691 mWainwright — Northern Fells+7 bonus Birketts within 3 km
Great Calva at 691m (2,267ft) 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.
Summit conditions on Great Calva
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 11° to 5°C, gusts to 50 mph, 18.0 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.
Against our lines, Tuesday 27 October: wind, cold and cloud from the Met Office UKV 2 km model (daylight hours, as in the verdict above); rain from the summit line’s forecast (the whole day). A tile is large when this top is past its line.
Wind on the top
Past the line
55mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour
The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 47 mph times our exposure factor of 1.19. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 50 mph, before any exposure factor.
under 25
25–35
35–45
45–55
55+
The line Our line: 25 mph, where our wind Scale begins its 25–35 band: “balance affected; buffeting on exposed ground”. MWIS (opens in new tab) describes what wind does to a walker across a range rather than at a line: from about 20–25 mph it starts to affect your balance.
Estimated: it is not calibrated against summit readings, and the two forecasts can disagree by more than a band.
Rain, and the becks
Past the line
18.0mm of rain over the whole day, midnight to midnight
The same figure as the summit line above and the 7-day forecast.
The line Our line: 6 mm in the day, where our scorer counts a day as soaking. We read rainfall, never river levels: becks in spate.
Open-Meteo’s forecast. It says nothing about rain already in the ground.
Also checkedcold: feels like 1 °C, no ice or snow forecast; cloud: a clear-top reading of 30 out of 100, over our in-cloud line of 20. Under a line is not the same as fine: it means only that these figures are under the lines we use.
Not in these tiles Lightning, river levels, snow or ice already lying, and the ground under your feet. A tile cannot see them, so an empty space here never means they are absent.
Snow figures with a second opinion: Powered by Met Office data
Wainwrights are scored for walking conditions each morning from the Met Office’s UK forecast model, read for each summit through Open-Meteo; the forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →
Choose the way up before the car park: these three routes start from three places, and the last two rows give the parking and bus at each route’s own start. Full maps further down.
Walked in part; km 0.0–0.4, km 3.7–6.7 from the map
Walked by Lee, September 2026
Planned: drawn, not yet walked
Car park at the start
Tarn Crags Top (layby) (free)
Roadside parking for Carrock Fell (free)
Peter House Farm, Bassenthwaite (roadside) (free)
Bus to the start
Nearest stop 5.2 km on foot
Nearest stop 7 km on foot
X4, 2.5 km walk from Bassenthwaite, opposite High Side Farm
Times run from fast to steady pace (Naismith’s rule). Scrambling quotes each route’s own notes; “not mentioned” means they do not say, not that the ground has none. Each route’s page has its map, stages and GPX.
Distance, climb and the steepest stretch are measured from each route’s GPX track; the other grades are set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap, and each route page says which. How we check →
Is Great Calva a hard walk?
The climb is short and steep and the summit is easy, but the ground around it is the slowest kind of walking: deep heather, peat and few paths, out in the back country behind Skiddaw.
Our round with Knott is 17.6 km with 658 m of ascent — note how little climbing that is for the distance, which tells you where the effort actually goes. Taken with Carrock Fell and High Pike it is 21.0 km and 877 m. Allow longer than the numbers imply.
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
Tarn Crags Top (layby) — 0.1 km from the start of Coomb Height, Knott and Great Calva (straight line)
Walking base for Coomb Height, Knott, Great Calva and Carrock Fell — the 'Coomb Height, Knott and Great Calva' route starts 100 m away. Also serves 'Birketts by Carrock Fell'. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Round Knott (verge) — 3.8 km from summit (straight line)
Not suitable for ordinary cars: the Caldew valley road west of the Mosedale / Bowscale verge has very large potholes (seen 29 September 2026). In a 4x4, expect deep potholes and drive slowly. 1.3 km from Round Knott.
Round Knott (layby) — 3.8 km from summit (straight line)
Not suitable for ordinary cars: the Caldew valley road west of the Mosedale / Bowscale verge has very large potholes (seen 29 September 2026). In a 4x4, expect deep potholes and drive slowly. 1.3 km from Round Knott.
