551 mWainwright — Southern Fells+6 bonus Birketts within 3 km
Bessyboot at 551m (1,808ft) is the distinctive rocky summit of Rosthwaite Fell in the Southern Fells above Stonethwaite and Borrowdale. Wainwright included it as a fine viewpoint giving excellent views into the Langstrath and Borrowdale valleys.
Summit conditions on Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 6°C, gusts to 58 mph, 8.7 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
55mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour
The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 50 mph times our exposure factor of 1.1. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 58 mph, before any exposure factor.
under 25
25–35
35–45
45–55
55+
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
8.7mm 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 checkedcold: feels like 2 °C, no ice or snow forecast; cloud: a clear-top reading of 29 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
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 →
13.23 km · ~850 m ascent · ~4–5½ h · loop · 3 summits
Hard effortSevere: steepness
Park: Rosthwaite (NT, paid) · Bus: 78 at the start
A wild, little-trodden round of the rough Borrowdale fells above Rosthwaite and Stonethwaite — Bessyboot, Dovenest Top and Thornythwaite Fell — a maze of rocky knolls, hidden tarns and peat hags with huge views to the Scafells.
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 →
Is Rosthwaite Fell hard?
Harder than 551 m has any right to be, and hard in an unusual way: not steep, not exposed, but a genuine maze. Paths are faint or simply absent for much of it, through a confusion of knolls, hags and hollows where one hummock looks like the last. We grade our round’s navigation hard and its terrain hard.
Save it for a clear, dry day — in cloud the navigation here is the whole problem, and after rain the boggy, tussocky ground is slow going. Our Borrowdale Fells round is 13.2 km with 850 m of ascent, rated Severe overall for its steepness. It is committing, with little in the way of a quick escape, so allow more time than the distance suggests.
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
Rosthwaite (NT, paid) — at the start of The Borrowdale Fells (Rosthwaite Fell round)
Village car park in the heart of Rosthwaite, for the central Borrowdale fells and Watendlath ridge. The 'Castle Crag, Brund Fell & Great Crag' route starts 10 m away; 'The Borrowdale Fells (Rosthwaite Fell round)' 23 m. Toilets beside it, often closed in winter (National Trust, read 5 October 2026). Fees: pay and display (Lake District National Park car-parks directory, checked August 2026). The National Trust does not allow overnight parking here (NT, checked August 2026).
If it is full: Stonethwaite village (roadside, free) (1.5 km, 32 m up); Seatoller (NT, paid) (2.2 km, 27 m up); Quay Foot Quarry, Borrowdale (NT, paid) (2.4 km, 94 m up)
Seatoller, south-east field car park (paid) — 1.3 km from summit (straight line)
A paid field by the River Derwent, 0.5 km south-east of Seatoller; operator not identified. The 'Seathwaite, Green Gable, Base Brown' route starts 78 m away. Paid parking (OSM-tagged).
Seatoller (NT, paid) — 1.8 km from summit (straight line)
Pay & display at the foot of Honister. Bus terminus for Borrowdale. Fees: pay and display (LDNP directory, checked August 2026). £7 up to 2 hours; £8 up to 4 hours; £9.50 all day. Free for NT members (checked August 2026). Charges apply at all times. Cash at machine; JustPark app at some car parks; card/phone payment not available in all car parks (NT, checked August 2026). Toilets on site, often closed in winter; coach parking is no longer allowed (National Trust, read 5 October 2026).
Typically full before 10:00 on fine weekends, Apr-Oct — Lee McCoy, local observation, 9 August 2026.
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 77 and 78 stop at Rosthwaite General Store (near), a 220 m walk from the start of The Borrowdale Fells (Rosthwaite Fell round) — a route we rate Severe overall (hardest: steepness). The 77 runs until 1 November 2026, the last day of its season. As timetabled from 27 October to 1 November. Towards Keswick (78): Tuesday to Sunday 20:05. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 12 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
Year-round, frequent in season. Serves all the Borrowdale starts — Glaramara, the Scafells and Great Gable via Seathwaite (alight Seatoller, about 2 km up the lane).
