Fairfield
Fairfield at 873m (2,864ft) gives its name to one of the great classic ridge walks of Lakeland — the Fairfield Horseshoe from Ambleside, a magnificent circuit taking in Hart Crag, Dove Crag, High Pike and Nab Scar.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 873 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 9° to 7°C, gusts to 26 mph, 1.4 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 873 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Fairfield at a glance
Fairfield
- Height
- 873 m (2,864 ft)
- How long
- ~3.5–4.5 h
- Weather today
- 🌦️ 9°/7°C, gusts 26 mph
- Parking
- Steel Fell (layby)
Field notes
This holds a place in my memory as one Easter weekend I trekked up here in bad weather from Ambleside and thought it wise to take in Cofa Pike and Grisedale Tarn. I bailed so effectively did this summit twice that day. The whole area takes its name from this fell, although there are many legs to it, to the north you traverse Cofa onto St. Sunday, to the east you have Hart Crag, the south Great Rigg that many would bag as most would be part way round the clockwise horseshoe route while others may come over from Seat Sandal if they're lucky enough to get parking at Dunmail Raise. What makes it a good spot and makes it a popular route, notwithstanding that you can start from the tourist town of Ambleside, is that there's plenty of room up there and has some stunning views all around.Routes up Fairfield
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Fairfield a Wainwright?
Fairfield is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list, the Fellranger list and the Marilyn list.
Where do you park for Fairfield?
We hold no car park within 2.5 km of the summit, so there is no short walk-in to recommend here. 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 Fairfield (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Bit of a hike in the Lake District (opens in new tab) — 23.0 km · 1488 m ascent · 6h 13m moving · 3 Apr 2023
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Fairfield
Best parking to hike Fairfield
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 Fairfield by bus
The 505 stops at Ambleside, at Hayes Garden Centre, 340 m from the start of Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside. 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 Fairfield
Hazard & Incident Information for Fairfield
A popular fell with a deceptive summit: a broad, flat, stony plateau that is a notorious navigation trap in cloud. Walkers regularly lose their bearings here and start down the wrong side — toward the steep crags and gullies that ring the northern and eastern faces above Deepdale and Grisedale. Most call-outs are lost or mislocated parties in poor visibility, not technical accidents.
- Summit plateau in cloud: Featureless and flat, with steep ground on three sides; in mist it is very easy to walk off on the wrong bearing. A compass and the discipline to trust it are essential — don't rely on cairns.
- North and east faces (Deepdale / Grisedale): Steep crags and gullies fall away from close to the plateau edge. Drift off-route here and the ground turns dangerous quickly.
- Cofa Pike: The narrow rocky little top toward St Sunday Crag involves a brief, exposed scramble — straightforward in good conditions, awkward in wind or ice.
Most common causes: Getting lost or descending the wrong ridge in cloud · Straying onto steep ground off the plateau · Underestimating exposure on the tops in bad weather
Local Mountain Rescue: Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team (opens in new tab) · Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team (opens in new tab) · Reviewed 13 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 Fairfield in cloud
Serious in cloudA rough, rocky summit ringed by crags, with no single obvious way off in poor visibility. A serious place to be caught in cloud: carry map and compass (or GPS) and know how to use them, or save it for a clear day.
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 Fairfield 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: Steel Fell (layby), about 3.0 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Fairfield (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 Fairfield
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
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 Fairfield
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Fairfield Horseshoe route:
On the Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
The view from Fairfield
The 360° skyline from Fairfield
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 Fairfield, by direction
- North: Raise (6 km), Stybarrow Dodd (7 km), Great Dodd (9 km), Blencathra (16 km), Atkinson Pike (17 km)
- East: High Street (8 km), Rampsgill Head (8 km), High Raise (9 km)
- South-west: Bowfell (13 km), Shelter Crags (13 km), Crinkle Crags (13 km), Crinkle Crags (13 km), Crinkle Crags (13 km), Crinkle Crags (13 km), Crinkle Crags South Top (13 km), Swirl How (14 km), Brim Fell (16 km), The Old Man of Coniston (16 km)
- West: Great End (14 km), Ill Crag (14 km), Green Gable (14 km), Broad Crag (15 km), Great Gable (15 km), Scafell Pike (15 km), Scafell (16 km), Kirk Fell (16 km), Pillar (19 km), High Stile (19 km), Black Crag (19 km), Red Pike (19 km), High Stile (19 km), Scoat Fell (20 km), Steeple (20 km), Haycock (21 km)
- North-west: Dollywaggon Pike (2 km), Nethermost Pike (3 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (4 km), Crag Hill (19 km), Eel Crag (19 km), Grasmoor (20 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (174 km, Wales), Carnedd Llewelyn (162 km, Wales), Merrick (119 km, Scotland), Aran Fawddwy (196 km, Wales), Moel Siabod (170 km, Wales), Cairnsmore of Carsphairn (115 km, Scotland), The Cheviot (122 km, England), Cairnsmore of Fleet (102 km, Scotland).
