Catbells: the short way up
Photo: © Lee McCoy
Key facts
✎️ Catbells is the fell that makes people fall in love with the Lakes, and its access is the best story on this site: the Keswick launch to Hawse End, or the bus, and you are at the foot of it without a car. Wainwright called it a family fell — but he also noted, drily, that its rocky steps have caught out plenty of grown-ups.
Difficulty profile
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 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
By bus: the Honister Rambler (77/77A) (opens in new tab) reaches Catbells at 08:33 and the last one back leaves at 18:58. At a steady pace this walk finishes about 10:55. Be off Cat Bells (Catbells) by 17:03. 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.
1 Skelgill Bank2 Cat Bells (Catbells)
Easy 60%Moderate 20%Hard 18%Severe 2%
Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right).
This walk covers about 5.67 km with around 388 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 and kissing gates only — a dog can do the whole route.
- Buggy: Not a pushchair route.
- Knees: A long, steep ~37% drop around the 2.5 km mark — hard on the 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 (opens in new tab) and we’ll fix it. Barrier data as of 2026-07-12. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).
Pacing
| Summit | Cumulative | Ascent | Time (fast–steady) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Skelgill Bank | 1.0 km | 208 m | 0:33–0:44 |
| 2Cat Bells (Catbells) | 1.8 km | 327 m | 0:54–1:12 |
| Finish | 5.7 km | 388 m | 1:47–2:22 |
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
Start → Skelgill Bank (1.0 km, 208 m)
Decision pointFrom Hawse End take the obvious path onto the north ridge and up over Skelgill Bank.
Easy to get wrongThe first rocky step comes here. It looks worse than it is, but the rock is polished — take your time.
© Lee McCoy - 2
Skelgill Bank → Cat Bells (Catbells) (0.7 km, 119 m)
Decision pointContinue along the ridge to the summit.
Easy to get wrongA second, shorter scrambly step just below the top. Hands out of pockets.
Cat Bells (Catbells) → Finish (3.9 km, 60 m)
Decision pointDescend south towards Hause Gate, then drop back north on the terrace path above Derwentwater.
Easy to get wrongThe terrace path is the gentle way home and it is the best view of the day. Going straight back down the ridge is steeper and where people slip.
© Lee McCoy
Summits bagged (2)
- 1Skelgill Bank338 m
- 2Cat Bells (Catbells)451 m
In the order you walk them — the same numbers the elevation profile, the stage notes and the pacing table use.
Getting there & parking
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 →
Water, shelter & getting away
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors — an absent marker does not mean the facility isn’t there.
Buses
The 77 stops at Hawes End, outside Cattle Grid, 80 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 19:00 towards Keswick (77), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
The 77 passes this route at 0.0 km (Swinside, at Green Road, 630 m off the line). It passes again at 5.6 km.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) 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.
- Hawse End / Skelgill Bank, Catbells (roadside, limited)
- Cat Bells, south-east (layby)
- Skelgill Bank car park
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.
- Cat Bells (Catbells) — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:30, about a quarter of an hour later. In late September, about 07:15. It waits longest in late March — about a quarter of 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
- It is a small fell, not an easy one. Short does not mean gentle: the ridge is steep, and there are two rocky steps where you will want your hands. Confident children love it; it is not a pushchair walk.
- The path is badly eroded and the rock is worn slippery by sheer numbers. Most incidents here are slips on the descent.
- Do not read ‘low’ as ‘safe in a storm’. Catbells is a bare, open ridge with nothing above you — on it, you are the highest point. Height is not what protects you from lightning. If you hear thunder, get off it. (We watched people walking up it into an incoming storm on 11 July 2026.)
- Livestock on the lower fields — dogs on a short lead.
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.
Make it easier or harder
Why this direction: Up the ridge, down the terrace — the steep, rocky ground is climbed rather than descended, and the walk out along the lake is the loveliest part.
Short version: turn back at about 1.0 km (drop to Start) — roughly half the distance.
Places to stay near this start
From Hawes End: 6 places in Keswick
