Bakestall
Bakestall at 673m (2,208ft) 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.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 674 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 11° to 8°C, gusts to 34 mph, 3.5 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 11 Sep 2026, 08:30 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 674 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Bakestall at a glance
Bakestall
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.Routes up Bakestall
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Bakestall a Wainwright?
Bakestall is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.
Where do you park for Bakestall?
The nearest car park we hold is Peter House Farm, Bassenthwaite (roadside), about 2.3 km from the summit in a straight line. We only look within 2.5 km, measured straight-line: over longer distances a road may cross a pass and the drive bears no relation to the line.
My hikes over Bakestall (Strava)
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 Jun 2025
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Bakestall
Best parking to hike Bakestall
Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).
Positions are approximate — zoom the map to confirm. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.
Tip: pan and zoom the interactive map at the top of this page to spot other potential parking near your route.
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.
Getting to Bakestall by bus
The X4 stops 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 walk in before the walk. Last bus: Monday to Friday 20:28 towards Workington (X4) and 18:13 towards Wigton (554) and 09:09 towards Carlisle (553); Saturday 20:43 towards Wigton (554) and 20:28 towards Workington (X4) and 18:24 towards Carlisle (553); Sunday 18:24 towards Carlisle (553) and 16:23 towards Wigton (554). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Hazards on Bakestall
No hazard card for this fell. The usual open-fell rules apply: check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected.
Navigating Bakestall in cloud
StraightforwardA rough, rocky summit ringed by crags, with no single obvious way off in poor visibility. Navigation here is relatively straightforward even in cloud — but carry map and compass and know how to use them; a low score never means “safe”.
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: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Peter House Farm, Bassenthwaite (roadside), about 2.3 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Bakestall (within 3 km)
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits — detour to them on this walk and they are pure profit. Distances are straight-line; allow extra for terrain.
Routes over Bakestall
✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & 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:
On the Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
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.
What you can see from Bakestall, 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 terrain in perfect clarity, not photographed · distances are straight-line.
Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills (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.
| 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°.
| 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 |
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. 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.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Scotland.
- Merrick Scotland
- Criffel Scotland
- Great Dun Fell North Pennines
- Cross Fell North Pennines
- Solway Firth bay/estuary
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 Bakestall’s view compares with all 214 — the View Report: every Wainwright ranked by what you can see from the top.
Sightlines from a bare-earth terrain model (forests and buildings not included), 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?
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 Bakestall needs hands, and nothing on it is steep for long.
The difficulty is entirely in the company it keeps. Both of our routes over it are big Skiddaw days: 19.2 km with 1116 m of ascent taking in Lonscale Fell and Skiddaw, which we grade hard for length, or 23.0 km and 1434 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, Bakestall is a straightforward half day.
Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-08-30 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)