Troutbeck Tongue from Troutbeck
Start Town Head, Troutbeck
Getting here Parking: Sour Howes, north-west (layby), 0.1 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 508 stops at Troutbeck, at Town Head by spring, a 50 m walk from this start. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Hard steepness: Steepest sustained descent about 29% around the 5.5 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 Troutbeck Tongue
Easy 80%Moderate 15%Hard 4%Severe
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 → Troutbeck Tongue (3.3 km, 260 m)
Descent of about 44 m, then a climb of about 260 m, over 3.3 km.
Troutbeck Tongue → Finish (7.2 km, 259 m)
Descent of about 190 m, with about 259 m of climbing, over 7.2 km.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
Summits bagged (1)
- 1Troutbeck Tongue364 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.
- Troutbeck Tongue — in late March the sun reaches it around 07:45, well over an hour later. In late September, about 08:30. It waits longest in midsummer — well over an hour after sunrise. In late December, not until about 09:00.
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.
- Baystones car park (free) — joins the loop at about km 1 of 10.5: a 940 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Sour Howes, west (layby) — joins the loop at about km 9.5 of 10.5: a 140 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Sour Howes, north-west (layby) — at 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 508 stops at Troutbeck, at Town Head by spring, a 50 m walk from this start. We haven’t published last buses, Sunday or winter service yet, so check the timetable before you rely on getting back.
The 508 passes this route at 0.0 km (Troutbeck, at Town Head by spring, 20 m off the line). It passes again at 9.4 km.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
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
Hard overall — hardest: Steepness; 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Troutbeck Tongue | 3.3 km | 260 m | 1:06–1:28 |
| Finish | 10.5 km | 519 m | 2:58–3:57 |
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: Stiles or rough going on the route.
- Knees: A long, steep ~34% drop over 250 m around the 5.5 km mark — hard on the knees.
With a dog
Hardest for a dog here: stiles and gates. The steepest stretch is a sustained descent of about 29% around the 5.5 km mark.
- Stiles and gates: A step-over stile at 2.0 km — a dog may need lifting over. (OpenStreetMap, mapped as of 24 October 2026)
- Rock and scrambling: Ground underfoot: Not assessed.
- Drops and exposed ground: Not assessed on the ground; the map suggests Easy. From gradient only (~0% max) — mapped crag data unavailable; treat exposure as unverified.
- Ways off early: No path off the line is recorded, but it passes a bus stop where you could end the walk: the 508 at Troutbeck, opposite Limefitt Park, about 9.4 km. The buses section says which bus and when.
- 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: 12 gates · 3 kissing gates · 1 step-over stile
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 24 October 2026. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Troutbeck — 2.4 km from this start
- Walks from Stock Ghyll Force — 3.1 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.
