The short answers
Is Great Howe (Longsleddale) a Wainwright?
Great Howe (Longsleddale) is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list.
Where do you park for Great Howe (Longsleddale)?
The nearest car park we hold is Sadgill, Longsleddale (free, limited), about 0.9 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Swinklebank Crag (layby), 1.7 km out. We only look within 2.5 km, measured straight-line: over longer distances a road may cross a pass and the drive bears no relation to the line.
How hard is Great Howe (Longsleddale)?
The shortest way up we hold is Longsleddale Round (Kentmere Pike, Tarn Crag, Grey Crag & Shipman Knotts) — 17.7 km, 1043 m of ascent, about 5.3 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.
All axes: steepness: Severe · navigation: Hard · exposure: Hard · length: Hard · terrain: Moderate.
Parking & buses for Great Howe (Longsleddale)
Best parking to hike Great Howe (Longsleddale)
Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).
Swinklebank Crag (layby) — 1.7 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow) (1.0 km), Cocklaw Fell (1.4 km), Ancrow Brow North Top (1.7 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions ↗ (opens in new tab)Something changed here?Hollow Moor (layby) — 2.9 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Shipman Knotts, Kentmere Pike, Harter Fell (Mardale) and Little Harter Fell — the 'Longsleddale Round (Kentmere Pike, Tarn Crag, Grey Crag & Shipman Knotts)' route starts 6 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions ↗ (opens in new tab)Something changed here?Hollow Moor car park — 4.0 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick and Thornthwaite Crag — the 'Kentmere Horseshoe' route starts 248 m away. Fee not verified — check signage on arrival.
Directions ↗ (opens in new tab)Something changed here?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.
Vehicles are left entirely at their owner’s risk. We list places people park; we cannot vouch for any of them. Judge it on the day: take valuables with you, leave nothing on show, and if a spot feels wrong when you get there, park somewhere else.
Getting to Great Howe (Longsleddale) by bus
The nearest bus stop we hold is the 508 at Troutbeck, opposite Limefitt Park, 6.5 km of walking from the start — not realistically reachable without a car.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip map
Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Sadgill, Longsleddale (free, limited), about 0.9 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Great Howe (Longsleddale) (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 Howe (Longsleddale)
20.03 km · ~601 m ascent · loop · ~5–6.5 h
⬇️ Download GPX
⚠️ Warnings: The Bannisdale watershed section holds a 2 km+ pathless stretch of tussock and peat hag — featureless in mist and slow in any weather. The plotted line there is a bearing, not a path.
Full route guide ↗
✎️ 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. How to use this guide.
17.69 km · ~1043 m ascent · loop · ~5–7 h
⬇️ Download GPX
⚠️ Warnings: Boggy ground: the Sleddale moors (Tarn Crag, Grey Crag and the Mosedale–Longsleddale pass) are peat-hagged and frequently very wet — expect bog and use the wall/fence lines as handrails. Faint paths + serious navigation: trods are indistinct across Cocklaw Fell and the Sleddale plateau. Best saved for good visibility — avoid the Tarn Crag/Grey Crag moors in thick hill fog. A long, quiet day: roughly 10–12 miles and over 3,000 ft of ascent, with far fewer people than the Kentmere side — be self-reliant.
Full route guide ↗
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
Places to stay near this fell
about 8.2 km from the start, in a straight line
At 8.15 km SW this is outside our usual radius. It is the most useful independent option found in any direction: it is the only property in the whole search that pairs a boot room AND a drying area with a travel cot, a high chair and dog beds, and it is the nearest evidenced bed with a direct owner email. Right for a group or two families walking the Longsleddale Round together and self-catering.
It is a whole-house hostel of six bed-pod rooms sleeping up to 19 at No 1 High Street in Windermere, kitted for groups - travel cot, high chair, dog beds and bowls, boot room - and taken over entirely by one party rather than sold bed by bed to strangers.
- Drying room “a boot room for muddy shoes, and a drying area for your jackets after a day of exploring in the fells”
- Dogs “Bring your dog along! We offer dog beds, food bowls, and towels - just arrange ahead of time.”
- Family rooms “Our spacious accommodation for up to 19 guests features modern amenities and shared spaces”
- Children “We offer a travel cot and high chair for families traveling with little ones.”
about 9.1 km from the start, in a straight line
At 9.06 km it is outside our usual radius, and the only evidenced bed due north - the Haweswater side of the same fells the Longsleddale Round climbs, reached over the Gatescarth pass on foot. It is an independent hotel with a rosetted restaurant and a written-down dog policy naming twelve rooms, several of them named after the very ground the route covers (Swindale, Mardale, Artle Crag). Recommended for a couple or a pair of walkers, not on the family evidence - there is none.
