Ling Fell

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Summited July 2024

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374 mWainwright — North Western Fells+5 bonus Birketts within 3 km Fewer traps in Clag

Ling Fell at 374m (1,227ft) is a small, heathery summit above Wythop Mill near Bassenthwaite Lake, its modest top giving pleasant views across the lake and north to the Solway.

Summit conditions on Ling Fell

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 14° to 7°C, gusts to 58 mph, 6.1 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

54 mph, 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 1.05. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 58 mph, before any exposure factor.

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.

Rain, and the becks

Past the line

6.1 mm of rain over the whole day, midnight to midnight

The same figure as the summit line above and the 7-day forecast.

The line Our line: 6 mm in the day, where our scorer counts a day as soaking. We read rainfall, never river levels: becks in spate.

Open-Meteo’s forecast. It says nothing about rain already in the ground.

Also checked cold: feels like 5 °C, no ice or snow forecast; cloud: a clear-top reading of 43 out of 100, over our in-cloud line of 20. 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

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

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 →

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Routes up Ling Fell

Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.

Ling Fell & Sale Fell Walked by Lee

4.98 km · ~422 m ascent · ~1½–2½ h · loop · 2 summits

Easy effort Hard: steepness

Park: unnamed layby north-east of Ling Fell · Bus: X5, 2.7 km walk from Embleton Close Barn (near)

Two small grassy tops near Wythop — 5 km and 422 m, and the only route in this group rated easy on every axis but steepness. A stage averages 16%. About 1½–2½ hours.

Distance and climb are measured from the route’s GPX track, and the time from them by Naismith’s rule; the route page says what each grade rests on. How we check →

How hard is Ling Fell, and how long does it take?

It is one of the easiest Wainwrights. Ling Fell is a rounded, heathery dome of 374 m (1,227 ft) above the Wythop valley, and a typical round takes about an hour and a half — less if you go straight up and straight back down.

There is no scrambling and nothing exposed: the ground is grass and heather, though our round comes off it steeply, about 37%, towards Sale Fell. The one caveat is underfoot — our fixed bogginess rating is 0.55 on a 0–1 scale, an estimate for the ground in general, not a reading of current conditions, so the lower slopes and the saddle can be soft after wet weather. Boots rather than trainers if it has been raining.

How we check →

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 374 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast

Tue 27 Oct

14° / 7°

58 mph

6.1 mm (100%)

Wed 28 Oct

11° / 8°

45 mph

4.4 mm (98%)

Thu 29 Oct

11° / 8°

21 mph

0.4 mm (0%)

Fri 30 Oct

11° / 4°

20 mph

0.3 mm (13%)

Sat 31 Oct

12° / 2°

4 mph

0.0 mm (24%)

Sun 1 Nov

9° / 2°

10 mph

0.0 mm (16%)

Mon 2 Nov

9° / 3°

12 mph

0.0 mm (0%)

Taken 27 October 2026, 08:13 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

Parking & buses for Ling Fell

Parking

Where do you park for Ling Fell?

The usual start is the Wythop valley lane where our Ling Fell and Sale Fell round begins. There is no car park — parking is informal roadside space and there is very little of it.

Park considerately, keep gateways and passing places clear, and if the verge is full, come back another day rather than squeezing in. These are working farm lanes.

Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.

Ling Fell, north-east (layby) — 0.1 km from the start of Ling Fell & Sale Fell (straight line)

Walking base for Ling Fell, Sale Fell, Rivings and Lothwaite — the 'Ling Fell & Sale Fell' route starts 80 m away. Also serves 'Rivings and Lothwaite'. Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Roadside parking for Ling Fell (free) — 0.6 km from summit (straight line)

Approx 5 spaces. 0.6 km from Ling Fell. Added from the 5 August 2026 OSM candidate review.

Directions Something changed here?

Ling Fell (layby) — 0.9 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Ling Fell (0.9 km), Burthwaite Heights (1.6 km), Sale Fell (1.8 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

2 more places to park near Ling Fell

Burthwaite Heights (layby) — 1.0 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Burthwaite Heights (0.5 km), Ling Fell (1.0 km), Sale Fell (1.0 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Ling Fell, north-west (layby) — 1.9 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Ling Fell (1.9 km). Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Positions are approximate.

