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Grike - a stone cairn and a low shelter on a grassy summit, the view lost in thick mist

Grike

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488 mWainwright — Western Fells+6 bonus Birketts within 3 km Fewer traps in Clag

Grike is a low, heathery fell on the far-western fringe of the Lakes, above Ennerdale and the old mining ground of Kinniside. On a clear day the view reaches west to the Isle of Man and the Irish Sea.

Summit conditions on Grike

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 7°C, gusts to 60 mph, 1.2 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

54 mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour

The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 51 mph times our exposure factor of 1.06. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 60 mph, before any exposure factor.

The line Our line: 25 mph, where our wind Scale begins its 25–35 band: “balance affected; buffeting on exposed ground”. MWIS 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.

Also checked cold: feels like 3 °C, no ice or snow forecast; cloud: a clear-top reading of 41 out of 100, over our in-cloud line of 20; rain: 1.2 mm in the day, under our 6 mm line. 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

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

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 →

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com

Routes up Grike

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

Grike, Crag Fell and Lank Rigg Walked by Lee
13.07 km · ~623 m ascent · ~3½–5 h · loop · 4 summits
Moderate effort Moderate: distance, steepness and navigation
Park: Flat Fell (verge)

Four tops in the far western fells — Grike, Crag Fell, Whoap and Lank Rigg — in 13.1 km and 623 m.

Distance and climb are measured from the route’s GPX track, and the time from them by Naismith’s rule; the route page says what each grade rests on. How we check →

Is Grike an easy walk?

Yes — genuinely one of the easiest fells we have mapped. Our round taking in Grike, Crag Fell and Lank Rigg is 13.1 km with 623 m of ascent, and it is the axis scores that tell the story: terrain easy, exposure easy, steepness moderate. There is no scramble on it, and the one crag edge is the steep drop into Ennerdale beside Crag Fell’s top.

What it asks for instead is company and a map. These are the far western fells, quiet even in August, with forest tracks on the approach and broad heathery tops that all look alike in cloud. Easy underfoot is not the same as easy to navigate.

How we check →

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 488 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast
Tue 27 Oct
12° / 7°
60 mph
1.2 mm (100%)
Wed 28 Oct
10° / 7°
42 mph
2.7 mm (100%)
Thu 29 Oct
10° / 8°
27 mph
0.8 mm (18%)
Fri 30 Oct
9° / 7°
27 mph
0.0 mm (29%)
Sat 31 Oct
11° / 4°
7 mph
0.0 mm (29%)
Sun 1 Nov
9° / 2°
7 mph
0.0 mm (12%)
Mon 2 Nov
8° / 1°
15 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

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

Parking & buses for Grike

Parking

Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.

Flat Fell (verge) — at the start of Grike, Crag Fell and Lank Rigg
0.7 km from Flat Fell.
Directions Something changed here?
Bleach Green, Ennerdale (free) — 1.2 km from summit (straight line)
At the western end of Ennerdale Water, for the lakeshore path. Fees: Free (not National Trust), per NT Ennerdale page (NT, checked August 2026). UU Ennerdale page states it has 'no plans to close or introduce car parking charges at any of the United Utilities car parks in the Ennerdale valley' - i.e. no charge currently applies (United Utilities, checked August 2026). If it is full, the National Park's car-parks directory (read 12 September 2026) says to try Bowness Knott car park.
Directions Something changed here?
Bleach Green, north-west (free) — 1.4 km from summit (straight line)
At the west end of Ennerdale Water, 130 m north-west of Bleach Green car park, by the road in. The 'Round Ennerdale Water from Bowness Knott' route passes about 490 m away on foot (it joins at about km 8); 'Grike, Crag Fell and Lank Rigg' starts 4.3 km away on foot, on the Cold Fell road. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
3 more places to park near Grike
Cold Fell road (verge) — 2.1 km from summit (straight line)
Verge parking on the Calder Bridge–Ennerdale road for Lank Rigg and Ponsonby Fell.
Directions Something changed here?
Blakeley Raise (verge, east) — 2.3 km from summit (straight line)
0.7 km from Blakeley Raise.
Directions Something changed here?
Blakeley Raise (verge, west) — 2.4 km from summit (straight line)
0.8 km from Blakeley Raise.
Directions 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 77 and 77A stop at Buttermere, outside Court Hotel, 14.3 km of walking from the start — no bus route we hold serves it. It is a seasonal service too: 1 November 2026 is its last day of the year (confirmed with the operator, 29 August 2026); it returns on 22 March 2027.

