524 mWainwright — Western Fells+19 bonus Birketts within 3 km
Gavel Fell at 524m (1,720ft) is a broad, heathery summit between Ennerdale and Loweswater, giving wide views of the western fells. Wainwright included it in his Western Fells guide. The ascent from Loweswater or Ennerdale is across pleasant moorland.
Summit conditions on Gavel Fell
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 6°C, gusts to 64 mph, 2.5 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
57mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour
The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 52 mph times our exposure factor of 1.08. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 64 mph, before any exposure factor.
under 25
25–35
35–45
45–55
55+
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 checkedcold: feels like 3 °C, no ice or snow forecast; cloud: a clear-top reading of 40 out of 100, over our in-cloud line of 20; rain: 2.5 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
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 →
77, 3.2 km walk from Lanthwaite Green Farm (opposite). Seasonal: the 77 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day.
77, 3.2 km walk from Lanthwaite Green Farm (opposite). Seasonal: the 77 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day.
Times run from fast to steady pace (Naismith’s rule). Scrambling quotes each route’s own notes; “not mentioned” means they do not say, not that the ground has none. Each route’s page has its map, stages and GPX.
Distance, climb and the steepest stretch are measured from each route’s GPX track; the other grades are set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap, and each route page says which. How we check →
Is Gavel Fell a hard walk?
Not on the fell itself. It is a rounded grassy fell in the quiet Loweswater group with even slopes and no rock to negotiate anywhere on the ordinary lines.
Our round with Blake Fell and Hen Comb is 14.0 km with 764 m of ascent, with a steepest sustained pull of about 33% on the climb to Hen Comb, and navigation graded hard. The navigation is what catches people: these western fells are rolling, boggy and sparsely pathed, the tops look alike, and the way on to Hen Comb, past Whiteoak Moss and Floutern Tarn, is wet.
If it is full: Car park for Loweswater Fell (free) (1.0 km, 38 m up); Lanthwaite Wood, Crummock Water (NT, paid) (1.7 km, 61 m up); Darling Fell (layby) (2.9 km, 141 m up)
Kelton Fell (layby) — 2.9 km from summit (straight line)
Bowness Knott, Ennerdale (Forestry, paid) — 3.2 km from summit (straight line)
Forestry England car park at the end of the Ennerdale valley road, on the lake's north shore (OS NY 110 154; parking charges apply since 2023) — Great Borne, Starling Dodd, and the long walk-ins to Pillar and Steeple. Fees (Forestry England, read 17 October 2026): up to 2 hours £3, up to 4 hours £6, all day £10; cards only, or RingGo within 48 hours; Blue Badge holders pay; free to Forestry England members; no overnight stays. The last 4 km of road to the car park is narrow and bendy, with few passing places, and there is no vehicle access beyond it.
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 77 stops at Lanthwaite Green Farm (opposite). From there it is 3.2 km and 118 m of ascent to the start of Around Loweswater — a route we rate Severe overall (hardest: steepness) — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 25.6 km in all, with the walk.Seasonal: the 77 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day. It returns on 22 March 2027. Confirmed with the operator: its last day on 29 August 2026, its return on 16 October 2026. As timetabled from 27 October to 1 November. Towards Keswick (77): Tuesday to Sunday 18:03. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 12 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
Catch it from: Keswick (connect via 555 from Windermere/Ambleside or X4/X5 from Penrith)
Seasonal (Summer 2026 timetable: 23 March to 1 November 2026). Brilliant for the North Western fells: Catbells, Dale Head from Honister, the Buttermere fells and Whinlatter.
Notes from a planned route, not walked: Around Loweswater
If you need to get off (the leg from Blake Fell): The route's own descent to Highnook Beck (stage 7) leaves from this col, after the out-and-back to Gavel Fell; no other way down from Fothergill Head has been checked for this guide.
Quoted from the route page of a planned route, drawn from the map and not yet walked: the note for the leg that reaches Gavel Fell.
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
Not graded by the model
Our terrain model finds nothing to grade on this summit, so it gives no cloud grade here — that is not a sign of easy navigation. Read this fell’s hazard notes and the route pages before a day in cloud. 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 Gavel Fell 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.
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 Gavel Fell
The 360° skyline from Gavel Fell
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
North-east: Whiteside (6 km), Whiteside East Top (7 km), Hopegill Head (8 km), Sand Hill (8 km), Hobcarton Crag (8 km), Grisedale Pike (9 km), Skiddaw South Top (18 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (18 km), Skiddaw (18 km), Skiddaw North Top (18 km), Broad End (18 km), Great Sca Fell (23 km)
East: Grasmoor (6 km), Whiteless Pike (6 km), Thirdgill Head Man (7 km), Wandope (7 km), Crag Hill (8 km), Robinson (9 km), Dale Head (11 km), Ullscarf (19 km), Watson's Dodd (22 km), White Side (22 km), Raise (23 km), Stybarrow Dodd (23 km), Catstye Cam (23 km)
South-east: Red Pike (5 km), High Stile (6 km), High Stile (6 km), Steeple (8 km), Scoat Fell (8 km), Pillar (8 km), Black Crag (8 km), Kirk Fell (11 km), Kirk Fell East Top (11 km), Great Gable (12 km), Scafell (15 km), Great End (15 km), Low White Stones (19 km), High Raise (19 km)
South: Caw Fell (8 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Slieve Donard (171 km, Ireland), Merrick (96 km, Scotland), Snaefell (78 km, Isle of Man), Cairnsmore of Carsphairn (95 km, Scotland), Cairnsmore of Fleet (78 km, Scotland), Corserine (92 km, Scotland), Lamachan Hill (90 km, Scotland), South Barrule (96 km, Isle of Man).
Gavel Fell waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls on 1 February, when the sun is up for 21 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 08:24 against an almanac sunrise of 08:03. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the east-south-east from here (123.4°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 2.36°.
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
04:36 BST ±5.0 min
04:38
-2 min
Equinox
06:21 GMT ±5.0 min
06:17
+4 min
Midwinter
08:48 GMT ±5.0 min
08:34
+14 min
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.04°).
Last light — when the sun leaves Gavel Fell
Gavel Fell 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 3 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
21:57 BST ±5.0 min
21:54
+3 min
Equinox
18:32 GMT ±5.0 min
18:27
+5 min
Midwinter
15:56 GMT ±5.0 min
15:50
+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 Gavel Fell
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.
45Wainwrights in view+11 marginal
176 kmFurthest sightlineSlieve Binnian · possible under favourable refraction
1Sea in viewIrish Sea
On the clearest days the view reaches across to Scotland, the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland.
How the view from Gavel Fell 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 Gavel Fell. 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.
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).