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 Fairfield
Fairfield catches the sun before the valley does. On not one of the sixteen dates modelled does this summit wait for first light — the eastern horizon falls away rather than standing over you, and at midsummer the light reaches it 6 minutes before almanac sunrise.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:31 BST ±5.0 min | 04:37 | -6 min |
| Equinox | 06:10 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:15 | -5 min |
| Midwinter | 08:28 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:32 | -4 min |
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.33°).
Last light — when the sun leaves Fairfield
Fairfield 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 7 minutes after the valley has lost it.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:59 BST ±5.0 min | 21:52 | +7 min |
| Equinox | 18:27 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:26 | +1 min |
| Midwinter | 15:57 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:49 | +8 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 Fairfield. 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 Fairfield
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales and Scotland.
- Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) Wales
- Carnedd Llewelyn Wales
- Merrick Scotland
- Ingleborough Yorkshire Dales
- Whernside Yorkshire Dales
- Great Dun Fell North Pennines
- Cross Fell North Pennines
- Morecambe Bay bay/estuary
All 124 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Hart Crag, Great Rigg, Seat Sandal, Dollywaggon Pike, St Sunday Crag, Dove Crag, Hartsop Above How (Gill Crag - Hartsop Above How), High Pike (Scandale), Heron Pike (Rydal), Helvellyn, Steel Fell (Dead Pike - Steel Fell), Helm Crag, Catstye Cam, Birkhouse Moor, Middle Dodd, Gibson Knott, Red Screes, Hartsop Dodd, Raise, Calf Crag, Tarn Crag (Easedale), Brock Crags (Wainwright), Silver How, Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor), Glenridding Dodd, Angletarn Pikes (Angletarn Pikes North Top), Sheffield Pike, Ullscarf, Loughrigg Fell, Gray Crag, Blea Rigg, Place Fell, Stybarrow Dodd, Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top), Thornthwaite Crag, Rest Dodd, Sergeant Man, The Knott (High Street), Hart Side, Baystones (Wansfell), Froswick, The Nab, Pavey Ark, High Tove, Rampsgill Head, Ill Bell, Thunacar Knott, Harrison Stickle, Great Dodd, Kidsty Pike, Beda Fell (Beda Head), High Raise (High Street), Lingmoor Fell (Brown How), Great Crag (Stonethwaite), Yoke, Pike of Stickle, Black Fell, Harter Fell (Mardale), Grange Fell (Brund Fell), Wether Hill, Sour Howes, Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit), Glaramara, Kentmere Pike, Pike of Blisco, Loadpot Hill, Holme Fell, Bowfell, Allen Crags, Cold Pike, Bonscale Pike, Shipman Knotts, Wetherlam, Esk Pike, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), High Spy, Base Brown, Great End, Arthur's Pike, Great Carrs, Little Mell Fell, Dale Head, Cat Bells (Catbells), Swirl How, Great Mell Fell, Grey Knotts, Green Gable, Brandreth, Great Gable, Scafell Pike, Hindscarth, Fleetwith Pike, Brim Fell, Scafell, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Kirk Fell, The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man), Robinson, Barrow, Causey Pike, Dow Crag, Ard Crags, Bannerdale Crags, Scar Crags, High Crag (Buttermere), Sail, Harter Fell (Eskdale), Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Pillar, Wandope, Bowscale Fell, Grisedale Pike, Whiteless Pike, Red Pike (Wasdale), Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell), Hopegill Head, Red Pike (Buttermere), Lord's Seat, Whinlatter (Brown How - Whinlatter), Carrock Fell, Seatallan, Great Borne, Crag Fell, Grike
How Fairfield’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 Rydal: 7 places in Ambleside · From Ambleside or Grasmere: 3 places
Frequently asked questions about Fairfield
Is the Fairfield Horseshoe hard?
