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542 m · Birkett — Central (not a Wainwright summit) · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Birkett — Central (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

Lining Crag

Lining Crag at 542m (1,778ft) is a Birkett top on the ridge above the Langstrath valley in the Central Fells, its rocky character giving views down into the wild Langstrath and across to the Eagle Crag ridge.

542 m
Height
+7
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX → Parking & buses →
542 mBirkett — Central (not a Wainwright summit)+7 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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 (Fri 11 Sep): 12° to 9°C, gusts to 26 mph, 2.4 mm of rain forecast.

Fri 11 Sep
🌦️
12° / 9°
💨 26 mph
🌧 2.4 mm (100%)
Sat 12 Sep
🌧️
14° / 9°
💨 45 mph
🌧 37.8 mm (100%)
Sun 13 Sep
🌦️
13° / 8°
💨 22 mph
🌧 0.4 mm (62%)
Mon 14 Sep
🌧️
14° / 8°
💨 32 mph
🌧 13.3 mm (100%)
Tue 15 Sep
🌦️
14° / 8°
💨 34 mph
🌧 8.4 mm (89%)
Wed 16 Sep
🌦️
11° / 9°
💨 32 mph
🌧 3.8 mm (78%)
Thu 17 Sep
🌦️
11° / 8°
💨 36 mph
🌧 6.2 mm (92%)

Forecast snapshot from 11 Sep 2026, 08:30 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.

Lining Crag at a glance

Lining Crag

Lining Crag at 542m (1,778ft) is a Birkett top on the ridge above the Langstrath valley in the Central Fells, its rocky character giving views down into the wild Langstrath and across to the Eagle Crag ridge. Part of the approach to Bowfell from Stonethwaite. An impressive position above one of Lakeland's finest remote valleys.

Routes up Lining Crag

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

Classifications & hill data

Birkett
Synge
542 m
Height
1,778 ft
In feet
NY 2830 1121
Grid ref

The short answers

Is Lining Crag a Wainwright?

Lining Crag is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and the Synge list.

Where do you park for Lining Crag?

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 Lining Crag?

The shortest way up we hold is Ullscarf, Eagle Crag & Sergeant's Crag — 14.8 km, 720 m of ascent, about 4.2 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.

All axes: steepness: Severe · navigation: Hard · exposure: Hard · length: Hard · terrain: Moderate.

Parking & buses for Lining Crag

Best parking to hike Lining Crag

Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).

Stonethwaite (roadside, limited) — 3.0 km from summit (straight line)
Small roadside area near the hamlet — Eagle Crag, Sergeant's Crag, Langstrath approaches.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Roadside parking for Great Crag (free) — 3.3 km from summit (straight line)
1.2 km from Great Crag. Added from the 5 Aug 2026 OSM candidate review.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Great Crag (layby) — 3.5 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Lining Crag, Ullscarf, Sergeant's Crag and Eagle Crag — the 'Ullscarf, Eagle Crag & Sergeant's Crag' route starts 17 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Great Crag, south-west (layby) — 3.6 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Lining Crag, Ullscarf, Sergeant's Crag and Eagle Crag — the 'Ullscarf, Eagle Crag & Sergeant's Crag' route starts 59 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?

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 Lining Crag by bus

The 77 stops at Rosthwaite, opposite Longthwaite road end, 420 m from the start of Ullscarf, Eagle Crag & Sergeant's Crag. The last bus is 20:03 towards Keswick (78), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

Stagecoach 77 / 77A “Honister Rambler”
Keswick – Portinscale – Hawse End (Catbells) – Grange – Seatoller – Honister Pass – Buttermere – Lorton – Whinlatter – Keswick (circular)
Catch it from: Keswick (connect via 555 from Windermere/Ambleside or X4/X5 from Penrith)
Seasonal (roughly Easter–October). Brilliant for the North Western fells: Catbells, Dale Head from Honister, the Buttermere fells and Whinlatter.

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

Hazards on Lining Crag

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.

Map & nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.

Nearest parking: Stonethwaite (roadside, limited), about 3.0 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Lining Crag (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.

1.2 km SLow White Stones731 m · Central
1.8 km NNEColdbarrow Fell - High Saddle675 m · Central
2.1 km NNELow Saddle656 m · Central
2.2 km SSECodale Head732 m · Central
2.5 km NNEStanding Crag611 m · Central
2.8 km WNWRosthwaite Fell (Rosthwaite Cam)612 m · Southern

Routes over Lining Crag

14.83 km · ~720 m ascent · loop · ~4–5.5 h

✎️ Walked and described first-hand by Lee. A serious round: the navigation over Ullscarf and Greenup Edge is boggy and featureless (a compass is essential in cloud), and the direct Eagle Crag line is steep and intricate — good-weather, sure-footed terrain. Carry OS Explorer OL4.

⬇️ Download GPX

⚠️ Warnings: The direct Eagle Crag route (described here in descent) is a steep, intricate line of rock terraces and a wet gully that guidebooks recommend for ascent only, and only in good weather — consider walking the round the other way to climb it, and avoid it altogether in the wet. On Eagle Crag's terraces, don't go too far right where the terrace narrows above steep drops; sight each terrace before committing. The Bleak How step-stile has a rotted lower step — a big step down; take care and lift or assist dogs. Lining Crag's north face is near-vertical into Greenup Gill with little warning from the grassy top — keep back from the lip. Greenup Edge and the Ullscarf plateau are boggy and featureless — serious navigation in mist; rely on the old fence posts, cairns and bearings.

Full route 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 Lining Crag

Water & shelter on the way up

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.

Places to stay near this fell

Seatoller House B&B (opens in new tab) guest house

about 1.6 km from the start, in a straight line

Two named family rooms (Rabbit and Stag), both large with a private bathroom opposite, plus a dog policy precise enough to plan around — dogs in, but never in the dining room and dried off at the back door. The catch is timing: breakfast runs 8.00–8.30 only, which is late for a long Ullscarf day, and dinner is a single 7pm sitting that must be pre-booked 48 hours ahead if you did not book direct. It also shuts for the winter.

Worth knowing: “Well behaved dogs are allowed, they are not allowed in the dining room at any time,Please clean and dry all dogs on entering Seatoller via the back door.”

The house is 400 years old, has taken guests for more than a century, and is the largest building in the hamlet of Seatoller; every bedroom is named for a local animal — Badger, Eagle, Osprey, Otter, Owl, Rabbit, Squirrel, Stag, Hedgehog and the Bakehouse annexe.

  • Dogs “Well behaved dogs are allowed, they are not allowed in the dining room at any time,Please clean and dry all dogs on entering Seatoller via the back door.”
  • Family rooms “Rabbit Large Family room, Private bathroom directly opposite, great views of garden & Fells”
  • Evening meal “dinner is a set menu served at 7.00pm with the exception of Wednesdays, when Dinner is not served”
  • Parking “There are 10 bedrooms all with private bathrooms, a large award winning garden surrounding the house and ample private car parking.”

Worth knowing before you book

These places state on their own site that they do not take children.

What each place says about itself, quoted from their own site. We have not stayed at any of them, and there are no prices, no booking and no affiliate links. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).

Other fells near Lining Crag