Notes from a planned route, not walked: The Borrowdale Fells (Rosthwaite Fell round)
Paths are faint or absent for much of this round, through a confusing maze of knolls, hags and hollows. Only attempt it in good visibility — in cloud or mist the navigation here is genuinely hard and it’s easy to get lost. Carry map and compass (or GPS) and know how to use them.
Boggy, tussocky and rough underfoot — slow going, and much worse after rain. Save it for a dry spell.
A committing round with little quick escape — start early and allow more time than the distance suggests.
Livestock on the lower fields; keep dogs under close control.
If you need to get off (the leg from the start): Retreat: The usual descent is carefully reversing your ascent path back to the valley floor.
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 Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot.
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
Not graded by the model
Our terrain model finds nothing to grade on this summit, so it gives no cloud grade here — that is not a sign of easy navigation. Read this fell’s hazard notes and the route pages before a day in cloud. 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 Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot 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.
Best season: Late spring to autumn, in clear, dry weather. This is emphatically a fine-weather round.
Warnings: Paths are faint or absent for much of this round, through a confusing maze of knolls, hags and hollows. Only attempt it in good visibility — in cloud or mist the navigation here is genuinely hard and it’s easy to get lost. Carry map and compass (or GPS) and know how to use them. Boggy, tussocky and rough underfoot — slow going, and much worse after rain. Save it for a dry spell. A committing round with little quick escape — start early and allow more time than the distance suggests. Livestock on the lower fields; keep dogs under close control.
Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is not proof the water is drinkable, so carry your own or use a supply you know is safe. Never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock upstream and leave you seriously ill. Use a treatment method suited to what might be in the water, and follow the device’s own instructions. Boiling and ordinary filters do not make water with dissolved metals or chemicals safe: where that is possible, choose another source.
Photo: Mick Knapton at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The small, craggy summit has great character for its modest height. Our Borrowdale Fells round climbs to it from Rosthwaite, up through oak woodland onto rough, rocky ground with a few steps where you may use your hands.
Classifications & hill data
Is Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot a Wainwright?
Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.
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 Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
The 360° skyline from Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
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: Skiddaw Lesser Man (15 km), Jenkin Hill (15 km), Skiddaw Little Man (15 km), Knowe Crags (16 km), Carl Side (16 km), Gategill Fell Top (16 km), Long Side (16 km), Skiddaw South Top (16 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (16 km)
North-east: White Side (9 km), Raise (10 km), Watson's Dodd (10 km), Stybarrow Dodd (11 km), Little Dodd (11 km), Great Dodd (12 km), Blencathra (17 km), Doddick Fell (17 km)
East: Helvellyn Lower Man (8 km), Nethermost Pike (9 km), Helvellyn (9 km)
South-east: High Raise (4 km)
South: Great Carrs (12 km), Wetherlam (12 km), Swirl How (12 km), Black Sails (12 km), Brim Fell (14 km)
South-west: Great Gable (5 km), Lingmell (6 km)
West: Green Gable (5 km), Kirk Fell East Top (6 km), High Crag (8 km), Pillar (9 km), High Stile (9 km), High Stile (9 km), Red Pike (10 km), Red Pike (10 km)
North-west: Dale Head (4 km), Sail (10 km), Crag Hill (10 km), Grisedale Pike (12 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Tinto (126 km, Scotland), Culter Fell (118 km, Scotland), Gathersnow Hill (115 km, Scotland), Hart Fell (102 km, Scotland), Hods Hill (101 km, Scotland), Scaw'd Fell (91 km, Scotland).
Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls at midwinter, when the sun is up for 32 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 09:05 against an almanac sunrise of 08:33. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the south-east from here (138.3°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 3.01°.
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
04:50 BST ±5.0 min
04:37
+13 min
Equinox
06:37 GMT ±5.0 min
06:16
+21 min
Midwinter
09:05 GMT ±5.0 min
08:33
+32 min
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean 0.48°).
Last light — when the sun leaves Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls at midwinter, when last light is 40 minutes before almanac sunset — 15:09 against 15:49. The sun goes down to the south-west from here (220.2°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 3.69°.
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
21:29 BST ±5.0 min
21:53
-24 min
Equinox
18:10 GMT ±5.0 min
18:27
-17 min
Midwinter
15:09 GMT ±5.0 min
15:49
-40 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 Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.
How the view from Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot 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 Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot. 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.
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 Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
