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551 m · Wainwright — Southern Fells · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Wainwright — Southern FellsAlso a Birkett

Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot

Bessyboot at 551m (1,808ft) is the distinctive rocky summit of Rosthwaite Fell in the Central Fells above Stonethwaite and Borrowdale.

551 m
Height
~2.5–3 h
Typical time
+6
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX → Parking & buses →
551 mWainwright — Southern Fells✓ summit is also a Birkett+6 bonus Birketts within 3 km Straightforward in cloud

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 (Sat 12 Sep): 14° to 8°C, gusts to 46 mph, 36.8 mm of rain forecast.

Sat 12 Sep
🌧️
14° / 8°
💨 46 mph
🌧 36.8 mm (100%)
Sun 13 Sep
🌦️
14° / 10°
💨 16 mph
🌧 0.1 mm (6%)
Mon 14 Sep
🌦️
15° / 12°
💨 40 mph
🌧 5.9 mm (100%)
Tue 15 Sep
🌧️
14° / 9°
💨 37 mph
🌧 10.1 mm (98%)
Wed 16 Sep
🌧️
11° / 8°
💨 28 mph
🌧 3.3 mm (70%)
Thu 17 Sep
🌧️
10° / 8°
💨 34 mph
🌧 16.5 mm (100%)
Fri 18 Sep
🌧️
12° / 8°
💨 35 mph
🌧 15.0 mm (92%)

Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 18:50 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.

Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot at a glance

Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot

Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot, a Lake District fell
Photo: Mick Knapton at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bessyboot at 551m (1,808ft) is the distinctive rocky summit of Rosthwaite Fell in the Central Fells above Stonethwaite and Borrowdale. Wainwright included it as a fine viewpoint giving excellent views into the Langstrath and Borrowdale valleys. The small, craggy summit has great character for its modest height. Best approached from Stonethwaite via the Greenup Gill path.

Routes up Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot

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

Classifications & hill data

Wainwright
Southern
Birkett
Fellranger
Synge
551 m
Height
1,808 ft
In feet
NY 2583 1248
Grid ref

The short answers

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.

Where do you park for Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot?

The nearest car park we hold is Roadside parking for Great Crag (free), about 1.3 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Rosthwaite Fell car park (paid), 1.3 km out. 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.

Parking & buses for Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot

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).

Roadside parking for Great Crag (free) — 1.3 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?
Rosthwaite Fell car park (paid) — 1.3 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Seathwaite Fell (Wainwright summit), Seathwaite Fell (Great Slack - Seathwaite Fell), Green Gable and Base Brown — the 'Seathwaite, Green Gable, Base Brown' route starts 78 m away. Paid parking (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Stonethwaite (roadside, limited) — 1.4 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?
Great Crag (layby) — 1.5 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) — 1.5 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 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 Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot by bus

The 77 stops at Rosthwaite General Store (near), 220 m from the start of The Borrowdale Fells (Rosthwaite Fell round) — a route we rate Hard. The last bus is 20:05 towards Keswick (78), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 12 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 Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot

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.

Navigating Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot in cloud

Straightforward

A 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.

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Roadside parking for Great Crag (free), about 1.3 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.

0.7 km SSWRosthwaite Fell (Rosthwaite Cam)612 m · Southern
1.4 km WSWThornythwaite Fell574 m · Southern
1.8 km SSWCombe Head735 m · Southern
2.6 km SSWLooking Steads (Glaramara)774 m · Southern
2.8 km ESELining Crag542 m · Central

Routes over Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot

13.09 km · ~802 m ascent · loop · ~4–5.5 h · Hard

✎️ 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.

⬇️ Download GPX

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.

Full route guide ↗

✎️ 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. How to use this guide.

On the hill: terrain and water on Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot

Water & shelter on the way up

💧 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.

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
Computed 360-degree skyline from Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot36 labelled tops shown (2 distant behind the far-horizon toggle). Theoretical visibility in perfect clarity; computed from terrain, not photographed.eye levelNNEESESSWWNWHelvellyn · 9 kmSkiddaw Middle Top · 16 kmGreat Gable · 5 kmPillar · 9 kmNethermost Pike · 9 kmRaise · 10 kmBlencathra · 17 kmGreat Dodd · 12 kmStybarrow Dodd · 11 kmCrag Hill · 10 kmRed Pike · 10 kmLingmell · 6 kmHigh Stile · 9 kmSwirl How · 12 kmGrisedale Pike · 12 kmKirk Fell East Top · 6 kmWetherlam · 12 kmHigh Raise · 4 kmDale Head · 4 kmCarl Side · 16 kmJenkin Hill · 15 kmLow White Stones · 3 kmClough Head · 13 kmUllscarf · 3 kmThunacar Knott · 5 kmLonscale Pike · 15 kmHonister Crag · 5 kmMaiden Moor · 6 kmBlake Fell · 16 kmCombe Head · 2 kmBinsey · 23 kmDovenest Top · 1 kmRosthwaite Fell · 1 kmSergeant's Crag · 2 kmBell Crags · 4 kmLining Crag · 3 kmHelvellyn Lower Man · 8 kmKnowe Crags · 16 kmRed Pike · 10 kmBlack Sails · 12 kmHigh Crag · 8 kmHindscarth · 6 kmBrandreth · 4 kmCold Pike · 9 kmGrey Knotts · 4 kmUllock Pike · 16 kmLoft Crag · 6 kmColdbarrow Fell · 3 kmCalfhow Pike · 11 kmHigh Pike · 23 kmHigh Seat · 6 kmGavel Fell · 15 kmEagle Crag · 2 kmArmboth Fell · 5 kmCat Bells · 8 kmCastle Crag · 4 kmTinto · 126 km · a handful of days a yearHart Fell · 102 km · a rare clear day
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.

Sunrise and sunset on Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot

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°.

30°40°50°60°70°04:50
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 lightAlmanac sunriseDifference
Midsummer04:50 BST ±5.0 min04:37+13 min
Equinox06:37 GMT ±5.0 min06:16+21 min
Midwinter09:05 GMT ±5.0 min08:33+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 lightAlmanac sunsetDifference
Midsummer21:29 BST ±5.0 min21:53-24 min
Equinox18:10 GMT ±5.0 min18:27-17 min
Midwinter15:09 GMT ±5.0 min15:49-40 min

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. 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.
57Wainwrights in view+8 marginal
Sea in viewnone from here
All 57 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)

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.

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).

Frequently asked questions about Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot

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 13.1 km with 802 m of ascent, rated Hard. It is committing, with little in the way of a quick escape, so allow more time than the distance suggests.

Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-08-30 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)

Other fells near Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot