Boat How
Boat How at 337m (1,106ft) is a small, rocky summit above Eskdale, its craggy top giving views across lower Eskdale and towards the sea. A Birkett fell in the lower Eskdale landscape.
Summit conditions on Boat How
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 13° to 7°C, gusts to 58 mph, 1.9 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.
The forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →
Routes up Boat How
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Boat How, Illgill Head and Whin Rigg above Wasdale — only three tops but 20.7 km and 1,170 m to reach them, severe for both length and steepness.
Distance and climb are measured from the route’s GPX track, and the time from them by Naismith’s rule; the route page says what each grade rests on. How we check →
How hard is Boat How?
The shortest way up we hold is Boat How, Illgill Head & Whin Rigg — 20.67 km, 1170 m of ascent, ~6–8¼ h. On our scale its hardest axes are distance and steepness — Severe.
All axes: length: Severe · steepness: Severe · navigation: Moderate · terrain: Not assessed · exposure: Not assessed.
These are the route page’s grades, set by the rules on how we grade: length and steepness measured from its GPX track, the others set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap. The route page says which. How we check →
Conditions and 7-day summit forecast
Modelled for the 337 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 27 October 2026, 20:59 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for Boat How
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
2 more places to park near Boat How
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
We don’t know yet. Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway (“La'al Ratty”) serves this area, but we don’t hold its stop positions, so we can’t measure the walk from it — and we won’t tell you to drive on the strength of a gap in our own data. Check the operator’s timetable.
By train: change at Ravenglass onto the Ravenglass & Eskdale (narrow gauge, seasonal, not in the National Rail timetable), and Dalegarth station is 130 m on foot from the start of Boat How, Illgill Head & Whin Rigg. National Rail at Ravenglass, on the Cumbrian Coast line, not the narrow gauge: First train in 06:39, last train out 20:52, Monday to Friday, checked 12 September, valid to the 12 December timetable change; Saturday and Sunday.
At the station: Ravenglass, where you change, has some step-free access to its platforms, and there are no toilets. The rest of what meets that train. Station facilities: NationalRail (Train Information Services Ltd).
Cabs: Ravenglass station has neither a taxi rank nor a cab office. Advance booking is essential. Consider using the following local operator: Gosforth 019467 25308. As Traintaxi supplies them, read 4 October 2026. Traintaxi leaves “taxis” out of a firm’s name. Lee checked them on 4 October 2026. © Traintaxi Limited, 2000-2026. Using cabs in the UK.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Hazards on Boat How
Notes from a planned route, not walked: Boat How, Illgill Head & Whin Rigg
If you need to get off (the leg from the start): Turn back south/south-east and drop off the open moorland to intersect the established valley tracks, which will feed you back down into the shelter of Eskdale.
Quoted from the route page of a planned route, drawn from the map and not yet walked: the note for the leg that reaches Boat How.
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.
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
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.
Birketts within 3 km of Boat How
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
Routes over Boat How
Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked
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 Boat How
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Boat How, Illgill Head & Whin Rigg route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
About Boat How
Classifications & hill data
Is Boat How a Wainwright?
Boat How is one of Wainwright's Outlying Fells, not one of the 214 in the Pictorial Guides. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.
Selected lists
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 →