It's a long, strenuous day rather than a technical one. The classic Fairfield Horseshoe from Ambleside is about 16 km (10 miles) with some 1,000 m of ascent, taking in eight or so summits, so it demands stamina and a full day — but there's no scrambling on the standard round.
The serious part is Fairfield's broad summit, a notorious navigation trap, plus the steep crags on its northern side. Fitness and navigation matter more than technical skill.
How long does the Fairfield Horseshoe take?
Allow 6–7 hours for the full round at a steady pace, more with plenty of stops or in poor conditions. It's roughly 16 km (10 miles) with around 1,000 m of total ascent over the day, so it's a committing outing — start early and leave a good margin of daylight.
What is the route of the Fairfield Horseshoe?
It's a sweeping circular from Ambleside, up one arm and down the other over Fairfield (873 m) at the head. A common direction goes up the eastern arm over Low Pike, High Pike, Dove Crag and Hart Crag to Fairfield, then back down the western arm over Great Rigg, Heron Pike and Nab Scar to Rydal.
Either direction works; the views are superb throughout, with the steep, dramatic ground falling away on the northern (Deepdale/Grisedale) side.
Is Fairfield's summit dangerous, and is it easy to get lost?
Fairfield's top is a broad, flat, stony plateau with few features — one of the classic places in the Lakes to lose your bearings in cloud — and it's ringed on its northern side by steep crags dropping to Deepdale and Grisedale. People regularly set off on the wrong bearing here and end up above that steep ground or in the wrong valley.
Take and trust a compass bearing before leaving the summit, keep well back from the northern edge, and in winter the corniced edges make it serious mountaineering ground.
Sources: Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team (opens in new tab)
Is the Fairfield Horseshoe suitable for beginners?
It's best kept for when you've some hill fitness and a few fells behind you. There's no scrambling, but the length, ascent and exposed, navigation-tricky summit make it a big day for a newcomer.
A fit beginner can enjoy it in clear, settled weather with proper kit, a map and compass, and an early start — but it's not a first-fell choice, and the broad top is unforgiving in mist.
Sources: Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team (opens in new tab)
Is the Fairfield Horseshoe boggy?
Parts of it, yes. The eastern arm between Low Pike and High Pike is notably boggy — there's even a 'Deep Bog' warning sign on that stretch — so expect wet, soft ground there, especially after rain. Wear waterproof boots.
The higher ridges and summit are drier and stony, but the lower flanks and cols hold water; pick careful lines through the wettest sections.
What should I wear and take for the Fairfield Horseshoe?
Wear proper walking boots (with grip for stony ground and waterproofing for the boggy east ridge) and carry warm, windproof and waterproof layers — the high ridges and summit are exposed and cold.
Take a map and compass and know how to use them (essential for Fairfield's featureless top), plenty of food and water for a long day, and a charged phone. Check the mountain forecast, start early, and carry full winter kit when there's snow.
Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-06-14 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)
Other fells near Fairfield
- Arnison Crag
- Birkhouse Moor
- Birks
- Catstye Cam
- Clough Head
- Dollywaggon Pike
- Dove Crag
- Glenridding Dodd
- Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit)
- Great Dodd
- Great Mell Fell
- Great Rigg
- Hart Crag
- Hart Side
- Hartsop Above How (Gill Crag)
- Helvellyn
- Heron Pike (Rydal)
- High Hartsop Dodd
- High Pike (Scandale)
- Little Hart Crag (West Top)
- Little Mell Fell
- Low Pike
- Middle Dodd
- Nab Scar
- Nethermost Pike
- Raise
- Red Screes
- Seat Sandal
- Sheffield Pike
- St Sunday Crag
- Stone Arthur
- Stybarrow Dodd
- Watson's Dodd
- White Side