High Rigg
Start Wanthwaite Bridge Car Park
Getting here Parking: St John's in the Vale verge, High Rigg (free), 0.1 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 509, X4 and X5 stop at Threlkeld West End (near); from there it is 2.3 km and 57 m of ascent to this start. And the same back: about 8.2 km in all, with the walk. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Moderate steepness: Steepest sustained descent about 21% around the 2.2 km mark.
Before you choose
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.
See also walking in bad weather and today’s conditions.
Route map
1 High Rigg (Naddle Fell)
Easy 66%Moderate 34%HardSevere
Heights on this chart and its high point are read from the track itself (a terrain model sampled along the line, or a GPS recording), so a top can differ from its listed height, usually reading lower.
Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
The elevation profile is under the map; the stage notes follow.
The walk, stage by stage
- 1
Wanthwaite Bridge Car Park → High Rigg (Naddle Fell) (1.8 km, 214 m)
Starting at the junction of the B-road to the west of Wanthwaite Mill head west up the lane and turn left at the bend with a small road to the right at Yew Tree Farm. Keep going over the gate by what looks to be an abandoned house. You’ll eventually get sight of the grounds of St John’s Church with the Carlisle Diocesan Youth Centre next to it. Just as you pass that you’ll see a path that bends around behind it - take that, and from there the path climbs south-east up the fell to the top of High Rigg (356 m) at about 1.8 km.
If you need to get offThe bail point is to turn back at the Youth Centre but this is an easy walk.
High Rigg (Naddle Fell) → Finish (1.8 km, 7 m)
Return the way you came. The ridge carries on over Yew Crag and Wren Crag towards St John’s Beck, but that extension is not part of this route’s line or its distance.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Walked by Lee, April 2026
Summits bagged (1)
- 1High Rigg (Naddle Fell)356 m
Conditions and timing
Check live conditions in the “From the fells” panel, on MWIS (opens in new tab) and the Met Office mountain forecast (opens in new tab) before you set off.
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.
- High Rigg (Naddle Fell) — in late March the sun reaches it around 07:00, about an hour later. In late September, about 07:45. It waits longest in late December — about an hour after sunrise.
How to read these times
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.
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.
Getting there and back
Parking
2 more places to park near the start
Positions are approximate.
Vehicles are left at their owner’s risk: we list places people park and cannot vouch for any of them. Take valuables with you and leave nothing on show.
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 expect them to fill on the same mornings. Worth starting early, or having a different walk in mind before you set off.
- St John's in the Vale verge, High Rigg (free) — at the start
- High Rigg (layby) — a 460 m walk to the start
- High Rigg, north-east (layby) — a 540 m walk to the start
We never say whether anywhere has spaces today. Walks to the line are measured along mapped paths (OpenStreetMap), not in a straight line. How we choose these places.
No signal when you get there? RoutePark keeps this list on your phone: choose this walk’s GPX at home, keep it, and it opens offline.
Buses
The 509, X4 and X5 stop at Threlkeld West End (near). From there it is 2.3 km and 57 m of ascent to this start — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 8.2 km in all, with the walk. Last bus: Monday to Friday 22:05 towards Penrith (X5) and 17:02 towards Patterdale (509) and 14:37 towards Hartsop (509); Saturday 22:05 towards Penrith (X5) and 17:02 towards Patterdale (509) and 14:37 towards Hartsop (509); Sunday 18:31 towards Penrith (X5) and 17:02 towards Patterdale (509) and 14:37 towards Hartsop (509). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026; that timetable runs to 1 November 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 travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival Free verge parking in St John’s in the Vale, about 60 m from the start, with room for about five cars. 62 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (our parking map (Lee, 7 August 2026), checked 7 August 2026)
- Toilets No toilets are mapped within 250 m of the start. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Refreshments No café or pub is mapped within 250 m of the start: bring what you need. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Limitation One steep pull near the top, and a stretch of pathless ground. (our route notes (this route's own warnings), checked 28 September 2026)
No mapped drinking water or shelter on this route — that doesn’t mean there is none, and never drink untreated from a beck. (Facilities data © OpenStreetMap contributors.)
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Planning detail
How each grade on this page is set, and the timings stage by stage.
Difficulty profile
Moderate overall — hardest: Steepness
Five independent axes, not one score. Three of the five were set on the ground; the rest are computed from the recorded track and the map, which measures the line rather than surveying the ground.
How we grade: each axis is Easy, Moderate, Hard or Severe, and a route between two bands takes the higher one. Length: under 8 km, 8–14 km, 14–20 km, over 20 km. Steepness, the steepest 500 m of the track: under 15%, 15–25%, 25–35%, over 35%. Terrain, navigation and exposure are judged rather than measured, and each note says why. How we grade.
Pacing
| Summit | Cumulative | Ascent | Time (fast–steady) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1High Rigg (Naddle Fell) | 1.8 km | 214 m | 0:43–0:57 |
| Finish | 3.6 km | 221 m | 1:06–1:27 |
A fast–steady range from Naismith’s rule, deliberately on the slow side. Breaks, weather, rough ground and the slowest person in your party all add to it. How we time walks.
Access & barriers
Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route?
- Buggy: No mapped stiles; terrain Easy – graded by Lee on the ground, but the going for wheels is not recorded; not a buggy line on what we know.
- Knees: A sustained ~29% descent over 250 m around the 2.1 km mark — a little jarring on tired knees.
With a dog
Nothing here stands out as hard for a dog.
- Stiles and gates: Only gates and kissing gates are mapped: no stile a dog can’t get through. That is the barriers alone; check the route’s steep or rocky ground before you bring a dog. (OpenStreetMap, mapped as of 20 July 2026)
- Rock and scrambling: Ground underfoot: Easy – graded by Lee on the ground. Graded on the ground.
- Drops and exposed ground: Easy – graded by Lee on the ground. Graded on the ground.
- Ways off early: None recorded for this route.
- Livestock, shade and water: Not recorded for this route yet. We never call a stream safe for a dog to drink, so carry enough for both of you. The lead rules, and what to do around cattle, are on dogs on the fells.
On the line: 4 gates
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 20 July 2026. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).
Places to stay near this start
From Wanthwaite Bridge: 4 places in Keswick
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Threlkeld — 2.4 km from this start
- Walks from Keswick — 4.6 km from this start
Straight-line distance from this walk’s start. Those lists hold the routes we have mapped and every Wainwright and Outlying fell within about 5 km of the town, ranked nearest first.