526 mWainwright — Northern Fells+8 bonus Birketts within 3 km Fewer traps in Clag
Great Cockup at 526m (1,726ft) is an isolated summit north of Skiddaw, its open top giving wide views across the Solway Plain and north towards Scotland. Wainwright included it in his Northern Fells guide. The ascent from Orthwaite or Longlands is across open moorland.
Summit conditions on Great Cockup
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 6°C, gusts to 50 mph, 17.1 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
50mph, 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 1.08. 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
17.1mm 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 2 °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 two routes start from two places, and the last two rows give the parking and bus at each route’s own start. Full maps further down.
Over Great Sca Fell, Knott, Burn Tod, Little Calva, Cockup and Watches
Walked or planned
Walked by Lee, August 2024
Planned: drawn, not yet walked
Car park at the start
Longlands Fell car park
Peter House Farm, Bassenthwaite (roadside) (free)
Bus to the start
Nearest stop 6.4 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 Cockup a hard walk?
No, whatever the name suggests. It is a long low whaleback of grass and heather in the Uldale fells with no steep or rocky ground on it.
Our round north of Skiddaw is 13.2 km with 729 m of ascent, navigation graded easy; the longer day from White Hause is 23.9 km and 1,316 m, severe for length and for its short, steep climb to Cockup. The shorter round is the gentler, and either way this is country where you may not see another person.
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
Longlands Fell car park — at the start of North of Skiddaw
Walking base for Longlands Fell, Lowthwaite Fell, Brae Fell and Little Sca Fell — the 'North of Skiddaw' route starts 1 m away. Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged). Fee not verified — check signage on arrival.
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 Cockup at the White Hause and other Birketts — a route we rate Severe overall (hardest: distance) — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 28.9 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.
If you need to get off (the leg from Meal Fell): We have not checked a line down from Trusmadoor for this guide, so none is offered here. The way back is the way you came, over Meal Fell.
Quoted from the route page: the note for the leg that reaches Great Cockup.
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
Fewer traps in cloud
Of the three things our terrain model measures, the highest reading here is the amount of near-level ground around the summit. This top is in the lowest of the index’s four bands, and a low band never means “safe”: 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 Cockup 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 Cockup–White Hause–Little Cockup ground is pathless rough grazing and heather edge — expect fences and gates to dictate the line low down, and no trail underfoot higher up.
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 Cockup
The 360° skyline from Great Cockup
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
North-east: Meal Fell (1 km), Little Sca Fell (2 km), Brae Fell (2 km)
East: Frozen Fell (1 km), Great Sca Fell (2 km)
South-east: Great Calva (3 km), Atkinson Pike (7 km)
South: Bakestall (3 km), Skiddaw North Top (4 km), Skiddaw (4 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (5 km), Sale How (5 km), Skiddaw South Top (5 km), Skiddaw Little Man (6 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (6 km), Jenkin Hill (6 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Slieve Donard (190 km, Ireland), Merrick (99 km, Scotland), Snaefell (99 km, Isle of Man), Cairnsmore of Carsphairn (94 km, Scotland), Cairnsmore of Fleet (84 km, Scotland), Corserine (94 km, Scotland), Lamachan Hill (94 km, Scotland), Tinto (106 km, Scotland).
Great Cockup waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls at the March equinox, when the sun is up for 35 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 06:51 against an almanac sunrise of 06:16. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the east from here (96.4°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 4.7°.
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
04:48 BST ±5.0 min
04:36
+12 min
Equinox
06:51 GMT ±5.0 min
06:16
+35 min
Midwinter
09:02 GMT ±5.0 min
08:34
+28 min
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.11°).
Last light — when the sun leaves Great Cockup
Great Cockup holds the light. On not one of the sixteen dates modelled does the sun leave this summit before almanac sunset — the ground falls away westward rather than standing over you, and at midsummer it is still in the sun 3 minutes after the valley has lost it.
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
21:57 BST ±5.0 min
21:54
+3 min
Equinox
18:31 GMT ±5.0 min
18:26
+5 min
Midwinter
15:50 GMT ±5.0 min
15:48
+2 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 Cockup
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.
24Wainwrights in view+2 marginal
190 kmFurthest sightlineSlieve Donard · possible under favourable refraction
2Sea in viewIrish Sea, Solway Firth
On the clearest days the view reaches across to Scotland, the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland.
How the view from Great Cockup 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 Cockup. 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).
