Bakestall

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Summited June 2025

Home › Fells › Bakestall

674 mWainwright — Northern Fells+10 bonus Birketts within 3 km Fewer traps in Clag

Bakestall at 674m (2,210ft) is the north-eastern satellite of Skiddaw, a broad grassy summit with the best views of the Back o' Skiddaw plateau and north towards the Solway. Wainwright included it as a separate fell.

Summit conditions on Bakestall

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 11° to 4°C, gusts to 61 mph, 15.3 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.

Against our lines, Tuesday 27 October: wind, cold and cloud from the Met Office UKV 2 km model (daylight hours, as in the verdict above); rain from the summit line’s forecast (the whole day). A tile is large when this top is past its line.

Wind on the top

Past the line

62 mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour

The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 53 mph times our exposure factor of 1.18. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 61 mph, before any exposure factor.

The line Our line: 25 mph, where our wind Scale begins its 25–35 band: “balance affected; buffeting on exposed ground”. MWIS (opens in new tab) describes what wind does to a walker across a range rather than at a line: from about 20–25 mph it starts to affect your balance.

Estimated: it is not calibrated against summit readings, and the two forecasts can disagree by more than a band.

Rain, and the becks

Past the line

15.3 mm of rain over the whole day, midnight to midnight

The same figure as the summit line above and the 7-day forecast.

The line Our line: 6 mm in the day, where our scorer counts a day as soaking. We read rainfall, never river levels: becks in spate.

Open-Meteo’s forecast. It says nothing about rain already in the ground.

Also checked cold: feels like 0 °C, no ice or snow forecast; cloud: a clear-top reading of 22 out of 100, over our in-cloud line of 20. Under a line is not the same as fine: it means only that these figures are under the lines we use.

Not in these tiles Lightning, river levels, snow or ice already lying, and the ground under your feet. A tile cannot see them, so an empty space here never means they are absent.

Snow figures with a second opinion: Powered by Met Office data

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

Wainwrights are scored for walking conditions each morning from the Met Office’s UK forecast model, read for each summit through Open-Meteo; the forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Routes up Bakestall

Choose the way up before the car park: these two routes start from two places, and the last two rows give the parking and bus at each route’s own start. Full maps further down.

Compared	Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun!	Birketts North of Skiddaw
Starts from	Latrigg car park (free)	Peter House Farm, Bassenthwaite (roadside) (free)
Distance and climb	19.25 km, 1,118 m of climb	23.02 km, 1,472 m of climb
Time, fast to steady	~5½–7¾ h	~7–9½ h
Scrambling	Not mentioned in the route’s notes	Not mentioned in the route’s notes
Exposure	Easy	Not assessed
Navigation	Moderate	Hard
Steepest stretch	Descent of about 29% at 10.3 km (Hard)	Descent of about 31% at 19.8 km (Hard)
After the summit	No further tops	Over Skiddaw, Skiddaw Middle Top, Skiddaw South Top, Sale How, Hare Crag, Great Calva, Frozen Fell and Little Calva
Walked or planned	Walked by Lee, June 2025	Planned: drawn, not yet walked
Car park at the start	Latrigg car park (free)	Peter House Farm, Bassenthwaite (roadside) (free)
Bus to the start	554, 2.5 km walk from Keswick, opposite The Pheasant	X4, 2.5 km walk from Bassenthwaite, opposite High Side Farm

Times run from fast to steady pace (Naismith’s rule). Scrambling quotes each route’s own notes; “not mentioned” means they do not say, not that the ground has none. Each route’s page has its map, stages and GPX.

Distance, climb and the steepest stretch are measured from each route’s GPX track; the other grades are set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap, and each route page says which. How we check →

Is Bakestall a hard walk?

The fell itself is one of the gentlest 600-metre tops in the district — a broad grassy shoulder hung off Skiddaw’s northern side, with a track running most of the way to it. Nothing on the usual line up Bakestall needs hands, and nothing on it is steep for long, though the Dead Crags cliffs fall away on its northern side.

