, gusts to 42 mph, 35.2 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 15:36 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 542 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Blea Rigg at a glance
Blea Rigg
Routes up Blea Rigg
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Blea Rigg a Wainwright?
Blea Rigg is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.
Where do you park for Blea Rigg?
The nearest car park we hold is New Dungeon Ghyll (LDNPA, paid), about 1.6 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Stickle Ghyll (NT, paid), 1.7 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 Blea Rigg (Strava)
2 logged hikes pass over this summit:
- Sunrise Summit Stroll with Chris (opens in new tab) — 17.6 km · 850 m ascent · 4h 59m moving · 23 Mar 2025
- 8 Wainwrights today - had some catching up to do! (opens in new tab) — 14.5 km · 1013 m ascent · 4h 23m moving · 1 Jun 2024
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Blea Rigg
Best parking to hike Blea Rigg
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.
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 Blea Rigg by bus
The 555 stops at Grasmere, opposite Heaton Cooper Studio, 320 m from the start of West of Grasmere. Last bus: Monday to Friday 23:01 towards Kendal (555) and 21:53 towards Ambleside (555) and 20:53 towards Windermere (555) and 19:15 towards Bowness on Windermere (599); Saturday 23:01 towards Kendal (555) and 21:53 towards Ambleside (555) and 20:53 towards Windermere (555) and 19:15 towards Bowness on Windermere (599); Sunday 20:00 towards Windermere (555) and 19:30 towards Kendal (555) and 19:15 towards Bowness on Windermere (599). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 12 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 Blea Rigg
Hazard & Incident Information for Blea Rigg
A long, knotty ridge between Grasmere and Great Langdale, a tangle of rocky tops, tarns and criss-crossing paths that makes it one of the more confusing fells to navigate. The summit isn't obvious among the outcrops, the paths are poorly marked, there's a short wet rocky down-scramble, and steep crags fall toward Stickle Tarn. Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team covers this ground.
- Confusing rocky ridge & navigation: Ridge-upon-ridge of rocky knolls, several tarns and a web of faint, poorly-marked paths make this a genuinely confusing place — it's not always obvious which outcrop is the summit. Carry a compass and a 1:25k map, and be deliberate about your line, especially in cloud.
- Short rocky down-scramble & crags: There's a short rocky down-scramble that is often wet and slippery from the boggy fellside, and steep crags drop toward Stickle Tarn and the Langdale side. Take the rocky steps carefully and keep back from the crag edges.
- Bog & exposure: The ridge is boggy in places and exposed; in poor weather the combination of wet rock and confusing ground is taxing. Pick a clearer day if you can, and treat it as a navigation fell in winter.
Most common causes: Navigation errors among the maze of rocky tops, tarns and paths in cloud · Slips on the wet rocky down-scramble · Walkers straying toward the crags above Stickle Tarn · Disorientation on the complex ridge in poor visibility
Local Mountain Rescue: Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team (opens in new tab) · Reviewed 14 Jun 2026
Safety: Hazard guidance compiled from published Mountain Rescue reports and well-documented accident history - editorial background, not a live feed of callouts. Always check current conditions, carry proper navigation equipment, and seek qualified instruction before heading onto the fells. In an emergency, call 999, ask for Police, then Mountain Rescue.
