550 mWainwright — Southern Fells+13 bonus Birketts within 3 km
Hard Knott at 550m (1,803ft) stands above the infamous Hardknott Pass, its rocky summit giving superb views down to the Roman fort of Mediobogdum directly below — one of the most evocative historical viewpoints in the Lake District.
Summit conditions on Hard Knott
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 5°C, gusts to 66 mph, 8.1 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
68mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour
The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 57 mph times our exposure factor of 1.2. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 66 mph, before any exposure factor.
under 25
25–35
35–45
45–55
55+
The line Our line: 25 mph, where our wind Scale begins its 25–35 band: “balance affected; buffeting on exposed ground”. MWIS (opens in new tab) 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.
Cloud on the top
Past the line
13out of 100, the clear-top reading
Averaged over the daylight hours, from the forecast’s humidity and low cloud.
The line Our line: a clear-top reading under 20 out of 100, where our scorer says “summit likely clagged in”. There is no outside threshold to cite; it is our estimate. What cloud does to finding the way: navigating in cloud.
Not an observation: cloud lifts and drops within the hour.
Rain, and the becks
Past the line
8.1mm of rain over the whole day, midnight to midnight
The same figure as the summit line above and the 7-day forecast.
The line Our line: 6 mm in the day, where our scorer counts a day as soaking. We read rainfall, never river levels: becks in spate.
Open-Meteo’s forecast. It says nothing about rain already in the ground.
Also checkedcold: feels like 1 °C, no ice or snow forecast. 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
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 →
14.68 km · ~961 m ascent · ~4½–6¼ h · loop · 3 summits
Hard effortSevere: steepness
Park: Goat Crag (layby) (free)
A rugged Eskdale round over three characterful tops — Green Crag, Harter Fell and Hard Knott — through some of the wildest country in the Lakes, with the Scafells filling the skyline.
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 Hard Knott a hard walk?
The name is about the pass rather than the fell, and the fell is a modest one — rough, knobbly ground with plenty of little crags, but nothing that needs hands on our round.
The day around it is what takes the effort. Our Hardknott round is 14.7 km with 961 m of ascent, which we rate Severe overall for its steepness. Getting to this corner of Eskdale is half the commitment; the summit itself is a scramble-free wander among outcrops.
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
Goat Crag (layby) — at the start of Alternative Hardknott Round (Green Crag, Harter Fell & Hard Knott)
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).
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, 10.9 km of walking from the start — no bus route we hold serves it.
Notes from a planned route, not walked: Alternative Hardknott Round (Green Crag, Harter Fell & Hard Knott)
The ground north of Green Crag is boggy — wet, tussocky and slow, and worse after rain. Pick a dry spell and expect to lose time here.
Rough, rocky and only lightly pathed — navigation needs care in poor visibility. Carry map and compass.
A long, remote round (nearly 15 km, 950 m of ascent) with little quick escape; start early and carry food, water and layers.
Livestock on the lower fields; keep dogs under close control.
If you need to get off (the leg from Harter Fell): The map shows the line crossing the Hardknott Pass road near the top of the pass, at about 10.1 km, between Harter Fell and Hard Knott; the other mapped ways down pass mapped crag, so from Harter Fell the way off is on down to the pass, about 2.3 km, and from Hard Knott back down to the pass or on down the walk's own line to the road, about 1.1 km; not walked for this guide.
Quoted from the route page of a planned route, drawn from the map and not yet walked: its warnings and the note for the leg that reaches Hard Knott.
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
Not graded by the model
Our terrain model finds nothing to grade on this summit, so it gives no cloud grade here — that is not a sign of easy navigation. Read this fell’s hazard notes and the route pages before a day in cloud. 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 Hard Knott 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.
Three wild, quiet Eskdale tops linked into a big round — boggy in stretches (notably north of Green Crag) and rocky underfoot; a dry, clear day makes all the difference.
Best season: Late spring to autumn, in dry weather. The ground north of Green Crag is notably boggy and much slower when wet.
Warnings: The ground north of Green Crag is boggy — wet, tussocky and slow, and worse after rain. Pick a dry spell and expect to lose time here. Rough, rocky and only lightly pathed — navigation needs care in poor visibility. Carry map and compass. A long, remote round (nearly 15 km, 950 m of ascent) with little quick escape; start early and carry food, water and layers. Livestock on the lower fields; keep dogs under close control.
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 Hard Knott
Photo: Stephen Dawson, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Wainwright described it as a fell of considerable character, its craggy, complex terrain quite out of proportion to its modest height. The ascent from the pass is short and steep, rewarded with outstanding views across to Harter Fell (Eskdale) and up to Scafell. Often combined with Harter Fell for a fine Eskdale circuit. An unmissable viewpoint for anyone driving or cycling the Hardknott road.
Classifications & hill data
Is Hard Knott a Wainwright?
Hard Knott is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Fellranger list and the Marilyn list.
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 Hard Knott
The 360° skyline from Hard Knott
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
The skyline as a list, by direction
North: Bowfell (4 km), Pike de Bield (4 km), Ill Crag (5 km), Scafell Pike (5 km), Esk Pike (5 km), Broad Crag (5 km), Great End (6 km)
North-east: Little Stand (2 km), Stonesty Pike (2 km), Crinkle Crags South Top (3 km), Crinkle Crags (3 km)
East: Little Carrs (4 km), Great Carrs (4 km), Wetherlam (6 km), Sallows (20 km), Swinklebank Crag (27 km), nameless (27 km), Capplebarrow (28 km), White Howe (29 km), The Forest (30 km)
South-east: Grey Friar (4 km), Swirl How (4 km), Brim Fell (6 km), Dow Crag (6 km), Buck Pike (6 km), The Old Man of Coniston (6 km), Brown Pike (6 km), Walna Scar (7 km)
South: White Maiden (7 km), White Pike (7 km), Caw (8 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Aran Fawddwy (184 km, Wales), Snaefell (85 km, Isle of Man), Arenig Fawr (170 km, Wales), South Barrule (101 km, Isle of Man), Cadair Berwyn (171 km, Wales), Carnedd y Filiast (162 km, Wales), Arenig Fach (166 km, Wales), Moel Famau (140 km, Wales).
Hard Knott waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls at midsummer, when the sun is up for 43 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 05:21 against an almanac sunrise of 04:38. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the north-east from here (54.0°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 4.28°.
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 light
Almanac sunrise
Difference
Midsummer
05:21 BST ±5.0 min
04:38
+43 min
Equinox
06:15 GMT ±5.0 min
06:16
-1 min
Midwinter
08:57 GMT ±5.0 min
08:33
+24 min
The northern horizon stands at about 3.85° from here.
Last light — when the sun leaves Hard Knott
The evening here runs close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its earliest evening of the modelled year (at midsummer) last light is only 9 minutes before almanac sunset, so the published sunset time is a fair guide on Hard Knott.
The evening of the same three days. A negative difference means a ridge takes the sun before the valley loses it.
Last light
Almanac sunset
Difference
Midsummer
21:43 BST ±5.0 min
21:52
-9 min
Equinox
18:32 GMT ±5.0 min
18:27
+5 min
Midwinter
15:57 GMT ±5.0 min
15:50
+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 Hard Knott
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.
23Wainwrights in view
85 kmFurthest sightlineSnaefell
1Sea in viewIrish Sea
On the clearest days the view reaches across to the Isle of Man.
How the view from Hard Knott 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 Hard Knott. 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.
Places to stay near this fell
We have not verified an independent place near this fell — these are the chains and charities that serve it.
We have not stayed at any of them. We take no bookings or affiliate fees. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).
