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5.63 km · ~247 m ascent · ~1.5–2 h · loop · 1 summit

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Hard steepnessLoopPlanned

Low Light Haw

5.63 km
Distance
~1.5–2 h
Typical time
~247 m
Ascent
1
Summit
Download GPX →Planned route · not yet walked

Key facts

Distance 5.63 km
Ascent ~247 m
Descent ~249 m
Time ~1.5–2 h
Best season Good year-round in clear weather. The paths on Bethecar Moor are little-trodden and can be faint, so pick a day with decent visibility.
Type Loop
A short, quiet loop onto Low Light Haw, one of the overlooked Bethecar Moor Birketts on the wild eastern side of Coniston Water. While the crowds file up the Old Man across the lake, this little top sees almost no one — a steep pull up through the woods onto open, heathery moor, a wide view over Coniston Water and the southern fells, and an easy return. Under 6 km, but with one genuinely steep climb: a fine short outing for a clear day and a bit of solitude.

✎️ 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.

✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet. 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

LengthEasy5.63 km — a short outing.
SteepnessHardSteepest sustained pull about 27% around the 2.0 km mark.
TerrainModerateMostly good mountain path — ~20% pathless. desk assessment — not field-verified
NavigationModerateClear line, hard to stray. 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.

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 48 m to 248 m over 5.6 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%. 248 m 48 m 0 km 5.6 km 1

1 Low Light Haw

Easy 79%Moderate 19%Hard 3%Severe

~247 m
Total ascent
248 m
High point
50 m
Start height

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

This walk covers about 5.63 km with around 247 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: Stiles or rough going on the route.
  • Knees: A sustained ~23% descent around the 3.7 km mark — a little jarring on tired knees.

On the line: 1 gate

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)
1Low Light Haw2.7 km223 m0:54–1:12
Finish5.6 km247 m1:32–2:03

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 → Low Light Haw (2.7 km, 223 m)

    Climb of about 223 m over 2.7 km (around 8% average).

    Start from the valley road and ascend steadily through the enclosed lower pastures, pushing up onto the rugged, heathery expanse of the open moorland. The path weaves uphill, linking faint sheep trods before emerging onto a lumpy, confusing plateau, requiring a careful line up to the modest, rocky summit of Low Light Haw

    Waypoints

    Valley intake walls, moorland lower slopes, Low Light Haw summit (250m)

    Decision point

    Once 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 wrong

    Like 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 lower slopes are heavily choked with bracken, which obscures the faint paths and makes for slow, tick-prone going on the ascent

    If you need to get off

    Turn 180 degrees and follow the descending ridge line directly back down to the valley road. The gradient is forgiving, and keeping the valley floor in sight provides a safe, immediate return to civilization

  2. Low Light Haw → Finish (2.9 km, 23 m)

    Descent of about 195 m over 2.9 km.

    From the summit of Low Light Haw, trend generally south-west to navigate off the knobbly high ground of the moor. The route drops gently but persistently, winding through boggy hollows and minor heathery bumps before meeting the intake walls and dropping back down to the quiet valley lanes at the finish

    Waypoints

    High moorland plateau, lower intake boundary walls, valley road, finish point

    Decision point

    Aim for the extensive drystone intake walls that ring the lower pastures—these act as a massive, continuous catching feature that will physically stop you from wandering too far off the fell. Once you intersect the wall, trace it downhill until you reach an established farm gate or track

    Easy to get wrong

    The 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 off

    You are on a continual descent to the valley floor, making this entire stage a natural escape route. Maintain a steady downhill bearing, avoiding any steep, craggy bluffs on the lower slopes, and you will easily intersect the valley road network

Summits bagged (1)

  1. 1Low Light Haw250 mSouth Lakeland · Outlying Fell

Getting there & parking

Crab Haws car park, Bethecar Moor (free) — 0.0 km from the start (straight line)
Small, free car park about 0.8 miles N of High Nibthwaite (OS SD 296 909; what3words ///fault.swordfish.insect). The hidden entrance is immediately after a field on the right. The natural start for the quiet Bethecar Moor / Blawith Birketts (Low & High Light Haw, Arnsbarrow Hill), with a path up through the woods. High Nibthwaite's own roadside laybys are very limited, so use Crab Haws to avoid blocking farm access.
Directions Something changed here?
Brown Howe (LDNPA, paid) — 0.6 km from the start (straight line)
Nearest fells: Beacon Fell (1.3 km), High Light Haw (1.4 km), Unnamed top (Top o' Selside) (1.5 km). Run by the Lake District National Park Authority (its car-parks roster, checked 12 Sep 2026). Fees: pay and display; coins and cards. Toilets on site.
Directions Something changed here?
Beacon Fell, north-east (layby) — 0.6 km from the start (straight line)
Nearest fells: Beacon Fell (1.4 km), High Light Haw (1.5 km), Low Light Haw (1.6 km). Free (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Beacon Fell (layby) — 0.7 km from the start (straight line)
Nearest fells: Beacon Fell (1.2 km), High Light Haw (1.5 km), Unnamed top (Top o' Selside) (1.5 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Beacon Fell, north-east (layby 2) — 0.7 km from the start (straight line)
Nearest fells: Beacon Fell (1.4 km), High Light Haw (1.5 km), Low Light Haw (1.7 km). Free (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 →

💧 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 nearest bus stop we hold is the 505 at Monk Coniston, at Hall, 8.3 km of walking from this start — not realistically reachable without a car.

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

Safety & conditions

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

Download

Download GPX

GPX track for your GPS or phone.

Places to stay near this start

Low Parkamoor Cottage guest house

about 2.0 km from the start, in a straight line

The only property in the radius that is both on the same shore as the start and closest to it - and it is barely a mile and a half up the fellside from the Crab Haws start, in the same hamlet the route note points you to (High Nibthwaite / Nibthwaite Grange Farm). It is also the one place here whose limitations are worth more to a reader than most sites' selling points: off-grid, composting toilet outside, no running water, no lights upstairs, and no vehicle access to the door. A family that reads this and books anyway will have exactly the stay they expected; one that reads it and books elsewhere has been saved a bad evening.

An off-grid Grade II listed farmhouse 200 metres up the fellside above the eastern shore of Coniston Water, lit downstairs by one small solar panel and watered by an indoor hand pump; you either walk in or get a 4x4 lift up from the farm.

  • Dogs “Dogs are allowed by agreement, but owners are asked to keep them under close control.”
  • Family rooms “It sleeps a maximum of 6 people. There are two double room and a twin room.”

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.

Appears in these collections
Dog-friendly walksEasy walks