Lank Rigg
Lank Rigg at 541m (1,775ft) is an isolated, remote summit above the Calder valley in the far western Lake District, its open top giving wide views to the coast and across the remote western moorlands.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 541 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 43 mph, 39.2 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 18:50 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 541 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Lank Rigg at a glance
Lank Rigg
Routes up Lank Rigg
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Lank Rigg a Wainwright?
Lank Rigg is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Fellranger list and the HuMP list.
Where do you park for Lank Rigg?
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.
How hard is Lank Rigg?
The shortest way up we hold is Grike, Crag Fell and Lank Rigg — 13.1 km, 618 m of ascent, about 3.6 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is navigation — Moderate.
All axes: navigation: Moderate · steepness: Moderate · length: Moderate · exposure: Easy · terrain: Easy.
My hikes over Lank Rigg (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Grike, Crag Fell and Lank Rigg (opens in new tab) — 13.1 km · 630 m ascent · 2h 48m moving · 24 May 2025
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Lank Rigg
Best parking to hike Lank 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. 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 Lank Rigg by bus
The nearest bus stop we hold is the 77 at Buttermere, outside Court Hotel, 14.3 km of walking from the start — not realistically reachable without a car. It is a seasonal service too: 1 November 2026 is its last day of the year (confirmed with the operator, 29 August 2026).
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Hazards on Lank Rigg
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.
Navigating Lank 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 Lank 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: Cold Fell road (verge), about 2.7 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Lank 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 Lank Rigg
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
The view from Lank Rigg
The 360° skyline from Lank 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 Lank Rigg, by direction
- North: Blake Fell (8 km), Carling Knott (9 km)
- North-east: Herdus (5 km), Great Borne (6 km), Starling Dodd (6 km), Little Dodd (7 km), Red Pike (8 km), Grasmoor (12 km), Wandope (12 km), Whiteside (13 km), Crag Hill (13 km), Whiteside East Top (13 km), Eel Crag (13 km), Gasgale Crags (13 km), Sail (14 km), Ladyside Pike (14 km), Knowe Crags (27 km), Gategill Fell Top (27 km), Blencathra (28 km), Atkinson Pike (28 km)
- East: Little Gowder Crag (5 km), Haycock (6 km), Steeple (7 km), Black Crag (7 km), Red Pike (8 km), Pillar (8 km), High Stile (8 km), High Crag (9 km)
- South-east: Seatallan (6 km), Whin Rigg (10 km), Scafell (13 km), Slight Side (14 km), Great Carrs (21 km), Swirl How (21 km)
- South: Whitfell (20 km), Burn Moor (20 km), Kinmont Buck Barrow (22 km), Buck Barrow (22 km), Great Paddy Crag (22 km), Black Combe (27 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (165 km, Wales), Slieve Donard (167 km, Ireland), Carnedd Llewelyn (153 km, Wales), Merrick (99 km, Scotland), Aran Fawddwy (191 km, Wales), Broad Law (112 km, Scotland), Snaefell (73 km, Isle of Man), Moel Siabod (162 km, Wales).
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 Lank Rigg
Lank Rigg sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (on 1 March) first light is only 18 minutes after almanac sunrise, so the published sunrise time is a fair guide here.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:51 BST ±5.0 min | 04:38 | +13 min |
| Equinox | 06:33 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:17 | +16 min |
| Midwinter | 08:39 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:34 | +5 min |
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.14°).
Last light — when the sun leaves Lank Rigg
Lank Rigg 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.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:57 BST ±5.0 min | 21:54 | +3 min |
| Equinox | 18:33 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:28 | +5 min |
| Midwinter | 15:57 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:50 | +7 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 Lank 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 Lank Rigg
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales, Scotland and the Isle of Man.
- Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) Wales
- Carnedd Llewelyn Wales
- Merrick Scotland
- Snaefell Isle of Man
- Criffel Scotland
- Solway Firth bay/estuary
- Irish Sea open water
All 28 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Grike, Crag Fell, Caw Fell, Haycock, Great Borne, Seatallan, Starling Dodd, Steeple, Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell), Gavel Fell, Red Pike (Wasdale), Red Pike (Buttermere), Pillar, Blake Fell, High Stile, Whin Rigg (Wasdale), Whiteless Pike, Grasmoor, Wandope, Whiteside (Whiteside West Top), Scafell, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Sail, Slight Side, Causey Pike, Great Carrs, Swirl How, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top
How Lank 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.
Frequently asked questions about Lank Rigg
Is Lank Rigg worth the walk?
It depends entirely on what you want from a day. There is no difficulty in it — broad grassy slopes, moderate gradients throughout, and our round with Grike and Crag Fell is 13.1 km with 618 m of ascent.
What Lank Rigg offers is emptiness. It sits in the far western fells beyond Ennerdale where almost nobody goes, and you can have the whole afternoon to yourself. If that is the point of the day it is one of the best in the district; if you want rock and drama it is not.
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 Lank Rigg
- Base Brown
- Blake Fell
- Brandreth
- Buckbarrow
- Burnbank Fell
- Caw Fell
- Crag Fell
- Fellbarrow - Mosser Fell
- Fleetwith Pike
- Gavel Fell
- Great Borne
- Great Gable
- Green Gable
- Grey Knotts
- Grike
- Haycock
- Haystacks (Buttermere)
- Hen Comb
- High Crag (Buttermere)
- High Stile
- Kirk Fell
- Low Fell
- Mellbreak (Mellbreak South Top)
- Middle Fell
- Pillar
- Red Pike (Buttermere)
- Red Pike (Wasdale)
- Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell)
- Seatallan
- Starling Dodd
- Steeple
- Yewbarrow