Most of the difficulty is in the company it keeps. Both of our routes over it are big Skiddaw days: 19.3 km with 1118 m of ascent taking in Lonscale Fell and Skiddaw, which we grade hard for length, or 23.0 km and 1472 m for the full northern round. That longer one has a middle third of trackless deep heather and is a different proposition altogether. Taken on its own from the north it is a shorter day, and one we have not measured.

How we check →

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 674 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast

Tue 27 Oct

11° / 4°

61 mph

15.3 mm (100%)

Wed 28 Oct

8° / 5°

45 mph

6.6 mm (98%)

Thu 29 Oct

9° / 6°

24 mph

0.3 mm (0%)

Fri 30 Oct

9° / 5°

21 mph

0.0 mm (13%)

Sat 31 Oct

11° / -1°

5 mph

0.0 mm (24%)

Sun 1 Nov

7° / -1°

8 mph

0.0 mm (16%)

Mon 2 Nov

7° / 0°

12 mph

0.0 mm (0%)

Taken 27 October 2026, 08:13 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

Parking & buses for Bakestall

Parking

Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.

Latrigg car park — 0.1 km from the start of Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! (straight line)

Free car park at the top of Gale Road behind Latrigg — the shortest way up Skiddaw via Jenkin Hill, and 0.7 km from Latrigg itself. Gale Road runs a long way down and people park in random spots along it; this pin is the very top. Lee has confirmed in person. Three of our routes start within 70 m of the pin: 'Latrigg', 'Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun!' and 'Up to Skiddaw Round Trip'.

Directions Something changed here?

If it is full: Latrigg (verge) (2.5 km, 270 m up); Keswick, Crosthwaite Road (paid) (2.8 km, 289 m up); Keswick, Otley Road (paid) (3.0 km, 303 m up)

Peter House Farm, Bassenthwaite (roadside) — at the start of Birketts North of Skiddaw

Dash Falls track — Bakestall, Great Calva, Skiddaw the quiet way.

Directions Something changed here?

Orthwaite Bank (layby) — 2.7 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Orthwaite Bank (0.7 km), Little Cockup (1.2 km), Cockup (1.8 km). Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

3 more places to park near Bakestall

Watches (layby) — 3.0 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Watches (0.7 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Watches, south-west (layby) — 3.3 km from summit (straight line)

Beside the A591 about 290 m north of the Ullock Pike car park. The 'Skiddaw via Ullock Pike and Dodd' route starts at Dodd Wood, 1.5 km south on foot. Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Ullock Pike car park (free) — 3.5 km from summit (straight line)

On the A591 below Ullock Pike, about 40 m from the Long Side Plantation bus stop and about 1.1 km east of the lake. The 'Skiddaw via Ullock Pike and Dodd' route starts at Dodd Wood, 1.2 km south on foot. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

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.

Buses

The 553, 554 and X4 stop at Bassenthwaite, opposite High Side Farm. From there it is 2.5 km and 142 m of ascent to the start of Birketts North of Skiddaw — a route we rate Severe overall (hardest: distance) — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 28.1 km in all, with the walk. As timetabled from 27 October to 1 November. Towards Carlisle (553): Saturday and Sunday 18:24 only. Towards Wigton (554): Tuesday to Friday 18:13; Saturday 20:43; Sunday 16:23. Towards Workington (X4): Tuesday to Saturday 20:28 only. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

Stagecoach X4 / X5

Penrith – Rheged – Threlkeld – Keswick – Braithwaite – Cockermouth – Workington

Catch it from: Penrith

Year-round, every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday between Penrith and Keswick and hourly on Sundays, from outside Penrith station. One ticket from any station on the West Coast Main Line to Keswick includes this bus: search for ‘Keswick Bus (KWK)’ when you book the train. From Penrith this is your way into Keswick and the Northern fells — Threlkeld/Scales stops serve Blencathra directly, Braithwaite serves the Coledale fells.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat

Hazards on Bakestall

Notes from the Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! route

If you need to get off (the leg from Broad End): Push forward to Bakestall, as the descent down Birkett Edge ahead is the usual way off this northern flank.

