hikes.guideLake District

Great How - Eskdale Fell

Short entry: no route or hazard notes for this fell yet.

Nearest route starts ↓
522 mBirkett — Southern (not a Wainwright summit)+7 bonus Birketts within 3 km

At 522 m (1,713 ft), Great How - Eskdale Fell is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells) in the Southern Fells, above upper Eskdale. It also features on the Fellranger, Synge lists.

Summit conditions on Great How - Eskdale Fell

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 6°C, gusts to 63 mph, 6.1 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

The forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Parking & buses

Wha House, Eskdale (NT, free)
3.1 km from summit (straight line)
Goat Crag (layby)
3.1 km from summit (straight line)

Parking & buses ↓

Routes near Great How - Eskdale Fell

No route guide for this fell yet. The nearest route starts we publish, in a straight line from the summit:

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 522 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast
Tue 27 Oct
12° / 6°
63 mph
6.1 mm (100%)
Wed 28 Oct
10° / 7°
44 mph
7.0 mm (100%)
Thu 29 Oct
10° / 8°
27 mph
1.2 mm (26%)
Fri 30 Oct
9° / 7°
27 mph
0.1 mm (31%)
Sat 31 Oct
10° / 2°
9 mph
0.0 mm (25%)
Sun 1 Nov
9° / 1°
7 mph
0.0 mm (12%)
Mon 2 Nov
7° / 2°
19 mph
0.0 mm (0%)

Taken 27 October 2026, 08:13 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Parking & buses for Great How - Eskdale Fell

Parking

Wha House, Eskdale (NT, free) — 3.1 km from summit (straight line)
Upper Eskdale - Slight Side, Harter Fell and the Scafell approaches.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Goat Crag (layby) — 3.1 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Green Crag, Harter Fell (Eskdale) and Hard Knott — the 'Alternative Hardknott Round (Green Crag, Harter Fell & Hard Knott)' route starts 25 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). Grass surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Goat Crag, south-east (layby) — 3.2 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Green Crag, Harter Fell (Eskdale) and Hard Knott — the 'Alternative Hardknott Round (Green Crag, Harter Fell & Hard Knott)' route starts 204 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
2 more places to park near Great How - Eskdale Fell
Roadside parking for Horsehow Crags south (free) — 3.3 km from summit (straight line)
Approx 8 spaces. 1.1 km from Horsehow Crags. Added from the 5 August 2026 OSM candidate review.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Horsehow Crags (layby) — 3.4 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Horsehow Crags (0.8 km), Border End (1.2 km), Demming Crag (1.2 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?

Positions are approximate.

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 nearest bus stop we hold is the 516 at Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, 12.0 km of walking from the nearest parking for this fell — no bus route we hold serves it.

Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat

Hazards on Great How - Eskdale Fell

We have not written a hazard card for this fell yet, and that is not a sign that it is low-hazard. 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.

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.

From Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s guidance on calling them out (opens in new tab) (read 26 October 2026).

Map & nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).

Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.

Birketts within 3 km of Great How - Eskdale Fell

These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.

0.7 km SEskdale Fell - Whinscales425 m · Southern
1.4 km SSEDawsonground Crags397 m · Southern
1.7 km SWhin Crag (Eskdale)358 m · Southern
1.8 km ENEHigh Scarth487 m · Southern
2.3 km SSEGoat Crag312 m · Southern
2.4 km ESilverybield Crag395 m · Southern
3.0 km EThrostlehow Crag404 m · Southern

On the hill: terrain and water on Great How - Eskdale Fell

Terrain & access

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 v18.4 (CC BY 4.0); Copernicus GLO-30. CRoW access layer: © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 144 fells.

About Great How - Eskdale Fell

Its nearest tops are Eskdale Fell - Whinscales (0.7 km S); Dawsonground Crags (1.4 km SSE); Slight Side (1.6 km NE). It's a worthwhile objective for anyone working through the Birkett list.

Classifications & hill data

Is Great How - Eskdale Fell a Wainwright?

Great How - Eskdale Fell is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.

Selected lists

522 m
Height
1,713 ft
In feet
NY 1974 0399
Grid ref

This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.

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 →

Other fells near Great How - Eskdale Fell