Is Lingmell a Wainwright?
Yes. Lingmell is one of the 214 Wainwrights: number 19 of 30 in Book 4, The Southern Fells, of Alfred Wainwright’s Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.
Climbing Lingmell from Lake Head car park, Wasdale
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Lingmell is 807 m high, 29th of the 214 Wainwrights by height, and belongs to the Southern Fells in Book 4. This route starts from the National Trust's Lake Head car park near Wasdale Head, where parking is paid, at about 70 m. The Illgill Head, Scafell and Scafell Pike routes here begin at the same car park. No bus stop with a current service lies within 6 km.
The line is 3.2 km long and gains about 740 m. Its first half kilometre is gentle, on a gravel track and then a gravel path graded hiking. That path is one the landowner opens by permission rather than public rights of way.
Beyond about 550 m the path is graded mountain hiking by OpenStreetMap, and the real climbing starts. Between 0.5 km and 1.7 km it rises from about 115 m to 540 m, the steepest part of the route. It then climbs more steadily to about 650 m at 2.3 km, where the next 200 m are almost level.
The last 700 m climb from about 650 m to the top at 807 m, with the final 80 m graded mountain hiking again. The route ends on the mapped path, and no cairn, trig pillar or shelter is mapped at the summit point.
Only about 250 m of the line follows public footpaths and bridleways. The permissive paths near the start add up to about 430 m, and about 340 m of that lies outside open access land. The rest is mostly open access land, 2.7 km in all.
The GPX file is the same line, from the car park to the summit. Come back the same way, or plan a longer walk with a map before you set out.
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 Lingmell stands
Nearest Wainwrights
- Scafell Pike1.1 km away · 978 m
- Scafell1.7 km away · 964 m
- Great End1.7 km away · 910 m
- Great Gable2.1 km away · 899 m
- Green Gable2.6 km away · 800 m
Straight-line distances between summits.
All the fells in The Southern 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.