Navigating Blea Rigg in cloud
Care neededA broad, gently-sloping top with little to steer by — easy to lose your bearings and hard to relocate in mist. Take care in poor visibility — 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 Blea Rigg 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: New Dungeon Ghyll (LDNPA, paid), about 1.6 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Blea Rigg (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 Blea Rigg
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 Blea Rigg
Water & shelter on the way up
On the West of Grasmere route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
The view from Blea Rigg
The 360° skyline from Blea Rigg
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 Blea Rigg, by direction
- North: Ullscarf (4 km), Watson's Dodd (12 km), Little Dodd (13 km), Great Dodd (13 km), Clough Head (15 km), Gategill Fell Top (20 km), Blencathra (20 km), Doddick Fell (20 km)
- North-east: Seat Sandal (6 km), Great Rigg (6 km), Fairfield (7 km), Dollywaggon Pike (7 km), High Crag (7 km), Hart Crag (8 km), Nethermost Pike (8 km), Helvellyn (8 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (8 km), St Sunday Crag (9 km), Gavel Pike (9 km)
- East: Dove Crag (8 km), Red Screes (10 km), Caudale Moor (11 km), Stony Cove Pike (12 km), Thornthwaite Crag (13 km), Ill Bell (14 km), Yoke (14 km)
- South: Wetherlam (7 km), Black Sails (7 km), Swirl How (8 km), Brim Fell (10 km), The Old Man of Coniston (10 km)
- South-west: Pike of Blisco (5 km), Cold Pike (6 km), Crinkle Crags (6 km), Shelter Crags (6 km), Crinkle Crags (6 km), Crinkle Crags (6 km), Crinkle Crags (6 km), Little Stand (7 km), Grey Friar (9 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Great Whernside (78 km, England), Winter Hill (100 km, England), Cyrn-y-Brain (159 km, Wales), Billinge Hill (109 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 Blea Rigg
Blea Rigg waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls at midsummer, when the sun is up for 20 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 04:57 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 (49.3°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 1.85°.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:57 BST ±5.0 min | 04:37 | +20 min |
| Equinox | 06:22 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:15 | +7 min |
| Midwinter | 08:28 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:33 | -5 min |
The northern horizon stands at about 2.35° from here.
Last light — when the sun leaves Blea Rigg
Blea Rigg loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls at midsummer, when last light is 52 minutes before almanac sunset — 21:00 against 21:52. The sun goes down to the north-west from here (304.5°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 5.39°.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:00 BST ±5.0 min | 21:52 | -52 min |
| Equinox | 17:56 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:26 | -30 min |
| Midwinter | 15:36 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:49 | -13 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 Blea Rigg. 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 Blea Rigg
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.- Ingleborough Yorkshire Dales
- Whernside Yorkshire Dales
- Morecambe Bay bay/estuary
All 49 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Tarn Crag (Easedale), Pavey Ark, Sergeant Man, Harrison Stickle, Loft Crag, Silver How, Gibson Knott, Helm Crag, Lingmoor Fell (Brown How), Steel Fell (Dead Pike - Steel Fell), Ullscarf, Pike of Blisco, Stone Arthur, Loughrigg Fell, Nab Scar, Heron Pike (Rydal), Seat Sandal, Cold Pike, Great Rigg, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Fairfield, Dollywaggon Pike, Wetherlam, High Pike (Scandale), Black Fell, Holme Fell, Hart Crag, Great Carrs, Nethermost Pike, Dove Crag, Swirl How, Helvellyn, Grey Friar, St Sunday Crag, Red Screes, Brim Fell, The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man), Baystones (Wansfell), Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor), Watson's Dodd, Thornthwaite Crag, Great Dodd, Sour Howes, Ill Bell, Yoke, Sallows, Clough Head, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Bannerdale Crags
How Blea Rigg’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 Grasmere: 10 places
Frequently asked questions about Blea Rigg
Is Blea Rigg hard to find?
That is exactly the right question, and yes — more than most fells its size. Blea Rigg is a long, knotty ridge between Grasmere and Great Langdale: a tangle of rocky tops, small tarns and criss-crossing paths, and the summit is not obviously the summit when you are standing on it.
There is no real climbing difficulty anywhere on it. Our round from west of Grasmere is 15.4 km with 806 m of ascent. Save it for a day you can see, or carry a bearing you trust.
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 Blea Rigg
- Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)
- Bleaberry Fell
- Calf Crag
- Eagle Crag
- Gibson Knott
- Grange Fell (Brund Fell)
- Great Crag (Stonethwaite)
- Harrison Stickle
- Helm Crag
- High Raise (High White Stones)
- High Rigg (Naddle Fell)
- High Seat
- High Tove
- Loft Crag
- Loughrigg Fell
- Pavey Ark
- Pike of Stickle
- Raven Crag
- Sergeant Man
- Sergeant's Crag
- Silver How
- Steel Fell (Dead Pike)
- Tarn Crag (Easedale)
- Thunacar Knott
- Ullscarf
- Walla Crag