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11.37 km · ~738 m ascent · ~3.5–4.5 h · loop · 2 summits

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Haystacks above Buttermere
Severe steepnessLoop

Haystacks

11.37 km
Distance
~3.5–4.5 h
Typical time
~738 m
Ascent
2
Summits

Photo: © Lee McCoy

Download GPX →Walked by Lee, April 2026

Key facts

Distance 11.37 km
Ascent ~738 m
Descent ~735 m
Time ~3.5–4.5 h
Type Loop
Fleetwith Pike's front edge first, then the tarns and rocky knolls of Haystacks — the two finest small summits above Buttermere in a single round. There is a scramble to the true top, and a maze of paths up there that needs care in cloud.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.

Difficulty profile

LengthModerate11.37 km round.
SteepnessSevereSteepest sustained pull about 40% around the 11.0 km mark.
TerrainModerateMostly good mountain path — rough/natural surface. desk assessment — not field-verified
NavigationHardCare needed in cloud — ~16% featureless high ground, 32 path junctions near the line. desk assessment — not field-verified
ExposureModerateEasy walking to the base; only the last few metres to the true summit are a short, sharp scramble on the sharp peak, and that final top can be skipped.

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 2 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

By bus: the Honister Rambler (77/77A) reaches Honister Slate Mine at 08:59 and the last one back leaves at 18:33. At a steady pace this walk finishes about 13:39. Be off Haystacks (Buttermere) by 15:44. Runs daily, including public holidays. From the summer 2026 timetable, read on 21 Aug 2026. Check the timetable before you rely on it.

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 347 m to 697 m over 11.4 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%. 697 m 347 m 0 km 11.4 km 12

1 Fleetwith Pike2 Haystacks (Buttermere)

Easy 68%Moderate 22%Hard 9%Severe 2%

~738 m
Total ascent
697 m
High point
347 m
Start height

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

This walk covers about 11.37 km with around 738 m of ascent, taking in 2 summits. 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
Mostly gates
Buggy
Not buggy-able
Knees
Tough descent
  • Dog: A stile of unmapped type — a dog may need lifting over.
  • Buggy: Stiles or rough going on the route.
  • Knees: A long, steep ~40% drop around the 10.9 km mark — hard on the knees.

On the line: 1 step-over stile · 2 stiles (type unmapped)

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)
1Fleetwith Pike2.5 km326 m1:03–1:24
2Haystacks (Buttermere)5.6 km495 m1:57–2:36
Finish11.4 km738 m3:30–4:40

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

    Start → Fleetwith Pike (2.5 km, 326 m)

    Climb of about 326 m over 2.5 km (around 13% average).

    Leave the Honister Slate Mine car park and pick up the quarry tracks heading West up the fellside. The path climbs steeply, weaving through the industrial scars of the old slate workings. You will skirt the dramatic, sheer northern edge of Honister Crag (known as Black Star) before the gradient eases. From here, follow the grassy ridge line directly to the summit cairn of Fleetwith Pike, which offers one of the most famous plunging views down towards Buttermere

    Waypoints

    Honister Slate Mine, Quarry Inclines, Black Star (Honister Crag edge), Fleetwith Pike summit

    Decision point

    The massive quarry tracks make the early navigation very straightforward. The summit is clearly marked and visually dominates the ridge

    Easy to get wrong

    The initial climb up the quarry tracks is steep and unrelenting. Care must be taken near Black Star, as the cliffs drop sheer into the pass below

    If you need to get off

    Simply turn around and walk back down the wide quarry track straight to your car at Honister

    A wide sweep of dark heather and rocky knolls with a high line of crag-topped fells beyond, under a cloudless blue sky
    © Lee McCoy
  2. 2

    Fleetwith Pike → Haystacks (Buttermere) (3.1 km, 169 m)

    Climb of about 169 m over 3.1 km (around 5% average).

    From Fleetwith Pike, drop South-East down the ridge towards the wide, boggy saddle of Warnscale Bottom. You will descend into the remnants of Dubs Quarry, passing the old slate-built Dubs Hut (now a bothy). Cross Warnscale Beck, and begin the approach to Haystacks from the east. Haystacks is not a simple cone; it is a chaotic jumble of rocky knolls and tarns. The path weaves up and through these crags, requiring some minor hands-on scrambling to breach the summit plateau

    Waypoints

    Dubs Quarry, Dubs Hut, Warnscale Beck crossing, Haystacks summit

    Decision point

    Dubs Hut is a highly visible landmark in the depression between the fells

    Easy to get wrong

    The descent off Fleetwith is steep in places. Finding the correct line up the eastern, craggy end of Haystacks can be confusing and involves some light scrambling

    If you need to get off

    Dubs Quarry / Dubs Hut. If you want to skip Haystacks entirely, do not cross Warnscale Beck. Instead, turn left (East) at Dubs Hut and follow the very clear, wide Dubs Quarry road. It contours the fellside and leads directly back to the Honister Slate Mine on a gentle decline

    A shallow beck spreading over bare rock slabs and boulders, with a rough path climbing beyond it towards a rocky knott
    Innominate Tarn on the summit plateau of Haystacks, dark and wind-ruffled among rock and heather, with a shapely fell rising beyond
    © Lee McCoy · 2 photographs

  3. Haystacks (Buttermere) → Finish (5.7 km, 242 m)

    Climb of about 242 m over 5.7 km (around 4% average).

