Nab Scar

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Summited April 2023

Home › Fells › Nab Scar

450 mWainwright — Eastern Fells+1 bonus Birkett within 3 km Fewer traps in Clag

Nab Scar at 450m (1,476ft) is the steep, rocky escarpment directly above Rydal Water. The ascent from Rydal is steep and direct, and quickly rewarded with views across Rydal Water to Loughrigg Fell.

Summit conditions on Nab Scar

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 6°C, gusts to 49 mph, 9.1 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

48 mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour

The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 42 mph times our exposure factor of 1.15. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 49 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

9.1 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 4 °C, no ice or snow forecast; cloud: a clear-top reading of 23 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 Nab Scar

Choose the way up before the car park: these two routes start from two places, and the last two rows give the parking and bus at each route’s own start. Full maps further down.

Compared	Fairfield Horseshoe	Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside
Starts from	Rydal (or Ambleside)	Ambleside
Distance and climb	16.92 km, 1,009 m of climb	22.39 km, 1,425 m of climb
Time, fast to steady	~5–6¾ h	~6¾–9¼ h
Scrambling	Hands for a few steps: High Pike and Low Pike, and a short down-climb by Sweden Crag above Low Sweden Bridge (km 9.4–12.2 and km 13.1–13.5). A little easy scrambling in places, but nothing obligatory.	Hands for a few steps: rocky steps between Dove Crag and Hart Crag (km 10.0–11.4).
Exposure	Hard	Hard
Navigation	Hard	Hard
Steepest stretch	Climb of about 30% at 1.3 km (Hard)	Descent of about 28% at 18.6 km (Hard)
After the summit	Over Heron Pike (Rydal), Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell), Great Rigg, Fairfield, Hart Crag, Dove Crag, High Pike (Scandale) and Low Pike	No further tops
Walked or planned	Walked by Lee, April 2023	Walked by Lee, April 2023
Car park at the start	Pelter Bridge, Rydal (paid)	Ambleside, Lake Road (paid)
Bus to the start	555, 2.3 km walk from Rydal, at White Moss Common	555, 340 m walk from Ambleside, at Hayes Garden Centre

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 Nab Scar difficult?

Short but genuinely steep — effort rather than difficulty. There is no scrambling, and the path is clear and well-made the whole way, but at the top the crags drop steeply above Rydal Water: stay well back from the edge. What catches people out is that the climbing starts immediately and barely relents, so it feels harder than a 450 m fell ought to. If you want it as part of a bigger day, our walked Fairfield Horseshoe starts over Nab Scar and runs to 16.9 km with 1009 m of ascent — the little fell is the horseshoe's front door.

How we check →

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 450 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast

Tue 27 Oct

12° / 6°

49 mph

9.1 mm (100%)

Wed 28 Oct

10° / 7°

34 mph

16.6 mm (100%)

Thu 29 Oct

10° / 8°

20 mph

1.8 mm (75%)

Fri 30 Oct

9° / 7°

24 mph

0.9 mm (8%)

Sat 31 Oct

8° / 4°

7 mph

1.2 mm (6%)

Sun 1 Nov

8° / 5°

15 mph

0.3 mm (2%)

Mon 2 Nov

6° / 0°

6 mph

0.0 mm (0%)

Taken 27 October 2026, 20:59 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 Nab Scar

Parking

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

Pelter Bridge, Rydal (paid) — at the start of Fairfield Horseshoe

For Loughrigg and the Rydal side of the Fairfield Horseshoe. Fees: pay and display; coins and cards; RingGo ID 37305 (LDNPA, checked August 2026).

Directions Something changed here?

