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1.98 km · ~156 m ascent · ~0.5–1 h · loop · 1 summit

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Ullswater from the summit of Hallin Fell
Hard steepnessLoop

Hallin Fell

1.98 km
Distance
~0.5–1 h
Typical time
~156 m
Ascent
1
Summit

Photo: © Lee McCoy

Download GPX →Walked by Lee, September 2024

Key facts

Distance 1.98 km
Ascent ~156 m
Descent ~157 m
Time ~0.5–1 h
Type Loop
Start St Peter's Church, Howtown (The Hause)
A short, steep little climb from the Howtown steamer pier to a superb all-round viewpoint over Ullswater — maximum reward for minimum effort, and a fine car-free outing using the lake steamer.

✎️ Small hill, enormous view, and one of the best short days in the Lakes you can do without a car — the Ullswater Steamer pier at Howtown is a few minutes from this start, so you can sail in, be up and down in an hour, and sail back. Worth knowing, because parking at The Hause is limited and the lane in is narrow. Sail out first, walk after. (Timetable is seasonal; checked 4 Aug 2026.)

A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.

🧭 The automated detail on this page — distance, climb, pacing and a first-pass difficulty read — is live. Hand-written field notes are being added.

Difficulty profile

LengthEasy1.98 km — a short outing.
SteepnessHardSteepest sustained pull about 29% around the 0.2 km mark.
TerrainModerateMostly good mountain path. desk assessment — not field-verified
NavigationHardCare needed in cloud — ~28% featureless high ground, 10 path junctions near the line. desk assessment — not field-verified
ExposureNot assessedExposure (drops, scrambling, how bad a slip would be) can’t be judged from gradient data alone, so we don’t guess. A rating appears once the route is editorially assessed or walked.

Five independent axes, not one score. “Desk” ratings come from maps and guidebooks, not yet walked — treat them as a guide, not a survey.

Conditions on this route

We score every Lakeland Wainwright each morning on cloud, wind, rain and underfoot, and this route crosses 1 of them. The worst summit governs the verdict — a route is only as kind as its roughest top.

Modelled guidance — not a substitute for the mountain forecast or your own judgement. See how every fell ranks today →

Daylight & turnaround

Daylight is short from October to February — check today’s sunrise and sunset before you set off, and carry a head-torch and spare batteries. On short days, decide your turn-back time before you start.

Why this matters: 78% of Mountain Rescue call-outs come after midday — the day runs out on the way home, not on the way up. See also walking in bad weather and today’s conditions.

OpenTopoMap
Elevation profile, shaded by steepness
Elevation profile Rises from about 221 m to 375 m over 2.0 km, with the summits marked in order. The area beneath is shaded by sustained steepness over a 250 m window, in the same four bands as the route’s steepness rating: Easy under 15%, Moderate 15 to 25%, Hard 25 to 35%, Severe above 35%. 375 m 221 m 0 km 2.0 km 1

1 Hallin Fell

Easy 40%Moderate 31%Hard 29%Severe

~156 m
Total ascent
375 m
High point
222 m
Start height

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right).

This walk covers about 1.98 km with around 156 m of ascent, taking in 1 summit. The map above shows the line; the elevation profile and stage notes are below.

Access & barriers

Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route? A quick read from the gates and stiles mapped along the way.

Dog
Gates only
Buggy
Not buggy-able
Knees
Steep in places
  • Dog: Gates and kissing gates only — a dog can do the whole route.
  • Buggy: Not a pushchair route.
  • Knees: A sustained ~29% descent around the 1.6 km mark — a little jarring on tired knees.

On the line: 2 gates

These are mapped barriers, from OpenStreetMap — coverage in the Lakes is good but not guaranteed complete. Spotted a stile or gate we’ve missed? Tell us and we’ll fix it. Barrier data as of 2026-07-09. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).

