Grike
Grike is a low, heathery fell on the far-western fringe of the Lakes, above Ennerdale and the old mining ground of Kinniside.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 488 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 13° to 10°C, gusts to 25 mph, 1.1 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 11 Sep 2026, 08:30 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 488 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Grike at a glance
Grike
Routes up Grike
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Grike a Wainwright?
Grike is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.
Where do you park for Grike?
The nearest car park we hold is Bleach Green, Ennerdale (free), about 1.2 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Grike car park (free), 1.4 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 Grike?
The shortest way up we hold is Grike, Crag Fell and Lank Rigg — 13.1 km, 618 m of ascent, about 3.6 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is navigation — Moderate.
All axes: navigation: Moderate · steepness: Moderate · length: Moderate · exposure: Easy · terrain: Easy.
My hikes over Grike (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Grike, Crag Fell and Lank Rigg (opens in new tab) — 13.1 km · 630 m ascent · 2h 48m moving · 24 May 2025
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Grike
Best parking to hike Grike
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.
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 Grike by bus
The nearest bus stop we hold is the 77 at Buttermere, outside Court Hotel, 14.3 km of walking from the start — not realistically reachable without a car. It is a seasonal service too: 1 November 2026 is its last day of the year (confirmed with the operator, 29 August 2026).
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Hazards on Grike
No hazard card for this fell. The usual open-fell rules apply: check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected.
Navigating Grike 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 Grike compares with all 214 — the Clag Index: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Bleach Green, Ennerdale (free), about 1.2 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Grike (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 Grike
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
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.
What you can see from Grike, 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 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.
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°.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:49 BST ±5.0 min | 04:38 | +11 min |
| Equinox | 06:26 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:17 | +9 min |
| Midwinter | 08:51 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:34 | +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.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:57 BST ±5.0 min | 21:54 | +3 min |
| Equinox | 18:32 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:28 | +4 min |
| Midwinter | 15:57 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:50 | +7 min |
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. 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.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales, Scotland and the Isle of Man.
- Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) Wales
- Carnedd Llewelyn Wales
- Merrick Scotland
- Snaefell Isle of Man
- Criffel Scotland
- Solway Firth bay/estuary
- Irish Sea open water
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 Grike’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.
Frequently asked questions about Grike
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 618 m of ascent, and it is the axis scores that tell the story: terrain easy, exposure easy, steepness moderate. There is no crag, no scramble and no airy ground.
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.
Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-08-30 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)
Other fells near Grike
- Base Brown
- Blake Fell
- Brandreth
- Buckbarrow
- Burnbank Fell
- Caw Fell
- Crag Fell
- Fellbarrow - Mosser Fell
- Fleetwith Pike
- Gavel Fell
- Great Borne
- Great Gable
- Green Gable
- Grey Knotts
- Haycock
- Haystacks (Buttermere)
- Hen Comb
- High Crag (Buttermere)
- High Stile
- Kirk Fell
- Lank Rigg
- Low Fell
- Mellbreak (Mellbreak South Top)
- Middle Fell
- Pillar
- Red Pike (Buttermere)
- Red Pike (Wasdale)
- Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell)
- Seatallan
- Starling Dodd
- Steeple
- Yewbarrow