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Nabs Moor

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493 mOutlying Fell — Far Eastern+4 bonus Birketts within 3 km

Nabs Moor at 493m (1,617ft) is an Outlying Fell on the moorland above Swindale, south-west of Shap, giving views across the Shap Fells and towards the Pennines. Wainwright included it in his Outlying Fells guide.

Summit conditions on Nabs Moor

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 6°C, gusts to 50 mph, 16.0 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

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 Nabs Moor

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

23.82 km · ~912 m ascent · ~6¼–8½ h · loop · 9 summits
Hard effort Severe: distance
Park: Wet Sleddale Reservoir Car Park

Nine tops on the empty Shap fells — Seat Robert, High Wether Howe, Nabs Moor, Selside Pike and Hare Shaw among them — in 23.8 km with 912 m of climbing. Severe for length; about 6¼–8½ 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 Nabs Moor?

The shortest way up we hold is West of Wet Sleddale - Birketts — 23.82 km, 912 m of ascent, ~6¼–8½ h. On our scale its hardest axis is distance — Severe.

All axes: length: Severe · steepness: Hard · terrain: Hard · navigation: Moderate · exposure: Not assessed.

These are the route page’s grades, set by the rules on how we grade: length and steepness measured from its GPX track, the others set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap. The route page says which. How we check →

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 493 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°
50 mph
16.0 mm (100%)
Wed 28 Oct
10° / 6°
39 mph
12.1 mm (100%)
Thu 29 Oct
10° / 8°
28 mph
0.1 mm (15%)
Fri 30 Oct
9° / 6°
29 mph
0.0 mm (15%)
Sat 31 Oct
11° / 1°
10 mph
0.0 mm (18%)
Sun 1 Nov
8° / 1°
8 mph
0.0 mm (12%)
Mon 2 Nov
8° / 0°
14 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)

Parking & buses for Nabs Moor

Parking

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

Wet Sleddale Reservoir Car Park — at the start of West of Wet Sleddale - Birketts
2.4 km from Great Ladstones.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Brown Howe (layby) — 2.5 km from summit (straight line)
A lay-by on the Haweswater lane, on the south-east shore. The Mardale Head routes start 1.6 km away in a straight line, 1.7 km along the lane. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Branstree, north (layby) — 2.8 km from summit (straight line)
A lay-by on the Haweswater lane, on the south-east shore. The Mardale Head routes start 0.8 km away in a straight line, 0.8 km along the lane. Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
3 more places to park near Nabs Moor
Brown Howe, north-west (layby) — 2.9 km from summit (straight line)
A lay-by on the Haweswater lane, on the south-east shore. The Mardale Head routes start 2.2 km away in a straight line, 2.5 km along the lane. Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Branstree (layby) — 3.2 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Rough Crag (Riggindale), High Street, Mardale Ill Bell and Harter Fell (Mardale) — the 'Mardale circuit' route starts 166 m away. Also serves 'Mardale Ill Bell, High Street, The Knott, Rampsgill Head, High Raise and Kidsty Pike'. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Mardale Head, Haweswater (free) — 3.4 km from summit (straight line)
Free but small and fills very early — High Street, Harter Fell, Kidsty Pike, Branstree. Five routes on this site start here, among them the 'Mardale Horseshoe' and the 'Mardale circuit'. Fees: Free parking; donation cairn with suggested £2 contribution (cash only - no mobile signal) plus a Mountain Rescue donation cairn (wildhaweswater.co.uk) (United Utilities, checked August 2026). Staying overnight in a vehicle or tent is banned here without the landowner's written consent (Westmorland and Furness Council, Public Spaces Protection Order 2026 No. 008, in force 18 March 2026). Open 24/7 (United Utilities, checked August 2026).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
If it is full: Branstree (layby) (0.2 km) a few spaces only; Branstree, north (layby) (0.8 km) a few spaces only

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 nearest bus stop we hold is the UB2 at Askham, outside Stores, 14.9 km of walking from the start — no bus route we hold serves it. It is a seasonal service too: 1 November 2026 is its last day of the year (confirmed with the operator, 9 October 2026); it returns on 22 March 2027.

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

Hazards on Nabs Moor

Notes from a planned route, not walked: West of Wet Sleddale - Birketts

  • Classic Shap-fells going: faint trods, tussock and peat with long pathless stretches. The straight sections of the plotted line are bearings, not paths — carry map and compass and expect to weave.

If you need to get off (the leg from High Wether Howe): Retreat: The way back is the way you came. We have not checked a line down into Mosedale from this ridge, so none is offered here.

Quoted from the route page of a planned route, drawn from the map and not yet walked: its warnings and the note for the leg that reaches Nabs Moor.

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.

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 Nabs Moor

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

1.9 km WNWBrown Howe (Mardale)529 m · Far Eastern
2.0 km ENEGlede Howe476 m · Far Eastern
2.4 km NPowleys Hill465 m · Far Eastern

Routes over Nabs Moor

23.82 km · ~912 m ascent · loop · ~6¼–8½ h
Hard effort Severe: distance

Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked

Warnings: Classic Shap-fells going: faint trods, tussock and peat with long pathless stretches. The straight sections of the plotted line are bearings, not paths — carry map and compass and expect to weave.

Route guide: West of Wet Sleddale - Birketts →

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 Nabs Moor

Terrain & access

A near-path top (about 493 m): a mapped path comes within about 144 m of the summit. We have not checked a way from it to the top: the figures here are measured along a straight line on a terrain model, not a route. That line climbs about 1 m. The summit is on CRoW open access land.

Computed from open data, not walked — pathless ground needs confident navigation, and mapped paths, barriers and access boundaries can be incomplete. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass); Natural England CRoW Access Land; DoBIH v18.4 (CC BY 4.0); Copernicus GLO-30. CRoW access layer: © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 144 fells.

About Nabs Moor

An open moorland fell on the eastern edge of the Lake District.

Classifications & hill data

Is Nabs Moor a Wainwright?

Nabs Moor is one of Wainwright's Outlying Fells, not one of the 214 in the Pictorial Guides.

Selected lists

493 m
Height
1,617 ft
In feet
NY 5034 1110
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 not a Birkett top.

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 →

Places to stay near this fell

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).

Other fells near Nabs Moor