Quoted from the route page: the note for the leg that reaches Bakestall.

We have not written a hazard card for this fell yet, and that is not a sign that it is low-hazard. Read the warnings on the route pages that climb it, check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected. The National Park Authority’s What to pack page, AdventureSmart’s hill walking kit list and Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s safety page are linked from our what to carry guide.

Navigating in cloud

Fewer traps in cloud

Of the three things our terrain model measures, the highest reading here is the amount of steep ground within half a kilometre of the summit. This top is in the lowest of the index’s four bands, and a low band never means “safe”: carry map and compass and know how to use them.

In winter — snow, whiteout, cornices, buried features — every top demands full winter navigation skills whatever its band, and a broad, gentle summit can be the worst place of all. See walking in bad weather and the navigation guide.

How Bakestall compares with all 214: the Clag Index (experimental).

If you need Mountain Rescue

Dial 999 or 112 and ask for the Police, then Mountain Rescue.

Before you call, have ready: where you are (a grid reference if you can – the OS Locate app shows yours on your phone), what has happened, how many of you there are, and your mobile number.

Then stay where you are until the rescue team contacts you.

If you cannot make a voice call because of a hearing or speech impairment, emergency SMS works only if you have registered first: text “register” to 999.

From Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s guidance on calling them out (opens in new tab) (read 26 October 2026).

Map, GPX and nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).

Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.

Birketts within 3 km of Bakestall

These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.

1.0 km NWCockup505 m · Northern

1.0 km SSWBroad End832 m · Northern

1.4 km SEHare Crag538 m · Northern

1.8 km ENELittle Calva642 m · Northern

2.0 km SSWSkiddaw Middle Top929 m · Northern

2.2 km SSWSkiddaw South Top926 m · Northern

2.3 km SSESale How666 m · Northern

2.6 km WWatches333 m · Northern

2.7 km NEBurn Tod595 m · Northern

2.9 km NNWOrthwaite Bank348 m · Northern

Routes over Bakestall

Birketts North of Skiddaw

Summits: BakestallSkiddaw Skiddaw Middle Top Skiddaw South Top Sale How Hare Crag Great Calva Frozen Fell Little Calva

Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked

Picked for its light in: April, September

Warnings: The middle third (Hare Crag to Little Calva and beyond) is trackless deep heather — some of the roughest going in the Northern Fells. Budget far more time than the distance suggests.

Route guide: Birketts North of Skiddaw →

Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun!

Summits: Lonscale Fell Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top)Jenkin Hill Skiddaw Lesser Man Skiddaw Little Man Skiddaw South Top Skiddaw Middle Top Skiddaw Broad EndBakestall

Download GPX Walked by Lee, June 2025

Warnings: Lonscale Fell: The east face is a long line of crags falling steeply to Glenderaterra, and Lonscale Pike sits right on the edge. Keep well back from the eastern rim, especially in wind or cloud, and take care if visiting the airy east top.

From the hazard notes for Lonscale Fell, each with its sources.

Route guide: Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! →

Every line here is a guide, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate for yourself and carry a map and compass. How to use this guide.

On the hill: terrain and water on Bakestall

Water & shelter on the way up

On the Birketts North of Skiddaw route:

shelter (weather shelter, mapped, not checked; 4 m off the line)

On the Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! route:

shelter (weather shelter, mapped, not checked; 8 m off the line)

About Bakestall

The way up from Dash Farm follows the track to Dash Falls, then climbs Birkett Edge to the top, east of the Dead Crags cliffs. Combined naturally with Skiddaw for those who wish to complete the full northern Skiddaw group.