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

Hazards on Grike

Notes from the Grike, Crag Fell and Lank Rigg route

If you need to get off (the leg from the start): Simply turn 180 degrees and retrace your steps down the wide gravel track back to the car parking area on the Cold Fell road.

Quoted from the route page: the note for the leg that reaches Grike.

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 Grike 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.

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

Map, GPX and 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 Grike

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

1.6 km WSWBlakeley Raise389 m · Western
1.9 km SEWhoap511 m · Western
2.2 km SWBurn Edge320 m · Western
2.5 km SSWKinniside375 m · Western
2.8 km SSWLatter Barrow354 m · Western
2.9 km SWSwarth Fell (Kinniside)335 m · Western

Routes over Grike

Grike, Crag Fell and Lank Rigg
13.07 km · ~623 m ascent · loop · ~3½–5 h
Moderate effort Moderate: distance, steepness and navigation
Summits: GrikeCrag FellWhoapLank Rigg

Download GPX Walked by Lee, May 2025

Route guide →

Every line here is a guide, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate for yourself and carry a map and compass. How to use this guide.

About Grike

Grike - a stone cairn and a low shelter on a grassy summit, the view lost in thick mist
© Lee McCoy

Its name echoes the dialect word 'grike', a cleft or fissure in rock. A summit shelter and a forestry edge mark the top; most come from the Coldfell road or Ennerdale Bridge and link it with Crag Fell and Lank Rigg into a round of these lonely western tops.

My Strava hikes over Grike

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Data from Strava.

Classifications & hill data

Is Grike a Wainwright?

Grike is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.

Selected lists

Wainwright
Western
Birkett
Fellranger
Synge
488 m
Height
1,601 ft
In feet
NY 0849 1408
Grid ref

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 Grike

The 360° skyline from Grike

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
Computed 360-degree skyline from Grike32 labelled tops shown (18 distant behind the far-horizon toggle). Theoretical visibility in perfect clarity; computed from terrain, not photographed.eye levelNNEESESSWWNWSkiddaw · 23 kmPillar · 9 kmFairfield · 28 kmGrasmoor · 11 kmHigh Stile · 8 kmHaycock · 7 kmWandope · 12 kmRed Pike · 8 kmStarling Dodd · 6 kmBrae Fell · 29 kmBlake Fell · 6 kmSteeple · 8 kmLank Rigg · 2 kmWhin Rigg · 12 kmGavel Fell · 5 kmCriffel · 50 km · clear daysHesk Fell · 21 kmMurton Fell · 5 kmWhoap · 2 kmBengairn · 51 km · clear daysCairnharrow · 69 km · clear daysBlakeley Raise · 2 kmKinniside · 2 kmLatter Barrow · 3 kmBengray · 64 km · clear daysDent · 5 kmSwainson Knott · 6 kmSwarth Fell · 3 kmCold Fell · 6 kmBainloch Hill · 47 km · clear daysFlat Fell · 3 kmWhite Hill · 69 km · clear daysDollywaggon Pike · 26 kmBrandreth · 13 kmCaw Fell · 6 kmCarling Knott · 7 kmBroom Fell · 17 kmSharp Knott · 6 kmPonsonby Fell · 7 kmSnowdon · 167 km · a handful of days a yearSlieve Donard · 167 km · a handful of days a yearMerrick · 97 km · a rare clear dayAran Fawddwy · 193 km · a handful of days a yearBroad Law · 110 km · a rare clear daySnaefell · 74 km · a rare clear dayCairnsmore of Carsphairn · 97 km · a rare clear dayCairnsmore of Fleet · 79 km · a rare clear daySlieve Croob · 167 km · a handful of days a yearGreen Lowther · 100 km · a rare clear dayDivis · 169 km · a handful of days a yearCulter Fell · 115 km · a rare clear dayCadair Berwyn · 182 km · a handful of days a yearBeneraird · 115 km · a rare clear dayColt Hill · 93 km · a rare clear dayCalkin Rig · 76 km · a rare clear dayCairnkinna Hill · 93 km · a rare clear dayWard Law · 103 km · a rare clear day
The skyline as a list, by direction
  • North-east: Great Borne (4 km), Gavel Fell (5 km), Blake Fell (6 km), Carling Knott (7 km), Loweswater End (7 km), Whiteless Pike (11 km), Grasmoor (11 km), Whiteside (12 km), Wandope (12 km), Whiteside East Top (12 km), Gasgale Crags (12 km), Crag Hill (12 km), Hopegill Head (13 km), Swinside (13 km), Broom Fell (17 km), Lord's Seat (17 km), Skiddaw South Top (23 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (23 km), Skiddaw (23 km), Skiddaw North Top (23 km), Brae Fell (29 km)
  • East: Starling Dodd (6 km), Steeple (8 km), Red Pike (8 km), High Stile (8 km), Black Crag (8 km), Pillar (9 km), High Crag (10 km), Seat (10 km), Brandreth (13 km), Grey Knotts (13 km), Coldbarrow Fell (20 km), Dollywaggon Pike (26 km), Cofa Pike (27 km), Fairfield (28 km)
  • South-east: Caw Fell (6 km), Little Gowder Crag (6 km), Haycock (7 km), Whin Rigg (12 km)
  • South: Lank Rigg (2 km)