If it is full: White Moss, Lower (paid) (2.4 km, 124 m up); Ambleside, Rydal Road (paid) (1.7 km); White Moss Common, Upper (paid) (2.3 km, 121 m up)

The Old School Room Tea Shop, Rydal Hall (~445 m straight line) — Free The Tea Room The Old School Room Tea Shop Badger Bar & Restaurant

Ambleside, Lake Road (paid) — 0.2 km from the start of Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside (straight line)

South end of town towards Waterhead. Fees: pay and display (Lake District National Park car-parks directory, checked August 2026). 1h £2.60; 2h £4.40; 3h £5.80; 4h £7.40; 6h £8.80; all day £10.60. Early Bird: £1.40 all day if you arrive before 09:00. Motorcycles free. Blue Badge: +1h free. Cash/card/contactless; PayByPhone 9908. 3/7-day passes and permits accepted (W&F council, checked August 2026). Charges apply 08:00-20:00, 7 days a week incl. bank holidays. The council's own page is contradictory about access outside those hours - it says both open all day and open from 8am to 8pm - so do not count on getting in before 08:00 (W&F council, checked August 2026).

Directions Something changed here?

White Moss, Lower (paid) — 0.9 km from summit (straight line)

South side of the A591 by the river — Loughrigg Terrace and Rydal Water. Fees: pay in car park (Lake District National Park car-parks directory, checked August 2026). The Authority's car-parks directory (read 12 September 2026) lists toilets here, but the GB Toilet Map recorded them as permanently closed in May 2026, so do not count on them.

Directions Something changed here?

4 more places to park near Nab Scar

Nab Scar car park (paid) — 0.9 km from summit (straight line)

At White Moss, between Rydal and Grasmere: an unnamed paid car park beside the A591, about 90 m from White Moss Common (Upper). The Grasmere village route starts, the 'Grasmere lake circuit' among them, are 1.3 km on foot; the Pelter Bridge starts at Rydal are 2.4 km. Paid parking (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

White Moss Common, Upper (paid) — 1.0 km from summit (straight line)

North side of the A591 between Rydal and Grasmere — Loughrigg, Silver How, Heron Pike.

Directions Something changed here?

Public toilets (~788 m straight line)

Rydal Hall (paid, for visitors) — 1.3 km from summit (straight line)

Rydal Hall's own car park, for visitors to the hall, its gardens, the waterfalls and The Tea Room; it charges, and visitors to the falls park here. The hall's overflow car park is about 80 m south-west. The Lower Falls and The Grot are about 150 m on foot through the grounds.

Directions Something changed here?

Loughrigg Fell, north car park — 1.4 km from summit (straight line)

South-east of Grasmere lake, about 280 m from its shore. The Grasmere village route starts, the 'Grasmere lake circuit' among them, are 1.4 km on foot. Gravel surface (OSM-tagged). Fee not verified — check signage on arrival.

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 505, 516 and 555 stop at Ambleside, at Hayes Garden Centre, a 340 m walk from the start of Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside — a route we rate Severe overall (hardest: distance). Last bus: Monday to Friday 22:43 towards Grasmere (555) and 20:29 towards Keswick (555); Saturday 22:43 towards Grasmere (555) and 20:29 towards Keswick (555); Sunday 19:09 towards Grasmere (555) and 18:15 towards Keswick (555). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026; that timetable runs to 1 November 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

Stagecoach 555

Kendal – Staveley – Windermere – Ambleside – Rydal – Grasmere – Thirlmere (Wythburn & Swirls) – Keswick

Catch it from: Windermere · Ambleside

Year-round, roughly hourly. The backbone bus of the A591 — ideal for Helvellyn (Wythburn/Swirls), Fairfield, the Central fells and anything around Grasmere/Rydal. From Penrith, take the X4/X5 to Keswick and change.

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 Nab Scar

Notes from the Fairfield Horseshoe route

A little easy scrambling in places, but nothing obligatory.

Quoted from the route page: its warnings.

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 steep ground within half a kilometre of 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 Nab Scar 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 Nab Scar

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

1.4 km NHeron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)621 m · Eastern

Routes over Nab Scar

Fairfield Horseshoe

Summits: Nab ScarHeron Pike (Rydal)Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)Great Rigg Fairfield Hart Crag Dove Crag High Pike (Scandale)Low Pike

Download GPX Walked by Lee, April 2023

Best season: Any season in good conditions; save the broad, featureless summit for a clear day.