Field notes

Like many Bakestall appears to be a fell that is only visited by those bagging Wainwrights or others wanting a bit more of a less-trodden path up to Skiddaw. If I'm being totally honest, this is one of my favourite spots in all of Lakeland. I expect its because it faces north, away from the crowds. It has a different feeling to those forgotten far-east fells. It's more "does anybody come here". The Cumbria Way passes its foot and I'd wager nobody on that route has ever thought of taking a detour to summit it on their way as the track up can get boggy (especially at the foot) and the Cumbria Way is well maintained at that point - all the way to Skiddaw Ho. This is the circular route you can see I took below. I'd certainly go out of my way to visit Bakestall again, and hopefully bag Broad End properly as when I tried my GPS was all over the place and I was walking around like an idiot trying to find it. At least I got the views over Basenthwaite Lake and the Solway Firth.

— Lee McCoy, who walked it on our Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! route in June 2025

My Strava hikes over Bakestall

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! (opens in new tab) — 19.2 km · 980 m ascent · 4h 56m moving · 29 June 2025

Data from Strava.

Classifications & hill data

Is Bakestall a Wainwright?

Bakestall is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.

Selected lists

674 m

Height

2,210 ft

In feet

NY 2662 3074

Grid ref

This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.

The summit is also a Birkett.

Lists, height and summit position from the Database of British and Irish Hills; the feet are converted from its metres and the grid reference from that position. How we check →

The view from Bakestall

The 360° skyline from Bakestall

A computed 360° skyline — every visible named top labelled by distance and bearing, from the terrain model in perfect clarity, not photographed. Drag to pan; reveal the far four-nations horizon.

drag to pan · arrow keys

The skyline as a list, by direction

North-east: Knott (4 km), Great Sca Fell (4 km)
East: Great Calva (2 km), Bowscale Fell (7 km), Bannerdale Crags (7 km), Tarn Crags Top (7 km), Carrock Fell (8 km), Cross Fell (42 km)
South-east: Sale How (2 km), Lonscale Fell (4 km), Lonscale Pike (4 km), Knowe Crags (6 km), Gategill Fell Top (6 km), Atkinson Pike (6 km), Blencathra (6 km), Clough Head (11 km), Little Dodd (12 km), Great Dodd (13 km), Randerside (13 km), Watson's Dodd (13 km), Stybarrow Dodd (14 km), Hart Side (14 km), Birkett Fell (15 km), Raise (15 km), White Side (16 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (17 km), Catstye Cam (17 km), Helvellyn (17 km), Rest Dodd (24 km), The Knott (25 km), Rampsgill Head (25 km), High Street (26 km)
South: Skiddaw North Top (2 km), Skiddaw (2 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (2 km), Skiddaw Little Man (3 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (3 km), Jenkin Hill (3 km), Seat Sandal (21 km)
North-west: Criffel (44 km)

On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Goatfell [Goat Fell] (169 km, Scotland), Merrick (100 km, Scotland), Broad Law (94 km, Scotland), Cairnsmore of Carsphairn (95 km, Scotland), The Cheviot (110 km, England), Cairnsmore of Fleet (85 km, Scotland), Corserine (95 km, Scotland), Windlestraw Law (113 km, Scotland).

Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills v18.4 (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.

Sunrise and sunset on Bakestall

Bakestall sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (on 1 November) first light is only 13 minutes after almanac sunrise, so the published sunrise time is a fair guide here.

Midsummer. The filled shape is the skyline as seen from the summit; the line is the sun’s path. Where they meet is first light — everything left of that point is the wait.

Times for 2026, in Lakeland clock time (GMT in winter, BST in summer) — and model outputs rather than observations.
	First light	Almanac sunrise	Difference
Midsummer	04:33 BST ±5.0 min	04:36	-3 min
Equinox	06:15 GMT ±5.0 min	06:16	-1 min
Midwinter	08:39 GMT ±5.0 min	08:34	+5 min

A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.41°).

