hikes.guideLake District

4.98 km · ~417 m ascent · ~1.5–2.5 h · loop · 2 summits

Home / Routes / Ling Fell & Sale Fell

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Last reviewed

Severe steepnessLoop

Ling Fell & Sale Fell

4.98 km
Distance
~1.5–2.5 h
Typical time
~417 m
Ascent
2
Summits
Download GPX →Walked by Lee, July 2026

Key facts

Distance 4.98 km
Ascent ~417 m
Descent ~416 m
Time ~1.5–2.5 h
Type Loop
Two small grassy tops near Wythop — 5 km and 417 m, and the only route in this group rated easy on every axis but steepness. A stage averages 16%. Well under two hours.
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

LengthEasy4.98 km — a short outing.
SteepnessSevereSteepest sustained pull about 37% around the 1.8 km mark.
TerrainEasyGraded on the ground.
NavigationEasyGraded on the ground.
ExposureEasyGraded on the ground.

Five independent axes, not one score — all field-checked on the ground here, with nothing left as a desk estimate.

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

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 160 m to 370 m over 5.0 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%. 370 m 160 m 0 km 5.0 km 12

1 Ling Fell2 Sale Fell

Easy 47%Moderate 33%Hard 18%Severe 2%

~417 m
Total ascent
370 m
High point
160 m
Start height

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

This walk covers about 4.98 km with around 417 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
Gates only
Buggy
Not buggy-able
Knees
Tough descent
  • Dog: Gates and kissing gates only — a dog can do the whole route.
  • Buggy: Stiles or rough going on the route.
  • Knees: A long, steep ~37% drop around the 1.7 km mark — hard on the 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 2026-07-25. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).

Pacing

SummitCumulativeAscentTime (fast–steady)
1Ling Fell1.3 km214 m0:37–0:49
2Sale Fell3.7 km415 m1:26–1:55
Finish5.0 km417 m1:41–2:15

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 → Ling Fell (1.3 km, 214 m)

    Climb of about 214 m over 1.3 km (around 16% average).

    A thin path over the grass and heather of Ling Fell's top, sheep grazing, with the Solway plain and a rain squall out to sea beyond
    © Lee McCoy
  2. 2

    Ling Fell → Sale Fell (2.5 km, 200 m)

    Climb of about 200 m over 2.5 km (around 8% average).

    The rounded grassy top of Sale Fell, with cloud pouring over the Skiddaw fells and the green Wythop valley below
    © Lee McCoy

  3. Sale Fell → Finish (1.2 km, 2 m)

    Descent of about 191 m over 1.2 km.

Summits bagged (2)

  1. 1Ling Fell374 mNorth Western · Wainwright, Birkett, Fellranger, Synge
  2. 2Sale Fell359 mNorth Western · Wainwright, Birkett, Fellranger, Synge, HuMP

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

Getting there & parking

Ling Fell, north-east (layby) — 0.1 km from the start (straight line)
Walking base for Ling Fell, Sale Fell, Rivings and Lothwaite — the 'Ling Fell & Sale Fell' route starts 80 m away. Also serves 'Rivings and Lothwaite'. Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Roadside parking for Ling Fell (free) — 0.3 km from the start (straight line)
Approx 5 spaces. 0.6 km from Ling Fell. Added from the 5 Aug 2026 OSM candidate review.
Directions Something changed here?
Burthwaite Heights (layby) — 0.6 km from the start (straight line)
Nearest fells: Burthwaite Heights (0.5 km), Ling Fell (1.0 km), Sale Fell (1.0 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Ling Fell (layby) — 0.8 km from the start (straight line)
Nearest fells: Ling Fell (0.9 km), Burthwaite Heights (1.6 km), Sale Fell (1.8 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Roadside parking for Sale Fell (free) — 1.1 km from the start (straight line)
0.6 km from Sale Fell. Added from the 5 Aug 2026 OSM candidate review.
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 →

💧 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.)

Buses

The X4 stops at Embleton Close Barn (near). From there it is 2.7 km and 151 m of ascent to this start — a walk in before the walk. Last bus: Monday to Friday 21:35 towards Keswick (X5); Saturday 23:50 towards Keswick (X5); Sunday 17:55 towards Keswick (X5). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

Stagecoach X4 / X5
Penrith – Rheged – Threlkeld – Keswick – Braithwaite – Cockermouth – Workington
Catch it from: Penrith
Year-round, every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday between Penrith and Keswick and hourly on Sundays, from outside Penrith station. One ticket from any station on the West Coast Main Line to Keswick includes this bus: search for ‘Keswick Bus (KWK)’ when you book the train. From Penrith this is your way into Keswick and the Northern fells — Threlkeld/Scales stops serve Blencathra directly, Braithwaite serves the Coledale fells.

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.

  • Roadside parking for Ling Fell (free)
  • Burthwaite Heights (layby)
  • Ling Fell, north-east (layby)

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.

  • Ling Fell — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:45, about a quarter of an hour later. In late September, about 07:15. It waits longest in late December — about half an hour after sunrise.
  • Sale 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 March — about half an hour after sunrise. In late December, not until about 08:45.

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 2.5 km (drop to Start) — roughly half the distance.

Download

Download GPX

GPX track for your GPS or phone.

Places to stay near this start

Embleton Spa Hotel hotel

about 1.6 km from the start, in a straight line

The nearest property to the start by a clear margin, and the only one in the ring that answers a walking family's whole evening in one place: a family ensuite bedroom plus four self-contained family apartments, breakfast included in the room rate, and its own bar and evening menu so nobody gets back in the car. It is also the one property here that a car-free party can reach.

An 18th-century Lakeland farmhouse that now runs a pool and gym its guests use free, and it sits on the Penrith-Keswick-Workington bus route with the stop 50 yards from the door.

  • Family rooms “We offer four Ensuite Double Bedrooms and one Family Ensuite Bedroom, located on the first and second floors of the hotel.”
  • Evening meal “Bar/restaurant with breakfast, drop-in lunch menu and evening menu.”

Bassenfell Manor Christian Centre hostel

about 4.7 km from the start, in a straight line

It holds the only drying room within three miles of this start, and the only ground-floor bedroom with an en-suite described as suitable for restricted mobility. For a party that comes off Sale Fell soaked, or one carrying a bad knee, nothing else in the ring answers either question at all. Ranked sixth rather than higher only because its calendar is dominated by group hire and named holiday weeks, so a passing family's availability is not established.

A charity-run manor whose dining room seats 75 under a panorama of Bassenthwaite Lake, and which runs its own September walking week with a slower 'Strollers' option alongside the high ridges.

  • Drying room “Drying Room and Laundry Space to dry wet coats and shoes.”
  • Family rooms “68 Bed spaces in 19 Bedrooms on 3 floors. Rooms range from twin/double up to 6 people each with en-suite or a private bathroom.”
  • Evening meal “Friendly relaxed atmosphere, comfy accommodation, great food, and quality leadership are the hallmarks of our holiday weeks.”
  • Parking “Parking Car park space for up to 21 cars.”

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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Rivings and Lothwaite
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