Warnings: Fairfield's broad summit plateau is confusing in cloud — carry a map and compass and take a bearing before descending. A little easy scrambling in places, but nothing obligatory.

Route guide: Fairfield Horseshoe →

Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside

Summits: Red Screes Dove Crag Hart Crag Fairfield Great Rigg Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)Heron Pike (Rydal)Nab Scar

Download GPX Walked by Lee, April 2023

Warnings: Red Screes: The summit plateau drops away into steep, loose scree and crags on more than one side. A simple slip near the edge — especially in wind, cloud or with tired legs on descent — can turn into a long, uncontrolled fall over broken ground. Keep back from the rim and don't shortcut down the screes. Fairfield: 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.

From the hazard notes for Red Screes · Fairfield, each with its sources.

Route guide: Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside →

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.

On the hill: terrain and water on Nab Scar

Water & shelter on the way up

On the Fairfield Horseshoe route:

Church for Rydal Mount (146 m from the start, straight line) campsite (432 m from the start, straight line) Rydal Hall Youth Centre Bunkhouse (441 m from the start, straight line)

On the Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside route:

shelter (weather shelter, mapped, not checked; 6 m off the line) bus shelter (65 m off the line) bus shelter (77 m off the line) toilets (30 m off the line) toilets (108 m off the line) toilets (123 m off the line) Loughrigg Avenue (71 m from the start, straight line) Hayes Garden Centre (189 m from the start, straight line) Kelsick Road Stand 1 (256 m from the start, straight line) Ambleside Backpackers (19 m from the start, straight line)

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

About Nab Scar

The summit is the natural starting point for the Fairfield Horseshoe approaching from the south via Heron Pike and Great Rigg.

My Strava hikes over Nab Scar

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 April 2023

Data from Strava.

Classifications & hill data

Selected lists

450 m

Height

1,476 ft

In feet

NY 3553 0723

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 Nab Scar

The 360° skyline from Nab Scar

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: Hart Crag (4 km)
North-east: Dove Crag (4 km), Middle Dodd (5 km)
East: Wansfell (5 km), Yoke (8 km), Sallows (9 km)
South-east: Baystones (5 km)
South-west: Blake Rigg (8 km), Wetherlam (9 km), Little Carrs (10 km), Great Carrs (10 km), Swirl How (11 km), Brim Fell (12 km), The Old Man of Coniston (12 km), Harter Fell (16 km)
West: Codale Head (7 km), Sergeant Man (7 km), Pavey Ark (7 km), Harrison Stickle (7 km), Thunacar Knott (8 km), High Raise (8 km), Low White Stones (8 km), Pike of Blisco (9 km), Cold Pike (10 km), Crinkle Crags (11 km), Shelter Crags (11 km), Crinkle Crags (11 km), Crinkle Crags (11 km), Crinkle Crags (11 km), Crinkle Crags South Top (11 km), Bowfell (11 km), Great End (13 km), Ill Crag (13 km), Scafell Pike (14 km)
North-west: Steel Fell (5 km), Ullscarf (8 km), High Tove (11 km), High Seat (13 km), Bleaberry Fell (14 km), Ullock Pike (24 km)

On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (170 km, Wales), Carnedd Llewelyn (158 km, Wales), Craig Cwm Silyn (178 km, Wales), Moel y Gamelin (162 km, Wales), Cadair Berwyn (177 km, Wales), Moel Famau (146 km, Wales), Mwdwl-eithin (159 km, Wales), Moel Eilio (170 km, Wales).

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 Nab Scar

Nab Scar waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls at midsummer, when the sun is up for 38 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 05:15 against an almanac sunrise of 04:37. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the north-east from here (53.0°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 3.84°.

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	05:15 BST ±5.0 min	04:37	+38 min
Equinox	06:29 GMT ±5.0 min	06:15	+14 min
Midwinter	08:31 GMT ±5.0 min	08:32	-1 min

The northern horizon stands at about 4.45° from here.

Last light — when the sun leaves Nab Scar

The evening here runs close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its earliest evening of the modelled year (on 1 June) last light is only 19 minutes before almanac sunset, so the published sunset time is a fair guide on Nab Scar.