Pacing

SummitCumulativeAscentTime (fast–steady)
1Hallin Fell0.8 km152 m0:25–0:33
Finish2.0 km156 m0:39–0:52

Naismith-based estimate — a fast/steady range. Your pace will vary. These use Naismith’s textbook constants (5 km/h, 600 m of ascent an hour). Measured against a pace fitted to 41 recorded Lakeland walks they run about 8% slow, and we have left them that way deliberately: a slow estimate strands nobody.

The walk, stage by stage

  1. 1

    St Peter's Church, Howtown (The Hause) → Hallin Fell (0.8 km, 152 m)

    Climb of about 152 m over 0.8 km (around 19% average).

    Low sun breaking under a heavy bank of cloud at the head of a valley, with bracken and rough grass on the slope and a track curling below
    © Lee McCoy

  2. Hallin Fell → Finish (1.2 km, 4 m)

    Descent of about 153 m over 1.2 km.

    A sheep beside the summit cairn looking out over Ullswater, the lake and its fields softened by low morning mist
    Ullswater seen from high on the fellside, its wooded shores and green fields below and the fells falling steeply to the water on both sides
    © Lee McCoy · 2 photographs

Summits bagged (1)

  1. 1Hallin Fell388 mFar Eastern · Wainwright, Birkett, Fellranger, Synge, Marilyn

Getting there & parking

Hallin Fell, south-east car park (free) — 0.0 km from the start (straight line)
Walking base for Hallin Fell, Sleet Fell, Low Birk Fell and Birk Fell (Bleaberry Knott - Birk Fell) — the 'Hallin Fell' route starts 8 m away. Also serves 'Birketts to the South of Ullswater'. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Hallin Fell car park (free) — 0.0 km from the start (straight line)
Walking base for Swarth Fell (Ullswater), Loadpot Hill, Brownthwaite Crag and Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa - Steel Knotts) — the 'Swarth Fell and Loadpot Hill' route starts 6 m away. Also serves 'Hallin Fell'. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Martindale, St Peter's church (free, limited) — 0.0 km from the start (straight line)
Quiet side of Ullswater — Hallin Fell, Steel Knotts, Beda Fell, Pikeawassa.
Directions Something changed here?
If it is full: Aira Force, High Cascades (NT, paid) (3.6 km); Aira Force (NT, paid) (3.9 km)
Hallin Fell (layby) — 0.4 km from the start (straight line)
Walking base for Swarth Fell (Ullswater), Loadpot Hill, Brownthwaite Crag and Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa - Steel Knotts) — the 'Swarth Fell and Loadpot Hill' route starts 421 m away. Also serves 'Hallin Fell'. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Steel Knotts (layby) — 0.8 km from the start (straight line)
Nearest fells: Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa - Steel Knotts) (0.7 km), Sleet Fell (1.2 km), Beda Fell (Beda Head) (1.3 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?

Positions are approximate. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.

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.

Every option near this start, on the parking map →

Water, shelter & getting away

🚌 Hause Farm (182 m)

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors — an absent marker does not mean the facility isn’t there.

Buses

The UB1 stops at Martindale Cattle Grid (near), 530 m and 74 m of ascent from this start. This looks like a seasonal service. Our timetable data has the UB1 stopping on 1 November 2026, but we haven’t confirmed that with the operator — so treat it as a reason to check rather than a date to plan around. We haven’t published its last bus times, so check the timetable before you rely on getting back — times here are a guide, not a promise.

The UB1 passes this route at 0.2 km (Martindale, at Cattle Grid, 460 m off the line).

Ullswater Hopper UB1
Troutbeck (Basecamp North Lakes) – Aira Force – Watermillock – Pooley Bridge – Askham
Catch it from: Pooley Bridge · Penrith (change to the 508 or 509)
The community hopper run for SITU by Stagecoach: 28 March to 1 November 2026 at weekends and bank holidays, and every day from 25 to 29 May and throughout July, August and September. Calls at the steamer piers, the campsites and the hotels around the northern half of the lake, and the driver will stop anywhere safe on request. £3 single, dogs welcome, no bike trailer in 2026. With the 508 it gives Gowbarrow, Little Mell Fell and the Pooley Bridge end of the High Street ridge a second option.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before travelling.

