Low Light Haw circuit
Start Crab Haws car park, Bethecar Moor (free)
Getting here Parking: Crab Haws car park, Bethecar Moor (free), 0.0 km from the start (straight line). Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Moderate steepness: Steepest sustained descent about 21% around the 3.8 km mark. Moderate navigation: No large featureless ground on the map; carry a map and compass for cloud. Moderate – estimated from the map, not checked on the ground
Before you choose
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 Low Light Haw
Easy 81%Moderate 19%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
Start → Low Light Haw (2.7 km, 223 m)
From the lane beside Coniston Water, take the permissive path that climbs north-east through the woods, then turns south along the hillside, over Selside Beck, to meet a restricted byway. Follow the byway south-west for about 0.9 km; it loses about 25 m and crosses a small stream at a ford. Then leave it on a path that climbs steeply east, the steepest ground on the route at about 27% near the 2 km mark, and emerge onto a lumpy, confusing plateau; the path winds on across it to the modest, rocky summit of Low Light Haw (250m).
WaypointsLane beside Coniston Water, permissive path through the woods, Selside Beck, restricted byway, steep path onto the plateau, Low Light Haw summit (250m).
Decision pointOnce on the open moor, use the dominant skyline of the higher Coniston fells to the north-west to maintain your general orientation. The summit of Low Light Haw is marked by a small cairn but sits amidst a complex jumble of very similar rocky knots, demanding accurate micro-navigation in low cloud.
Easy to get wrongLike much of the southern outlying fells, the terrain here is highly deceptive. Thick heather conceals loose, rocky outcrops and deep, waterlogged peat hags. In summer, the path above the byway is heavily choked with bracken, which obscures it and makes for slow, tick-prone going on the ascent.
If you need to get offThe way back is the way you came.
Low Light Haw → Finish (2.9 km, 23 m)
From the summit of Low Light Haw, the path trends south-west across the knobbly top for about 0.8 km, winding through boggy hollows and minor heathery bumps and losing about 50 m. A public footpath then drops west down the hillside, with Caws Beck on your left, to a gate at High Nibthwaite. Go through the village and follow the lane north beside Coniston Water for about 1.3 km back to the start.
WaypointsLow Light Haw summit, the knobbly top, public footpath beside Caws Beck, High Nibthwaite, the lane beside Coniston Water, finish point.
Decision pointOn the descent to High Nibthwaite the public footpath keeps Caws Beck on your left, and the lane back runs beside Coniston Water, also on your left. The drystone intake walls that ring the lower pastures can act as a catching feature.
Easy to get wrongThe initial descent off the moor involves tedious micro-navigation through a maze of hummocks and saturated ground; it remains boggy well into the summer months. The final grassy drop back to the road level can be surprisingly steep and slick after rainfall, putting pressure on tired knees.
If you need to get offYou are on the final descent to the road. Follow the route's own line to the finish.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
Summits bagged (1)
- 1Low Light Haw250 m
More about this walk
Park at the small, free Crab Haws car park (what3words ///fault.swordfish.insect), about 0.8 miles north of High Nibthwaite — the entrance is easy to miss, immediately after a field on the right, and the path climbs straight up through the woods from there. High Nibthwaite's own laybys are very limited, so please use Crab Haws and don't block the farm access.
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.
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.
Buses
No bus we hold serves this start. The nearest stop we hold is the 505 at Monk Coniston, at Hall, 8.3 km away on foot: a walk of its own, not a way to the start.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival Crab Haws car park on Bethecar Moor, beside the start: small and free. Its entrance is hidden, immediately after a field on the right. 19 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (our parking map, checked 2 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 Under 6 km, but with one genuinely steep pull up through the woods onto open moor. (our route notes (this route's own summary), checked 2 October 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 and navigation (estimated from the map, not checked on the ground); terrain not assessed; exposure not assessed on the ground
Five independent axes, not one score. None of them was set on the ground: they 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Low Light Haw | 2.7 km | 223 m | 0:55–1:12 |
| Finish | 5.6 km | 247 m | 1:32–2:03 |
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, but the ground underfoot has not been assessed; not a buggy line on what we know.
- Knees: A sustained ~23% descent over 250 m around the 3.7 km mark — a little jarring on tired knees.
With a dog
Hardest for a dog here: drops and exposed ground (estimated from the map). The steepest stretch is a sustained descent of about 21% around the 3.8 km mark.
- Drops and exposed ground: Not assessed on the ground; the map suggests Moderate. Graded from slope only (~27% max); treat exposure as unverified.
- 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 9 July 2026)
- Rock and scrambling: Ground underfoot: Not assessed.
- 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: 1 gate
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 9 July 2026. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).
Places to stay near this start
- Low Parkamoor Cottage (opens in new tab) guest houseabout 2.0 km
We have not stayed at any of them. We take no bookings or affiliate fees. Distances are straight lines from the route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).