Great Cockup
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.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 526 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 15° to 14°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 526 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 Cockup
Routes up Great Cockup
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 2.7 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Great Cockup (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 Cockup
✎️ 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 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.
What you can see from Great Cockup, 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)
- South-west: Ullock Pike (5 km), Lord's Seat (10 km), Broom Fell (10 km), Graystones (12 km), Graystones (12 km), Kirk Fell (12 km), Hobcarton End (13 km), Grisedale Pike (13 km), Ladyside Pike (14 km), Hopegill Head (14 km), Sand Hill (14 km), Gasgale Crags (15 km), Whiteside East Top (15 km), Whiteside (15 km), Grasmoor (16 km), Hatteringill Head (16 km), Fellbarrow (17 km), Loweswater End (20 km), Carling Knott (20 km), Burnbank Fell (20 km), Blake Fell (21 km), Owsen Fell (21 km), Gavel Fell (22 km)
- North-west: Criffel (43 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).
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 Cockup
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Scotland and the Isle of Man.
- Merrick Scotland
- Snaefell Isle of Man
- Criffel Scotland
- Irish Sea open water
- Solway Firth bay/estuary
All 24 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Meal Fell, Great Sca Fell, Longlands Fell, Brae Fell, Bakestall, Great Calva, Skiddaw, Binsey, Ullock Pike, Skiddaw Little Man, Sale Fell, Barf, Lord's Seat, Broom Fell, Ling Fell, Graystones (Graystones North Top), Grisedale Pike, Hopegill Head, Whiteside (Whiteside West Top), Grasmoor, Fellbarrow - Mosser Fell, Burnbank Fell, Blake Fell, Gavel Fell
How Great Cockup’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 Cockup
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 Great Cockup 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 Great Cockup (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Got here early for parking, but too early for the weather. What a cock up. (opens in new tab) — 13.2 km · 721 m ascent · 3h 19m moving · 3 Aug 2024
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Navigating Great Cockup 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 Cockup 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 Cockup
Maps & guidebooks for Great Cockup
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