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	21:35 BST ±5.0 min	21:52	-17 min
Equinox	18:10 GMT ±5.0 min	18:26	-16 min
Midwinter	15:32 GMT ±5.0 min	15:49	-17 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 Nab Scar

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

39Wainwrights in view+6 marginal

170 kmFurthest sightlineSnowdon (Yr Wyddfa) · possible under favourable refraction

1Sea in viewMorecambe Bay

On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales.

Far horizons

Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) WalesSSW · 170 km clear
Carnedd Llewelyn WalesSSW · 154 km clear
Ingleborough Yorkshire DalesSE · 51 km clear
Whernside Yorkshire DalesESE · 46 km clear
Morecambe Bay bay/estuaryS · 33 km in view

All 39 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)

Low Pike, Loughrigg Fell, High Pike (Scandale), Silver How, Helm Crag, Dove Crag, Hart Crag, Middle Dodd, Baystones (Wansfell), Steel Fell (Dead Pike - Steel Fell), Blea Rigg, Tarn Crag (Easedale), Black Fell, Lingmoor Fell (Brown How), Calf Crag, Sergeant Man, Pavey Ark, Harrison Stickle, Thunacar Knott, High Raise (High White Stones), Loft Crag, Holme Fell, Ullscarf, Yoke, Sour Howes, Sallows, Pike of Blisco, Wetherlam, Cold Pike, Great Carrs, Swirl How, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Bowfell, Brim Fell, The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man), High Seat, Great End, Scafell Pike, Harter Fell (Eskdale)

How the view from Nab Scar 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 Nab Scar. 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

From Rydal: 7 places in Ambleside · From Ambleside or Grasmere: 3 places

Frequently asked questions about Nab Scar

How long does it take to climb Nab Scar? Answered above: Routes up Nab Scar.

Is Nab Scar difficult? Answered above.

What is a nab scar?

It is two old landscape words doing exactly what they say. A nab is a projecting spur or headland of a hill — the blunt nose where a ridge runs out — and a scar (from Old Norse sker) is a bare rock face or cliff. So "Nab Scar" is the rocky face on the end of the spur, which is precisely what you see from Rydal: the abrupt southern end of the ridge running down from Heron Pike and Fairfield. Lakeland is full of these plain-speaking names once you know the words.

Is Nab Scar a Wainwright?

Yes — 450 m in Wainwright's Eastern Fells, and one of the lowest in that book. It is really the southern shoulder of Heron Pike rather than a separate mountain, but Wainwright gave it its own chapter and it earns the visit on view alone: Windermere, Rydal Water and Grasmere all laid out below within an hour of leaving the road.

Where do you start the Nab Scar walk?

From Rydal, on the A591 between Ambleside and Grasmere — the path climbs past Rydal Mount and up through the fields onto the fell. Parking is the limiting factor: the nearest car park we list for this path is Pelter Bridge at Rydal (paid), where our Fairfield Horseshoe starts, and the 555 bus between Ambleside, Grasmere and Keswick stops at Rydal, which makes this one of the easier fells to do without a car.

Questions from Google’s “People also ask”. · Last updated 2026-08-03 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)

Nab Scar

Summit conditions on Nab Scar

Wind on the top

Rain, and the becks

Routes up Nab Scar

Is Nab Scar difficult?

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Parking & buses for Nab Scar

Parking

Buses

Hazards on Nab Scar

Notes from the Fairfield Horseshoe route

Navigating in cloud

If you need Mountain Rescue

Map, GPX and nearby Birketts

Birketts within 3 km of Nab Scar

Routes over Nab Scar

On the hill: terrain and water on Nab Scar

Water & shelter on the way up

About Nab Scar

My Strava hikes over Nab Scar

Classifications & hill data

Selected lists

The view from Nab Scar

The 360° skyline from Nab Scar

Sunrise and sunset on Nab Scar

Last light — when the sun leaves Nab Scar

What you can see from Nab Scar

Places to stay near this fell

Frequently asked questions about Nab Scar

Other fells near Nab Scar