Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
Bessyboot at 551m (1,808ft) is the distinctive rocky summit of Rosthwaite Fell in the Central Fells above Stonethwaite and Borrowdale.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 551 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 15° to 14°C, gusts to 39 mph, 8.5 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 551 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
About the walk
Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
Routes up Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Seatoller (NT, paid), about 1.5 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot (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.
Routes over Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
✎️ One of the quietest corners of Borrowdale — but pathless, boggy and easy to lose your way. A round for a clear, dry day with the map out, not a wet or misty one.
✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass.
The View 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.
What you can see from Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot, 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).
Computed from terrain in perfect clarity, not photographed · distances are straight-line.
Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.
What you can see from Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.All 57 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Eagle Crag, Sergeant's Crag, Great Crag (Stonethwaite), Ullscarf, Base Brown, Castle Crag, High Raise (High White Stones), Grange Fell (Brund Fell), Grey Knotts, Brandreth, Dale Head, High Spy, Green Gable, Thunacar Knott, High Tove, Great Gable, Pike of Stickle, Fleetwith Pike, Loft Crag, Hindscarth, Maiden Moor, High Seat, Cat Bells (Catbells), Bleaberry Fell, High Crag (Buttermere), Pike of Blisco, Pillar, Nethermost Pike, Helvellyn, White Side, Walla Crag, High Stile, Red Pike (Wasdale), Raise, Sail, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Red Pike (Buttermere), Watson's Dodd, Stybarrow Dodd, Great Dodd, Great Carrs, Wetherlam, Swirl How, Latrigg, Clough Head, Hen Comb, Lonscale Fell, Dodd (Skiddaw), Skiddaw Little Man, Gavel Fell, Carl Side, Long Side, Ullock Pike, Blake Fell, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, High Pike (Caldbeck), Binsey
How Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot’s view compares with all 214 — the View Report: every Wainwright ranked by what you can see from the top.
Sightlines from a bare-earth terrain model (forests and buildings not included), 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.
Best parking to hike Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).
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.
Water & shelter on the way up
On the The Borrowdale Fells (Rosthwaite Fell round) route:
💧 Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is usually a tap or public supply, but never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock or a carcass upstream and leave you seriously ill. Run it through a filter or purifier (a LifeStraw, Sawyer Squeeze or HydraPak) or bring it to a rolling boil first.
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
Buses to Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Navigating Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot in cloud
StraightforwardA broad, gently-sloping top with little to steer by — easy to lose your bearings and hard to relocate in mist. Navigation here is relatively straightforward even in cloud — but carry map and compass and know how to use them; a low score never means “safe”.
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: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.
Other fells near Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
- Allen Crags
- Black Fell
- Bowfell
- Brim Fell
- Cold Pike
- Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle)
- Dow Crag
- Esk Pike
- Glaramara
- Great Carrs
- Great End
- Green Crag
- Grey Friar
- Hard Knott
- Harter Fell (Eskdale)
- Holme Fell
- Illgill Head
- Lingmell
- Lingmoor Fell (Brown How)
- Pike of Blisco
- Rossett Pike
- Scafell
- Scafell Pike
- Seathwaite Fell (Wainwright summit)
- Slight Side
- Swirl How
- The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man)
- Wetherlam
- Whin Rigg (Wasdale)
Maps & guidebooks for Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
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