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
The 553, 554 and X4 stop 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 route we rate Severe overall (hardest: distance) — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 28.1 km in all, with the walk. As timetabled from 27 October to 1 November. Towards Carlisle (553): Saturday and Sunday 18:24 only. Towards Wigton (554): Tuesday to Friday 18:13; Saturday 20:43; Sunday 16:23. Towards Workington (X4): Tuesday to Saturday 20:28 only. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
Year-round, every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday between Penrith and Keswick and hourly on Sundays, from outside Penrith station. One ticket from any station on the West Coast Main Line to Keswick includes this bus: search for ‘Keswick Bus (KWK)’ when you book the train. From Penrith this is your way into Keswick and the Northern fells — Threlkeld/Scales stops serve Blencathra directly, Braithwaite serves the Coledale fells.
Notes from the Carrock Fell High Pike, Knott and Great Calva route
If you need to get off (the leg from Knott): From the saddle you can bail south-east beside Wiley Gill, about 2 km down to the Cumbria Way track; we have not checked this line on foot.
Quoted from the route page: the note for the leg that reaches Great Calva.
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.
Navigating in cloud
Not graded by the model
Our terrain model finds nothing to grade on this summit, so it gives no cloud grade here — that is not a sign of easy navigation. Read this fell’s hazard notes and the route pages before a day in cloud. Carry map and compass, and know how to use them.
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 (experimental).
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.
Warnings: The middle third (Hare Crag to Little Calva and beyond) is trackless deep heather — some of the roughest going in the Northern Fells. Budget far more time than the distance suggests.
Warnings:Carrock Fell: The crags are bypassed by a steep grassy rake (Rake Trod) that is hard to find, hidden among bracken and scree, on loose volcanic rock. Take care to locate and stay on the line; the loose rock, thistles and heather make for a tortuous, slippery climb. Miller Moss to Knott (stage 8): Very boggy and dangerous from west of Little Lingy Hill, past Thief Gill, up to about 640 m on Knott: hidden streams have cut deep channels you cannot see, and the crossing of Thief Gill is a jump followed by a steep, muddy climb. Avoid it unless you are a very experienced fell walker with at least one other person; a satellite SOS device is essential. A likely better line from High Pike, which Lee has walked as our Carrock Fell and Knott route: follow the Cumbria Way to the foot of Coomb Height, then head south-west towards Rigg and climb Knott from the east.
From the hazard notes for Carrock Fell, each with its sources.
Wainwright described the Back o' Skiddaw as Lakeland at its most lonely and spacious — the very antithesis of the crowded tourist paths to the south. The ascent from Caldbeck or Orthwaite crosses open moorland. Combined naturally with Knott for a Back o' Skiddaw circuit. The views north towards the Solway are distinctive.
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 →
The view from Great Calva
The 360° skyline 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.
drag to pan · arrow keys
The skyline as a list, 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).
Great Calva waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls at midwinter, when the sun is up for 21 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 08:55 against an almanac sunrise of 08:34. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the south-east from here (136.3°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 2.0°.
Midsummer. The filled shape is the skyline as seen from the summit; the line is the sun’s path. Where they meet is first light — everything left of that point is the wait.
Times for 2026, in Lakeland clock time (GMT in winter, BST in summer) — and model outputs rather than observations.
First light
Almanac sunrise
Difference
Midsummer
04:30 BST ±5.0 min
04:36
-6 min
Equinox
06:15 GMT ±5.0 min
06:15
—
Midwinter
08:55 GMT ±5.0 min
08:34
+21 min
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.32°).
Last light — when the sun leaves Great Calva
Great Calva loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls on 1 February, when last light is 31 minutes before almanac sunset — 16:20 against 16:51. The sun goes down to the south-west from here (234.7°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 3.46°.
The evening of the same three days. A negative difference means a ridge takes the sun before the valley loses it.
Last light
Almanac sunset
Difference
Midsummer
21:58 BST ±5.0 min
21:54
+4 min
Equinox
18:32 GMT ±5.0 min
18:26
+6 min
Midwinter
15:25 GMT ±5.0 min
15:48
-23 min
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 Great Calva
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.
37Wainwrights in view+12 marginal
103 kmFurthest sightlineMerrick · possible under favourable refraction
1Sea in viewSolway Firth
On the clearest days the view reaches across to Scotland.
How the view from Great Calva compares with all 214 — the View Report: every Wainwright ranked by what you can see from the top.
How the skyline, light and sightlines are computed
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 Great Calva. 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.
Sightlines from the Copernicus GLO-30 elevation model, which is a surface model: each 30 m cell holds the top of whatever stands there, trees and buildings included, rather than bare ground. 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.
We have not stayed at any of them. We take no bookings or affiliate fees. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).
