Great Calva
Great Calva at 690m (2,264ft) is an isolated summit in the heart of the Back o' Skiddaw country, its rounded top giving wide, spacious views across a landscape that feels genuinely remote.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 691 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 14° to 13°C, gusts to 34 mph, 5.2 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 691 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
Great Calva
Routes up Great Calva
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: Peter House Farm, Bassenthwaite (roadside), about 4.4 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Great Calva (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 Great Calva
✎️ 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.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass.
The View from Great Calva
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 Great Calva, by direction
- South-east: Atkinson Pike (4 km), Gategill Fell Top (5 km), Knowe Crags (5 km), Blencathra (5 km)
- South: Raise (15 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (16 km), Helvellyn (17 km), Ullscarf (19 km), Glaramara (21 km), Low White Stones (21 km), Looking Steads (22 km), High Raise (22 km), Green Gable (22 km), Codale Head (22 km), Great Gable (22 km), Sergeant Man (22 km), Allen Crags (23 km), Great End (24 km), Esk Pike (24 km), Lingmell (24 km), Broad Crag (25 km), Ill Crag (25 km), Scafell Pike (25 km), Bowfell (25 km), Scafell (26 km), Crinkle Crags (26 km), Crinkle Crags (27 km), Wetherlam (30 km), Great Carrs (30 km), Swirl How (31 km), Great How (31 km), The Old Man of Coniston (33 km)
- South-west: Broad End (3 km), Skiddaw North Top (4 km), Skiddaw (4 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (4 km), Skiddaw South Top (4 km), Jenkin Hill (4 km), Skiddaw Little Man (4 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (4 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Merrick (102 km, Scotland), Cairnsmore of Carsphairn (96 km, Scotland), The Cheviot (109 km, England), Cairnsmore of Fleet (87 km, Scotland), Corserine (97 km, Scotland), Windlestraw Law (112 km, Scotland), Lamachan Hill (97 km, Scotland), Tinto (109 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.
What you can see from Great Calva
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 37 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Knott, Bakestall, Great Cockup, Skiddaw, Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Little Man, Bowscale Fell, Longlands Fell, High Pike (Caldbeck), Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Bannerdale Crags, Carrock Fell, Binsey, High Rigg (Naddle Fell), Watson's Dodd, Raven Crag, High Seat, Raise, White Side, Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top), Helvellyn, Ullscarf, Steel Fell (Dead Pike - Steel Fell), Glaramara, High Raise (High White Stones), Green Gable, Seathwaite Fell (Wainwright summit), Great Gable, Sergeant Man, Allen Crags, Great End, Esk Pike, Lingmell, Scafell Pike, Bowfell, Scafell, Wetherlam
How Great Calva’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.
Best parking to hike Great Calva
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.
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Birketts North of Skiddaw route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
Buses to Great Calva 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.
Navigating Great Calva in cloud
StraightforwardA broad, gently-sloping top with little to steer by — easy to lose your bearings and hard to relocate in mist. 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 Great Calva compares with all 214 — the Clag Index: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.
Other fells near Great Calva
Maps & guidebooks for Great Calva
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