Wainwrights Baggers

Book 6 · The North Western Fells

Catbells

A 451 m Wainwright in The North Western Fells, with one desk-checked ascent from roadside parking near Brandelhow: 1.3 km and 300 m of climbing.

Explore Catbells in 3D

Is Catbells a Wainwright?

Yes. Catbells is one of the 214 Wainwrights: number 6 of 29 in Book 6, The North Western Fells, of Alfred Wainwright’s Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.

Climbing Catbells from roadside parking near Brandelhow

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BP250 m
The route in green, from the car park (P) to the summit (triangle), with the bus stop (B) where it falls on the map and nearby Wainwrights as dots. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

This route climbs Catbells from a free roadside parking area on the lane below the fell, with room for four or five cars. It sits at about 150 m. The nearest bus stop with a current service is Brandelhow Park, about 380 m away, served by the 77A.

The line is short and steep: 1.3 km with about 300 m of ascent. It begins on a public bridleway for the first 460 m, climbing gently from about 150 m to 200 m. From there the gradient sharpens. Between 0.5 km and 0.9 km the path climbs from about 205 m to 335 m, then runs nearly level for about 100 m before the final pull. The last 350 m rise from about 340 m to the top at 451 m.

Only the final few metres leave the mapped paths. About 1 km of the line follows public rights of way, split between a bridleway and a footpath, and almost all of it crosses open access land.

OpenStreetMap names the top Cat Bells. Catbells is 451 m high, 188th of the 214 Wainwrights by height, and one of the North Western Fells in Book 6.

The GPX file is the same line, from the parking to the summit. Return the same way unless you have planned a longer walk with a map.

Download the GPXFree. The route is © OpenStreetMap contributors and the file is released under the Open Database Licence: you may copy, share and adapt it.

Where Catbells stands

1 · Eastern2 · Far Eastern3 · Central4 · Southern5 · Northern6 · North Western7 · WesternCatbells
Catbells among all 214 Wainwright summits, each in its true position.

Nearest Wainwrights

Straight-line distances between summits.

All the fells in The North Western FellsAll 214 Wainwrights

Map and route data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.

Heights along the route from OS Terrain 50. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (NaPTAN, Bus Open Data Service, Lake District National Park Authority rights of way).

Access land © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Heights, grid references and summit positions come from The Database of British and Irish Hills v18.3, used under CC BY 4.0.