⛰️ Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit)

481 m · Wainwright — Eastern Fells · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

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481 mWainwright — Eastern Fells✓ summit is also a Birkett+8 bonus Birketts within 3 km

📖 Key Information

Gowbarrow Fell at 481m (1,578ft) rises above the wooded western shores of Ullswater, its open summit giving excellent views of the lake — particularly the middle reach from Howtown to Pooley Bridge. Wainwright described it as a fell of great charm, its lower slopes of woodland, waterfalls (including Aira Force) and open parkland giving way to heathery moorland above. The ascent from Aira Force combines the famous waterfall with the summit in a short, rewarding circuit. Wordsworth saw daffodils here — it was a famous view then and remains so today.

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.

🎯 Bonus Birketts 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.

0.9 km NEGreat Meldrum437 m · Eastern
0.9 km SGreen Hill - Gowbarrow Park439 m · Eastern
1.7 km WSWBracken How373 m · Eastern
1.7 km NELittle Meldrum404 m · Eastern
1.9 km WSWRound How387 m · Eastern
2.3 km NEWatermillock Fell (Little Mell Fell South Top)424 m · Eastern
2.8 km SLow Birk Fell373 m · Far Eastern
2.9 km WSWCommon Fell552 m · Eastern

⚠️ Hazard & Incident Information

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🦶 My hikes over Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit) (Strava)

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🅿️ Potential parking

The Hause, Little Mell Fell (verge) — 1.5 km from summit (straight line)
Verge parking at the high point of the Watermillock road.
Directions ↗
Aira Force (NT, paid) — 1.8 km from summit (straight line)
For Gowbarrow Fell and the path toward Great Dodd via Dockray.
Directions ↗

Positions are approximate — zoom the map to confirm. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.

🚌 Buses from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Stagecoach 508 “Ullswater Bus”
Penrith – Pooley Bridge – Aira Force – Glenridding – Patterdale (summer services continue over Kirkstone Pass to Troutbeck and Windermere)
Catch it from: Penrith · Windermere (summer only)
The key route from Penrith for the Eastern and Far Eastern fells: Helvellyn from Glenridding, Place Fell, the Hartsop fells. The summer Kirkstone extension drops you at the pass for Red Screes and Caudale Moor.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

🌦️ 7-day summit forecast

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Other fells in this region

Open Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit) in the interactive explorer ↗