Last light — when the sun leaves Bakestall

Bakestall loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls on 1 January, when last light is 103 minutes before almanac sunset — 14:15 against 15:58. The sun goes down to the south-south-west from here (207.5°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 8.71°.

The evening of the same three days. A negative difference means a ridge takes the sun before the valley loses it.
	Last light	Almanac sunset	Difference
Midsummer	21:58 BST ±5.0 min	21:54	+4 min
Equinox	18:32 GMT ±5.0 min	18:27	+5 min
Midwinter	14:06 GMT ±5.0 min	15:48	-102 min

These are daylight figures, not a descent plan: the light goes on fading for a good while after the sun leaves, and going down in it is a decision about your own ground and party, not about this table.

What you can see from Bakestall

On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.

27Wainwrights in view+3 marginal

101 kmFurthest sightlineMerrick · possible under favourable refraction

1Sea in viewSolway Firth

On the clearest days the view reaches across to Scotland.

Far horizons

Merrick ScotlandNW · 101 km clear
Criffel ScotlandNW · 45 km distant
Great Dun Fell North PenninesE · 44 km distant
Cross Fell North PenninesE · 42 km clear
Solway Firth bay/estuaryNW · 33 km in view

All 27 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)

Skiddaw, Great Calva, Great Cockup, Skiddaw Little Man, Meal Fell, Knott, Lonscale Fell, Longlands Fell, Brae Fell, Binsey, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Bowscale Fell, Bannerdale Crags, Carrock Fell, Clough Head, Great Dodd, Watson's Dodd, Stybarrow Dodd, Hart Side, Raise, White Side, Catstye Cam, Helvellyn, Rest Dodd, The Knott (High Street), Rampsgill Head, High Street

How the view from Bakestall compares with all 214 — the View Report: every Wainwright ranked by what you can see from the top.

How the skyline, light and sightlines are computed

Computed, not photographed. First light is the first minute the sun’s upper limb clears this summit’s own skyline and last light the last minute it is still clear of it, both solved against the 360° horizon profile behind The View from Bakestall. Almanac sunrise and sunset are the flat-horizon convention. Every time carries a ± band from the 30 m elevation model — it smooths arêtes and cornices, so nothing here claims better than five minutes.

Sightlines from the Copernicus GLO-30 elevation model, which is a surface model: each 30 m cell holds the top of whatever stands there, trees and buildings included, rather than bare ground. Corrected for the Earth’s curvature and average atmospheric refraction. “Distant” sightlines and any over 100 km depend on exceptionally clear air. Modelled from Copernicus GLO-30 open elevation data — a guide to the view, not a guarantee of any single one.

Places to stay near this fell

From Underscar: 8 places in Keswick

Frequently asked questions about Bakestall

Is Bakestall a hard walk? Answered above.

Questions from Google’s “People also ask”. · Last updated 2026-08-30 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)

Bakestall

Summit conditions on Bakestall

Wind on the top

Rain, and the becks

Routes up Bakestall

Is Bakestall a hard walk?

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Parking & buses for Bakestall

Parking

Buses

Hazards on Bakestall

Notes from the Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! route

Navigating in cloud

If you need Mountain Rescue

Map, GPX and nearby Birketts

Birketts within 3 km of Bakestall

Routes over Bakestall

On the hill: terrain and water on Bakestall

Water & shelter on the way up

About Bakestall

Field notes

My Strava hikes over Bakestall

Classifications & hill data

Is Bakestall a Wainwright?

Selected lists

The view from Bakestall

The 360° skyline from Bakestall

Sunrise and sunset on Bakestall

Last light — when the sun leaves Bakestall

What you can see from Bakestall

Places to stay near this fell

Frequently asked questions about Bakestall

Other fells near Bakestall