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 X4 and X5 stop at Embleton Close Barn (near). From there it is 2.7 km and 151 m of ascent to the start of Ling Fell & Sale Fell — a route we rate Hard overall (hardest: steepness) — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 10.4 km in all, with the walk. As timetabled from 27 October to 1 November. Towards Keswick (X5): Tuesday to Thursday 21:35; Friday and Saturday 23:50; Sunday 17:55. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 24 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

Stagecoach X4 / X5

Penrith – Rheged – Threlkeld – Keswick – Braithwaite – Cockermouth – Workington

Catch it from: Penrith

Year-round, every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday between Penrith and Keswick and hourly on Sundays, from outside Penrith station. One ticket from any station on the West Coast Main Line to Keswick includes this bus: search for ‘Keswick Bus (KWK)’ when you book the train. From Penrith this is your way into Keswick and the Northern fells — Threlkeld/Scales stops serve Blencathra directly, Braithwaite serves the Coledale fells.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat

Hazards on Ling 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

Fewer traps in cloud

Of the three things our terrain model measures, the highest reading here is the amount of near-level ground around the summit. This top is in the lowest of the index’s four bands, and a low band never means “safe”: 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 Ling 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.

From Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s guidance on calling them out (opens in new tab) (read 26 October 2026).

Map, GPX and nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).

Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.

Birketts within 3 km of Ling Fell

These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.

0.9 km ESEBurthwaite Heights318 m · North Western

2.0 km ENERivings335 m · North Western

2.1 km SSWKirk Fell (Lorton)437 m · North Western

2.1 km SGraystones455 m · North Western

2.6 km ENELothwaite345 m · North Western

Routes over Ling Fell

Ling Fell & Sale Fell

4.98 km · ~422 m ascent · loop · ~1½–2½ h

Easy effort Hard: steepness

Summits: Ling FellSale Fell

Download GPX Walked by Lee, July 2024

Route guide: Ling Fell & Sale Fell →

Every line here is a guide, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate for yourself and carry a map and compass. How to use this guide.

About Ling Fell

Wainwright included it as one of the easier North Western Fells, suitable for a short outing. The ascent from Wythop Mill or Sale Fell is very short. Often combined with Sale Fell as a gentle half-day circuit above Bassenthwaite.

My Strava hikes over Ling Fell

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Ling Fell & Sale Fell: Won't be rushing to do these again (opens in new tab) — 4.9 km · 408 m ascent · 1h 23m moving · 27 July 2024

Data from Strava.

Classifications & hill data

Selected lists

374 m

Height

1,227 ft

In feet

NY 1799 2853

Grid ref

This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.

The summit is also a Birkett.

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 Ling Fell

The 360° skyline from Ling 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: Lowthwaite Fell (12 km), Frozen Fell (12 km), Longlands Fell (12 km), Little Sca Fell (12 km), Great Sca Fell (12 km), Brae Fell (13 km)
East: Dodd (7 km), Long Side (7 km), Carl Side (8 km), Skiddaw South Top (8 km), Skiddaw (8 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (8 km), Skiddaw North Top (8 km), Broad End (8 km), Skiddaw Little Man (9 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (9 km), Knott (12 km), Clough Head (16 km), Gowbarrow Fell (24 km), Bonscale Pike (29 km), Arthur's Pike (29 km)
South: Ladyside Pike (6 km), Grisedale Pike (6 km), Gasgale Crags (6 km), Hopegill Head (6 km), Whiteside East Top (6 km), Hobcarton Crag (7 km), Sand Hill (7 km), Whiteside (7 km), Eel Crag (8 km), Grasmoor (8 km), Crag Hill (8 km)
South-west: Loweswater End (10 km), Carling Knott (10 km), Burnbank Fell (10 km), Blake Fell (11 km), Sharp Knott (11 km), Gavel Fell (11 km), Gavel Fell (12 km)
North-west: Criffel (40 km)

On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Slieve Donard (180 km, Ireland), Merrick (94 km, Scotland), Snaefell (88 km, Isle of Man), Cairnsmore of Carsphairn (91 km, Scotland), Cairnsmore of Fleet (78 km, Scotland), Corserine (90 km, Scotland), Lamachan Hill (89 km, Scotland), Green Lowther (88 km, Scotland).

Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills v18.4 (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.

Sunrise and sunset on Ling Fell

Ling Fell waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls on 1 December, when the sun is up for 33 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 08:46 against an almanac sunrise of 08:13. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the south-east from here (135.4°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 3.17°.

