Troutbeck Tongue
Troutbeck Tongue at 364m (1,194ft) is a long, narrow ridge jutting into the Troutbeck valley, its summit giving fine views of the valley and the Ill Bell ridge above.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 364 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Sat 12 Sep): 15° to 8°C, gusts to 37 mph, 31.7 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 18:50 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 364 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Troutbeck Tongue at a glance
Troutbeck Tongue
Routes up Troutbeck Tongue
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Troutbeck Tongue a Wainwright?
Troutbeck Tongue is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.
How hard is Troutbeck Tongue?
The shortest way up we hold is Sour Howes, Sallows, Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick and Troutbeck Tongue in the sun! — 27.6 km, 1395 m of ascent, about 7.8 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is length — Severe.
All axes: length: Severe · exposure: Hard · terrain: Hard · steepness: Hard · navigation: Moderate.
My hikes over Troutbeck Tongue (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Sour Howes, Sallows, Yorke, Illl Bell, Frostwick and Troutbeck Tongue in the sun! (opens in new tab) — 27.6 km · 1307 m ascent · 6h 45m moving · 6 Apr 2025
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Troutbeck Tongue
Best parking to hike Troutbeck Tongue
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.
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 Troutbeck Tongue by bus
The 505 stops at Ambleside, at Hayes Garden Centre, 260 m from the start of Sour Howes, Sallows, Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick and Troutbeck Tongue in the sun!. Last bus: Monday to Friday 22:43 towards Grasmere (555) and 20:29 towards Keswick (555) and 09:47 towards Coniston (505) and 09:21 towards Dungeon Ghyll (516); Saturday 22:43 towards Grasmere (555) and 20:29 towards Keswick (555) and 09:47 towards Coniston (505) and 09:21 towards Dungeon Ghyll (516); Sunday 19:09 towards Grasmere (555) and 18:15 towards Keswick (555) and 09:47 towards Coniston (505) and 09:21 towards Dungeon Ghyll (516). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Hazards on Troutbeck Tongue
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 Troutbeck Tongue 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 Troutbeck Tongue 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
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Troutbeck Tongue, west (layby), about 0.9 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Troutbeck Tongue (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 Troutbeck Tongue
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 Troutbeck Tongue
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Sour Howes, Sallows, Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick and Troutbeck Tongue in the sun! route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
The view from Troutbeck Tongue
The 360° skyline from Troutbeck Tongue
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 Troutbeck Tongue, by direction
- North: Thornthwaite Crag (4 km), Gray Crag (5 km)
- North-east: Ill Bell (2 km), Froswick (2 km)
- South-east: Sallows (3 km)
- South: Sour Howes (3 km), Orrest Head (7 km), Brant Fell (10 km), Birch Fell (18 km), Gummer's How (18 km), Raven's Barrow (18 km), Newton Fell North (22 km), Bigland Barrow (23 km), Newton Fell South (25 km), Hampsfell (27 km)
- South-west: Wansfell (2 km), Baystones (2 km), Claife Heights (10 km), Stang Hill (19 km)
- West: Lingmoor Fell (12 km), Wrynose Fell (14 km), Pike of Blisco (15 km), Cold Pike (16 km), Great Knott (16 km), Crinkle Crags (17 km), Crinkle Crags South Top (17 km), Crinkle Crags (17 km), Crinkle Crags (17 km), Shelter Crags (17 km), Crinkle Crags (17 km), Little Stand (18 km), Bowfell (18 km), Esk Pike (19 km), Ill Crag (20 km), Broad Crag (20 km), Scafell Pike (21 km)
- North-west: St Raven's Edge (2 km), Red Screes (4 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (172 km, Wales), Carnedd Llewelyn (160 km, Wales), Moel Siabod (168 km, Wales), Cadair Berwyn (178 km, Wales), Carnedd y Filiast (171 km, Wales), Creigiau Gleision (161 km, Wales), Allt-fawr (175 km, Wales), Y Garn (167 km, Wales).
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 Troutbeck Tongue
Troutbeck Tongue waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls at midsummer, when the sun is up for 101 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 06:17 against an almanac sunrise of 04:36. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the east-north-east from here (65.1°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 11.5°.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 06:17 BST ±5.0 min | 04:36 | +101 min |
| Equinox | 07:40 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:15 | +85 min |
| Midwinter | 09:06 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:32 | +34 min |
The northern horizon stands at about 6.0° from here.
Last light — when the sun leaves Troutbeck Tongue
Troutbeck Tongue loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls at midsummer, when last light is 58 minutes before almanac sunset — 20:53 against 21:51. The sun goes down to the west-north-west from here (303.2°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 6.21°.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 20:53 BST ±5.0 min | 21:51 | -58 min |
| Equinox | 18:16 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:26 | -10 min |
| Midwinter | 15:28 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:49 | -21 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 Troutbeck Tongue. 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 Troutbeck Tongue
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales.
- Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) Wales
- Carnedd Llewelyn Wales
All 14 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Ill Bell, Baystones (Wansfell), Froswick, Sallows, Sour Howes, Red Screes, Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor), Thornthwaite Crag, Gray Crag, Pike of Blisco, Cold Pike, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Bowfell, Scafell Pike
How Troutbeck Tongue’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
From Ambleside or Grasmere: 10 places
Frequently asked questions about Troutbeck Tongue
Is Troutbeck Tongue an easy walk?
Mostly, yes — at 364 m (1,194 ft) it's one of the smallest Wainwrights, a whale-back hill sitting alone in the middle of the Troutbeck valley. The southern nose is a short, sharp pull; after that it's easy grassy ridge. Its charm is the position: ringed by the high Ill Bell ridge on three sides, it feels like the centre of an amphitheatre.
Where do you park for Troutbeck Tongue?
Limited: Troutbeck village has small honesty/roadside options and Church Bridge a little verge space on the A592 — all fill quickly, so park considerately and never block farm gates or the valley track. Coming by bus (the 508 passes Troutbeck church) sidesteps the problem entirely.
How long does Troutbeck Tongue take?
About 2–2.5 hours as a valley circuit from Troutbeck village. Our walked line takes it as the finale of the big Sour Howes–Ill Bell ridge round (27.6 km) — but on its own it's a lovely short outing, and pairs naturally with Wansfell across the valley.
Is Troutbeck Tongue dog friendly?
With care: our survey of the long round found stiles as well as gates, so a dog may need lifting once or twice, and the valley is working sheep farmland end to end — leads on throughout, especially at lambing time.
Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-07-20 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)
Other fells near Troutbeck Tongue
- Angletarn Pikes (Angletarn Pikes North Top)
- Arthur's Pike
- Baystones (Wansfell)
- Beda Fell (Beda Head)
- Bonscale Pike
- Branstree
- Brock Crags (Wainwright)
- Froswick
- Gray Crag
- Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell)
- Hallin Fell
- Harter Fell (Mardale)
- Hartsop Dodd
- High Raise (High Street)
- High Street
- Ill Bell
- Kentmere Pike
- Kidsty Pike
- Loadpot Hill
- Mardale Ill Bell
- Place Fell
- Rampsgill Head
- Rest Dodd
- Sallows
- Selside Pike
- Shipman Knotts
- Sour Howes
- Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa)
- Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor)
- Tarn Crag (Sleddale)
- The Knott (High Street)
- The Nab
- Thornthwaite Crag
- Wether Hill
- Yoke