If the parking is full

There is no real plan B here. Every place we know beside this route serves the same walks and sits close together, so if one is full the others usually are too. Worth starting early, or having a different walk in mind before you set off.

  • Martindale, St Peter's church (free, limited)
  • Hallin Fell (layby)
  • Hallin Fell car park (free)

Worked out from the parking we hold within walking reach of this route and the other walks each place serves — two places that serve the same walks fill for the same reasons. We are not saying whether anywhere has spaces today, and we never will: this is what exists, not what is free.

When the sun reaches the tops

Not sunrise — the moment the sun clears the skyline from that summit, which on a fell with high ground to its east can be a good deal later. The two equinoxes are shown because they fall in the walking season, and late December too wherever a top keeps you waiting then; the clock gap between the equinoxes is British Summer Time, not the hill. Rounded to the nearest quarter hour and meant as a general idea, not a schedule.

  • Hallin Fell — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:45, about half an hour later. In late September, about 07:30. It waits longest in late December — about an hour after sunrise.

Modelled from a 30 m elevation model against each summit’s own skyline — the same figures the fell pages carry, never observed. Cloud is not in it.

Safety & conditions

Check live conditions in the “From the fells” panel, on MWIS and the Met Office mountain forecast before you set off.

Make it easier or harder

Easier and harder options coming soon.

Download

Download GPX

GPX track for your GPS or phone.

Places to stay near this start

Low Gale self-catering

about 0.9 km from the start, in a straight line

The most complete answer in the cluster and the one physically tied to these routes: it sleeps 7 in four bedrooms, has a cot, off-road parking, drying facilities, its own washing machine, is dog friendly, is single storey, and prepared meals can be had from the owners' hotel kitchen without getting back in the car. It also states its minimum stay, which nothing else at Howtown does.

The cottage stands right beside Fusedale Beck - the beck the Fusedale Circuit follows out of Howtown - and the steamer jetty is reachable on foot without a car.

  • Dogs “Low Gale Ullswater is an elevated single storey, dog friendly holiday cottage located just beside Fusedale Beck and can easily accomodate 7 people.”
  • Family rooms “2 bathrooms 1 double bedroom 2 twin rooms 1 single room Ample storage and drying facilites”
  • Parking “Free Superfast Broadband Dog friendly Off road parking Smoke-free Garden / Patios Cot available Dishwasher *Washing Machine”
  • Children “Free Superfast Broadband Dog friendly Off road parking Smoke-free Garden / Patios Cot available Dishwasher *Washing Machine”

Howtown Cottages self-catering

about 0.8 km from the start, in a straight line

Four cottages 200 yards from the lake and under a kilometre from the start, every one of them dog friendly with parking, a cot and drying facilities. Cottage No4 is the one to ask for with a bad knee or a buggy: it puts a shower room AND a triple room on the ground floor, which nothing else at Howtown does.

There is no booking engine. You email David at the Howtown Hotel, and he confirms the cottage and the dates himself.

  • Dogs “Competitively priced, warm, cosy, functional and comfortable holiday homes for 4 to 7 visitors + dogs, 200yds from Ullswater”
  • Family rooms “Howtown Cottage No 4: Sleeps seven people with one double and one twin on the first floor and a triple room on the ground flo or.”
  • Parking “Facilities: Howtown Cottage No1 Free Superfast Broadband Dog friendly Parking Smoke-free Garden / Patios”
  • Children “1 Shower room on ground floor 1 bathroom 1 double bedroom 1 twin room 1 triple room on ground floor Dishwasher Cot available”

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 the route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap.

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Dog-friendly walksEasy walks

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Fusedale Circuit
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