It was built in 1937 by the Haweswater Dam scheme to replace the Dun Bull Inn at Mardale, which the reservoir drowned - an art deco hotel whose gardens reuse coping stones from the submerged Mardale walls, and whose first managers had run the old inn.
- Dogs “Dogs are allowed in the following rooms: Wainwright, Mardale, Lonsdale, Westmorland, Artle Crag, Lakeside, Measand, Whelter Crag, Swindale, Cawdale, Rosgil, Wet Sleddle.”
- Evening meal “Our restaurant was awarded Two Rosettes in 2024”
about 9.0 km from the start, in a straight line
At 8.98 km ENE it is outside our usual radius, and the only evidenced bed on the eastern, A6 side of the fells. Exclusive use of the whole building for up to eight with dogs welcome and lay-by parking 70 yards away suits a walking group doing the round and wanting one base - provided they read the caveats: no running water, no drying room, no meals, bring bedding.
It is a converted telephone repeater station at 1,390 ft on Shap Fell beside the A6, completely off-grid - lighting from wind and solar, drinking water delivered in canisters, a chemical toilet in the side yard, and a roof-window put in for stargazing because the horizon is unusually low and wide.
- Dogs “The accommodation sleeps max eight people, with the starting price based on four sharing. Dogs are welcome.”
- Family rooms “The accommodation sleeps max eight people, with the starting price based on four sharing. Dogs are welcome.”
- Parking “Two very large lay-bys for ample parking within 70 yards.”
about 4.0 km from the start, in a straight line
This is the only property inside the radius whose cached page is actually about itself, and it is emphatically not a bed for a family - it is the roof a Harrop Pike walker should know about before committing to a 20.03 km day whose middle third is a bearing across the Bannisdale watershed. It sits on the Mosedale/Swindale side of that watershed rather than on the Longsleddale road, so it is a bail-out and a shelter, not a base: 3.95 km straight-line from Sadgill, which is a number for a map and not a walk-in - the ground between is over the tops and unmeasured by us. What its page does give is usable: a grid reference to put on the map (NY 495 095 on LR90), a stove with the explicit warning that no fuel is available locally, and the MBA's standing party-size restriction with no number attached, which is the one thing a group of four or more should resolve before relying on it. Ranked 1 only because it is the sole row here with evidence; on family usefulness it ranks nowhere.
Its whole facilities list is two lines that contradict each other for anyone planning a night: there is a working stove, and no fuel anywhere near it. Warmth here is something you carry in on your back along with the sleeping bag.
about 7.0 km from the start, in a straight line
At 6.95 km WSW it is outside our usual 4.83 km radius, and it is here because nothing closer publishes anything at all. It is the best-evidenced bed of any kind near this start: a cot, ground-floor rooms, a shared drying room, breakfast from 07:30, evening meals and packed lunches are each stated on its own page, and the child policy is written down rather than inferred. A party doing the Longsleddale Round can dry kit and be fed without cooking.
The hostel building is an early concrete house of the late 1920s, opened as a hostel in 1935 and known until recently as High Cross Castle - the previous timber house on the site burned down in 1915, which is why its replacement was built in solid concrete.
- Drying room “Shared drying room”
- Family rooms “A cot is available.”
- Evening meal “With tasty breakfasts, packed lunches and evening meals, groups are sure to find something delicious to eat at YHA Windermere”
- Packed lunch “With tasty breakfasts, packed lunches and evening meals, groups are sure to find something delicious to eat at YHA Windermere”
- Parking “Free parking on premises”
- Children “Under 12s are not permitted in dorm rooms. Children under 3 can stay with us for free.”
about 8.8 km from the start, in a straight line
At 8.77 km it is outside our usual radius, and the only evidenced bed in the southern half of the compass - the Kendal/Staveley side that the Longsleddale valley road actually runs down. It is the nearest place found that states a drying room, a children's play area and a dog policy in its own words, and the minimum stay is written down rather than discovered at checkout.
It takes walk-in campers arriving on foot rather than by car - it advertises a backpacking facility - and it has its own bar, the Whistling Pig, with Staveley village and its railway station a field's walk away.
- Drying room “Drying room”
- Dogs “Windermere is a dog-friendly site and our campers are permitted to bring their pets with them for their stay.”
- Evening meal “On-site bar at the Whistling Pig”
- Parking “You are permitted to park one car on your pitch.”
- Children “There is an outdoor play area for children.”
Worth knowing before you book
These places state on their own site that they do not take children.