    Leave the summit of Haystacks heading East/South-East. You will weave through the labyrinth of the summit plateau, passing the beautiful Innominate Tarn (the resting place of Alfred Wainwright) and Blackbeck Tarn. Instead of dropping back to Dubs Quarry, this route turns South-East to tackle the 242m ascent up the grassy, rocky slopes of Brandreth. From Brandreth's summit, follow the undulating ridge North-East to the rocky outcrops of Grey Knotts. Finally, drop steeply North off the grass of Grey Knotts to the old Drum House ruins, rejoining the Honister tramway incline for the steep final descent back to the slate mine

    Waypoints

    Innominate Tarn, Blackbeck Tarn, Brandreth summit, Grey Knotts summit, Drum House, Honister Incline, Finish

    Decision point

    The tarns are unmistakable visual markers. Once you reach Brandreth, you can pick up a line of old, rusted iron fence posts that act as a brilliant "handrail" leading you directly across the plateau to Grey Knotts

    Easy to get wrong

    The Haystacks Plateau: The micro-topography here is highly confusing in thick mist; there are dozens of false summits and unmarked pools. The Late Climb: Hitting a 242m ascent up Brandreth this late in the walk is physically taxing. The Final Descent: The steep drop off Grey Knotts down to Drum House is pathless in places and very slippery on wet grass

    If you need to get off

    Before the Brandreth climb: As you pass Blackbeck Tarn, before starting the uphill slog to Brandreth, you can bear left (North). This drops you down a short path directly onto the Dubs Quarry track, which you can follow straight back to Honister, safely bypassing the final two mountains

    A small dark tarn set in a bare, tussocky plateau, with crag-topped fells on the left and a rounded top on the right against a pale blue sky
    A cairn on bare rock slabs looking out over a rocky top to Crummock Water and Buttermere lying in their valleys far below
    © Lee McCoy · 2 photographs

Summits bagged (2)

  1. 1Fleetwith Pike649 mWestern · Wainwright, Birkett, Fellranger, Synge, Nuttall, HuMP
  2. 2Haystacks (Buttermere)597 mWestern · Wainwright, Birkett, Fellranger, Synge

In the order you walk them — the same numbers the elevation profile, the stage notes and the pacing table use.

Getting there & parking

⛽ Nearest fuel to this start: High Hill, Keswick, 14.2 km by road (07:00-20:00 daily). Nearest shop: Open All Hours, 13.3 km. Both measured along the road from the parking we publish at Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale, checked 8 August 2026. Coming in from a particular direction you may pass a closer one — the last petrol before each valley →

Honister Pass (paid, slate mine) — 0.1 km from the start (straight line)
Pay & display at the top of the pass — Dale Head, Fleetwith Pike, Grey Knotts with minimal ascent. This is the slate mine's own car park, the WESTERN one; the National Trust car park 170 m east is a separate one. Fees: Day parking GBP 5 per day for visitors; free for all Honister activity guests (honister.com/your-visit/). Overnight parking GBP 15 a night in the large bottom car park, open to campervans, motorhomes and vans, no tent camping, no facilities, no electric hook-ups; book online or pay by QR code on arrival and display confirmation on the dashboard (honister.com/your-visit/overnight-parking) (operator, checked Aug 2026). You pay by card, inside the building, not at a machine in the car park. The posted opening is 9am but it is often later; the mine is content for you to arrive before it and pay on the way out, and the car park is covered by cameras (Lee McCoy, local observation, recorded 12 Aug 2026). Pay and display (LDNPA, checked Aug 2026).
🕑 Typically full before 10:00 on fine weekends, Apr-Oct — Lee McCoy, local observation, 2026-08-09.
Directions Something changed here?
If it is full: Seatoller (NT, paid) (2.3 km)
🚺 Public toilets (~136 m straight line) — Free🚺 Public toilets (~1825 m straight line) — Free☕ Sky Hi Cafe
Honister (NT, paid) — 0.1 km from the start (straight line)
Walking base for Great Gable, Green Gable, Brandreth and Grey Knotts — the 'Great Gable from Honister Slate Mine' route starts 61 m away. Also serves 'Haystacks'. Paid National Trust car park - the prices we used to show here came from an aggregator rather than the Trust, so we no longer publish a figure; check the machine on arrival, and members should bring their card (National Trust car-park list, checked Aug 2026). The machine takes cards, and National Trust members park free on production of their membership card (Lee McCoy, local observation, recorded 12 Aug 2026).
Directions Something changed here?
Grey Knotts car park — 0.6 km from the start (straight line)
Nearest fells: Grey Knotts (1.7 km), Dale Head (1.9 km), Honister Crag (Black Star) (1.9 km). Fee not verified — check signage on arrival.
Directions Something changed here?
Thornythwaite Fell (layby) — 1.6 km from the start (straight line)
Walking base for Allen Crags, High House Tarn Top (High House - Allen Crags), Red Beck Top (Glaramara South Top) (Lincomb Head - Glaramara) and Looking Steads (Glaramara) — the 'Allan Crags & Glaramara' route starts 135 m away. Also serves 'Scafell Pike via the Corridor Route'. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale (free verge) — 1.6 km from the start (straight line)
Free verge parking on the Seathwaite lane — the honeypot start for the Scafells, Great Gable and Glaramara. Arrive very early.
🕑 Typically full before 09:00 on fine weekends, Apr-Oct — Lee McCoy, local observation, 2026-08-09.
Directions Something changed here?
If it is full: Honister Pass (paid, slate mine) (1.8 km); Seatoller (NT, paid) (2.0 km); Rosthwaite (NT, paid) (3.8 km)
🚺 Public toilets (~188 m straight line) — Free