On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (167 km, Wales), Slieve Donard (167 km, Ireland), Carnedd Llewelyn (155 km, Wales), Merrick (97 km, Scotland), Aran Fawddwy (193 km, Wales), Broad Law (110 km, Scotland), Snaefell (74 km, Isle of Man), Moel Siabod (164 km, Wales).

Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills v18.4 (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.

Sunrise and sunset on Grike

Grike waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls on 1 November, when the sun is up for 20 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 07:36 against an almanac sunrise of 07:16. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the east-south-east from here (118.3°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 2.27°.

0°30°40°50°60°70°04:49
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 lightAlmanac sunriseDifference
Midsummer04:49 BST ±5.0 min04:38+11 min
Equinox06:26 GMT ±5.0 min06:17+9 min
Midwinter08:51 GMT ±5.0 min08:34+17 min

A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.18°).

Last light — when the sun leaves Grike

Grike 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 lightAlmanac sunsetDifference
Midsummer21:57 BST ±5.0 min21:54+3 min
Equinox18:32 GMT ±5.0 min18:28+4 min
Midwinter15:57 GMT ±5.0 min15:50+7 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 Grike

On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.
26Wainwrights in view+8 marginal
172 kmFurthest sightlineSlieve Binnian · possible under favourable refraction
2Sea in viewIrish Sea, Solway Firth

On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland.

Far horizons
  • Slieve Binnian Northern IrelandWSW · 172 km clear
  • Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) WalesSSW · 167 km clear
  • Slieve Donard Northern IrelandW · 167 km clear
  • Carnedd Llewelyn WalesSSW · 152 km clear
  • Merrick ScotlandNW · 98 km clear
  • Snaefell Isle of ManWSW · 74 km clear
  • Criffel ScotlandNNW · 50 km clear
  • Solway Firth bay/estuaryNNW · 40 km in view
  • Irish Sea open waterNW · 20 km in view
All 26 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)

Crag Fell, Lank Rigg, Great Borne, Gavel Fell, Caw Fell, Blake Fell, Haycock, Steeple, Red Pike (Buttermere), Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell), High Stile, Pillar, High Crag (Buttermere), Whiteless Pike, Haystacks (Buttermere), Grasmoor, Whiteside (Whiteside West Top), Wandope, Whin Rigg (Wasdale), Hopegill Head, Brandreth, Grey Knotts, Lord's Seat, Skiddaw, Dollywaggon Pike, Fairfield

How the view from Grike 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 Grike. 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.

Frequently asked questions about Grike

Is Grike an easy walk? Answered above.

Questions from Google’s “People also ask”. · Last updated 2026-08-30 · Suggest a question or correction

Other fells near Grike

Places nearby: Ennerdale Water