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494 m · Birkett — Far Eastern (not a Wainwright summit) · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Birkett — Far Eastern (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

Great Howe (Longsleddale)

Great Howe at 494m (1,621ft) is a Birkett top in the quiet fell country above Longsleddale in the Far Eastern Fells, its grassy summit giving views down the valley and across to the High Street ridge.

494 m
Height
+3
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

Home › Fells › Great Howe (Longsleddale)

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Last reviewed

494 mBirkett — Far Eastern (not a Wainwright summit)+3 bonus Birketts within 3 km

Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast

Modelled guidance for the 494 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 16° to 14°C, gusts to 36 mph, 13.2 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌧️
16° / 14°
💨 36 mph
🌧 13.2 mm (98%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
16° / 13°
💨 29 mph
🌧 2.2 mm (98%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
14° / 6°
💨 28 mph
🌧 0.6 mm (63%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
16° / 3°
💨 26 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (82%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
16° / 4°
💨 15 mph
🌧 3.3 mm (31%)
Sun 2 Aug
☁️
17° / 5°
💨 18 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (25%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
17° / 7°
💨 17 mph
🌧 0.2 mm (24%)

Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 494 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

About the walk

Key information

Great Howe (Longsleddale)

Great Howe at 494m (1,621ft) is a Birkett top in the quiet fell country above Longsleddale in the Far Eastern Fells, its grassy summit giving views down the valley and across to the High Street ridge. Part of the remote moorland east of Kentmere Reservoir. A seldom-visited summit in one of the least frequented valleys in the Lake District.

Routes up Great Howe (Longsleddale)

Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.

Longsleddale Round (Kentmere Pike, Tarn Crag, Grey Crag & Shipman Knotts)
17.7 km · ~5.3 hr
A long ~18 km round from Sadgill in quiet Longsleddale over five Wainwrights — Grey Crag, Tarn Crag, Kentmere Pike, Harter Fell and Shipman Knotts — across some of the loneliest, broadest grass tops in the Far Eastern fells. Real navigation in cloud.
Classifications & hill data
Birkett
494 m
Height
1,621 ft
In feet
NY 4893 0642
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.

Nearest parking: Sadgill, Longsleddale (free, limited), about 1.2 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.

1.7 km WNWGoat Scar626 m · Far Eastern
1.8 km NEHarrop Pike637 m · Far Eastern
2.7 km SSWCocklaw Fell365 m · Far Eastern

Routes over Great Howe (Longsleddale)

Longsleddale Round (Kentmere Pike, Tarn Crag, Grey Crag & Shipman Knotts)Revised
17.69 km · ~1043 m ascent · loop · ~5–7 h
Summits: Shipman KnottsKentmere PikeHarter Fell (Mardale)Little Harter FellTarn Crag (Sleddale)Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell)Great Howe (Longsleddale)

⬇️ 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.

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).

Sadgill, Longsleddale (free, limited) — 1.2 km from summit (straight line)
Head of Longsleddale — Kentmere Pike, Shipman Knotts, Grey Crag, Tarn Crag.
Directions
Kentmere Institute (donation, very limited) — 4.4 km from summit (straight line)
Tiny — arrive by 8am or use the verges lower down. Kentmere Horseshoe: Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick, Kentmere Pike.
Directions

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 Howe (Longsleddale) 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 or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

My hikes over Great Howe (Longsleddale) (Strava)

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.

Other fells near Great Howe (Longsleddale)

Maps & guidebooks for Great Howe (Longsleddale)

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