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	04:34 BST ±5.0 min	04:37	-3 min
Equinox	06:39 GMT ±5.0 min	06:16	+23 min
Midwinter	09:05 GMT ±5.0 min	08:34	+31 min

A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.15°).

Last light — when the sun leaves Ling Fell

The evening here runs close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its earliest evening of the modelled year (at midwinter) last light is only 3 minutes before almanac sunset, so the published sunset time is a fair guide on Ling Fell.

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	21:58 BST ±5.0 min	21:54	+4 min
Equinox	18:31 GMT ±5.0 min	18:27	+4 min
Midwinter	15:46 GMT ±5.0 min	15:49	-3 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 Ling Fell

On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.

28Wainwrights in view+3 marginal

180 kmFurthest sightlineSlieve Donard · possible under favourable refraction

2Sea in viewIrish Sea, Solway Firth

On the clearest days the view reaches across to Scotland, the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland.

Far horizons

Slieve Donard Northern IrelandWSW · 180 km clear
Merrick ScotlandNW · 95 km clear
Snaefell Isle of ManWSW · 88 km clear
Criffel ScotlandNW · 41 km distant
Solway Firth bay/estuaryNW · 30 km in view
Irish Sea open waterW · 25 km in view

All 28 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)

Sale Fell, Graystones (Graystones North Top), Whinlatter (Brown How - Whinlatter), Grisedale Pike, Hopegill Head, Ullock Pike, Dodd (Skiddaw), Whiteside (Whiteside West Top), Long Side, Low Fell, Carl Side, Skiddaw, Grasmoor, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Binsey, Skiddaw Little Man, Burnbank Fell, Great Cockup, Blake Fell, Meal Fell, Longlands Fell, Gavel Fell, Knott, Great Sca Fell, Brae Fell, Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit), Bonscale Pike, Arthur's Pike

How the view from Ling 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 Ling 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.

Places to stay near this fell

Embleton Spa Hotel (opens in new tab) hotelabout 1.6 km
Bassenfell Manor Christian Centre (opens in new tab) hostelabout 4.7 km

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).

Frequently asked questions about Ling Fell

How hard is Ling Fell, and how long does it take? Answered above.

Is Ling Fell a Wainwright?

Yes — one of the smallest, in the North Western Fells above Bassenthwaite Lake. It is also a Birkett, a Fellranger and a Synge, so a single short walk ticks four lists at once.

Its natural partner is Sale Fell, the matching dome on the other side of the Wythop valley — most people bag the two together.

Can you do Ling Fell and Sale Fell together?

Yes, and it is the usual way to walk them. The two sit either side of the Wythop valley and share the same approach lanes, so an afternoon covers both comfortably — roughly 1½–2½ hours of walking for the pair, allowing for the drop back into the valley between them.

If you only have time for one, Sale Fell is the slightly shorter climb with the better view down Bassenthwaite; Ling Fell is the quieter top.

Where do you park for Ling Fell? Answered above: Parking for Ling Fell.

Is Ling Fell a good fell for a poor-weather day?

It is one of the better choices when the high tops are in cloud. At 374 m it is more often clear than the high tops, though it can still be in cloud; the climb is short, and the view over Bassenthwaite and north towards the Solway is often clear when Skiddaw is not.

Lower-risk is not risk-free. It is a rounded, featureless top, so in genuinely thick cloud it is easier to walk off the wrong side than the modest height suggests — carry a map and compass and know how to use them. Check the live conditions before you set off.

Questions from Google’s “People also ask”. · Last updated 2026-07-27 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)

Ling Fell

Summit conditions on Ling Fell

Wind on the top

Rain, and the becks

Routes up Ling Fell

How hard is Ling Fell, and how long does it take?

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Parking & buses for Ling Fell

Parking

Where do you park for Ling Fell?

Buses

Hazards on Ling Fell

Navigating in cloud

If you need Mountain Rescue

Map, GPX and nearby Birketts

Birketts within 3 km of Ling Fell

Routes over Ling Fell

About Ling Fell

My Strava hikes over Ling Fell

Classifications & hill data

Selected lists

The view from Ling Fell

The 360° skyline from Ling Fell

Sunrise and sunset on Ling Fell

Last light — when the sun leaves Ling Fell

What you can see from Ling Fell

Places to stay near this fell

Frequently asked questions about Ling Fell

Other fells near Ling Fell