Gowk Hill
Gowk Hill at 413m (1,355ft) is a heathery summit above the Lowther valley, giving views across the lower eastern Lake District fells.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 471 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 16° to 14°C, gusts to 33 mph, 4.9 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 471 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
About the walk
Routes up Gowk Hill
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Martindale, St Peter's church (free, limited), about 2.5 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Gowk Hill (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 Gowk Hill
✎️ 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.
Terrain & access
A near-path top (about 471 m): a mapped path comes within about 214 m of the summit, with a last stretch of open ground (about 47 m of ascent, up to ~25°). The summit is on CRoW open access land.
Computed from open data, not walked — pathless ground needs confident navigation, and mapped paths, barriers and access boundaries can be incomplete. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass); Natural England CRoW Access Land; DoBIH; Copernicus GLO-30. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 145 fells.
Best parking to hike Gowk Hill
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.
Buses to Gowk Hill from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere
No regular bus serves the start points for this fell — this is one for the car (or a long approach from the nearest served valley). The nearest hubs are Penrith (X4/X5 & 508), Ambleside and Windermere (555, 505, 516).
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
My hikes over Gowk Hill (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Fusedale Circuit - absolutely stunning weather. Could see for miles. (opens in new tab) — 15.5 km · 999 m ascent · 4h 10m moving · 6 Sep 2024
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Other fells near Gowk Hill
- Angletarn Pikes (Angletarn Pikes North Top)
- Arthur's Pike
- Baystones (Wansfell)
- Beda Fell (Beda Head)
- Bonscale Pike
- Branstree
- Brock Crags (Wainwright)
- Froswick
- Gray Crag
- Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell)
- Hallin Fell
- Harter Fell (Mardale)
- Hartsop Dodd
- High Raise (High Street)
- High Street
- Ill Bell
- Kentmere Pike
- Kidsty Pike
- Loadpot Hill
- Mardale Ill Bell
- Place Fell
- Rampsgill Head
- Rest Dodd
- Sallows
- Selside Pike
- Shipman Knotts
- Sour Howes
- Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa - Steel Knotts)
- Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor)
- Tarn Crag (Sleddale)
- The Knott (High Street)
- The Nab
- Thornthwaite Crag
- Troutbeck Tongue
- Wether Hill
- Yoke
Maps & guidebooks for Gowk Hill
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