Positions are approximate.

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

🚌 Honister Youth Hostel / Slate Quarry (E) (123 m)🚌 map (129 m)⛺ Honister Pass YHA (77 m)

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

Buses

The 77 stops at Honister Youth Hostel (near), 160 m from this start. Seasonal: the 77 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day, and it is not daily before then — a bus on 31 of the 56 days from 7 September. We don’t know when it returns. Confirmed with the operator, 29 August 2026. The last bus is 18:33 towards Keswick (77), 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.

The 77 passes this route at 11.3 km (Honister Youth Hostel (near), 100 m off the line).

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 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.

  • Honister Pass (paid, slate mine)
  • Honister (NT, paid)

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.

Toilets and refreshments

At Honister Pass (paid, slate mine), the closest parking we hold to where this route starts:

🚺 Public toilets (~136 m straight line) — Free🚺 Public toilets (~1825 m straight line) — Free☕ Sky Hi Cafe

Distances are straight lines from the car park, not walking routes. Opening hours change; none of this is checked daily.

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.

  • Fleetwith Pike — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:30, with the sunrise. In late September, about 07:00. It waits longest in midsummer — about half an hour after sunrise. In late December, not until about 08:45.
  • Haystacks (Buttermere) — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:30, with the sunrise. In late September, about 07:00. It waits longest in late December — about half 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

Short version: turn back at about 3.8 km (drop to Start) — roughly half the distance.

Download

Download GPX

GPX track for your GPS or phone.

Places to stay near this start

Seatoller House guest house

about 2.0 km from the start, in a straight line

The nearest serviced bed to the top of Honister with a kitchen behind it. It is the only property inside 3 km whose own page answers evening meal, breakfast time, parking, dogs and a family room together - and two of its ten rooms are downstairs, which matters to a walker who has just come off Haystacks on wrecked knees.

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 biggest building in the hamlet of Seatoller.

  • 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 “The dining room has two large traditional oak tables creating a friendly atmosphere where guests are served a set meal at 7 pm (excluding Wednesdays).”
  • Parking “There are 10 bedrooms all with private bathrooms, a large award winning garden surrounding the house and ample private car parking.”

Also nearby, but not independent

YHA Borrowdale hostel

about 3.1 km from the start, in a straight line

The only bed in the cluster whose own page states a cot, a highchair, ground-floor rooms, wheelchair access, a drying room, a self-catering kitchen and a 07:30 breakfast. For a family where one adult walks Great Gable and the rest do not, nothing else in the radius answers as many of their questions - which is why it earns a row despite not being independent.

Worth knowing: “Dogs: Pets are not permitted at YHA Borrowdale, except in our Camping & Cabins accommodation. Assistance dogs are welcome - please notify us at the time of booking.”

There has been a youth hostel in this valley since before the war - the present one opened at Longthwaite at Easter 1939, after an earlier hostel at Grange-in-Borrowdale closed in 1937.

  • Drying room “Self-catering kitchen Shared drying room Shared lounge Sole use available Unlimited breakfast Water refill station Wheelchair accessible WiFi”
  • Family rooms “YHA Borrowdale offers a variety of accommodation options including rooms of varying sizes, camping pods and camping pitches.”
  • Evening meal “With tasty breakfasts, packed lunches and evening meals, groups are sure to find something delicious to eat at YHA Borrowdale (see sample menu ).”
  • Packed lunch “With tasty breakfasts, packed lunches and evening meals, groups are sure to find something delicious to eat at YHA Borrowdale (see sample menu ).”
  • Parking “Parking: This hostel has on-site parking (subject to availability). Charges apply though overnight guests benefit from a discounted rate of £5 per vehicle for 24 hours.”
  • Children “Accessible rooms available Bed linen Central heating Cot available Ground floor rooms available Heating Hot water Lock on doors Smoke alarm”

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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