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

Heron Pike North Top - a grassy ridge with a tumbledown wall, looking south to Windermere shining under blue sky
Birkett — Eastern (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)

Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell) is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), a quiet Eastern top reached by few walkers.

621 m
Height
+0
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

Home › Fells › Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Last reviewed

621 mBirkett — Eastern (not a Wainwright summit)+0 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 621 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 15° to 13°C, gusts to 41 mph, 14.2 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌧️
15° / 13°
💨 41 mph
🌧 14.2 mm (100%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
15° / 12°
💨 33 mph
🌧 3.9 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
13° / 4°
💨 27 mph
🌧 0.9 mm (78%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
14° / 2°
💨 24 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (78%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
14° / 3°
💨 15 mph
🌧 3.0 mm (54%)
Sun 2 Aug
☁️
16° / 4°
💨 18 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (24%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
16° / 5°
💨 11 mph
🌧 0.2 mm (23%)

Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 621 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

Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)

Heron Pike North Top - a grassy ridge with a tumbledown wall, looking south to Windermere shining under blue sky
© Lee McCoy

Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell) is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), a quiet Eastern top reached by few walkers. The name comes from pike (Old Norse pík, a peak). It also features on the Fellranger, Synge, Nuttall lists. Its nearest tops are Heron Pike (Rydal) (0.4 km S); Stone Arthur (1.1 km NW); Nab Scar (1.4 km S) — it's usually taken in on a round of these neighbours. It's a worthwhile objective for anyone working through the Birkett list, or as a short extension to a bigger day on the higher neighbouring fells.

Routes up Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)

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

Fairfield Horseshoe
16.9 km · ~4.9 hr · Moderate
One of the classic Lakeland rounds and a fine first big horseshoe. From the car park at Rydal it's a steady, moderate climb with only a minor amount of scrambling — my kids, then 7 and 10, managed it, though they found it a long day. You can easily start from Ambleside instead: stock up at the shops on the way out and finish at the Royal Oak for a well-earned pint. The full round takes in eight tops, with Fairfield's broad summit the high point and Windermere laid out behind you on the descent.
Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside
22.4 km · ~6.7 hr
Classifications & hill data
Birkett
Fellranger
Synge
Nuttall
621 m
Height
2,037 ft
In feet
NY 3572 0867
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Grasmere village (paid), about 2.3 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell) (within 3 km)

No bonus Birketts within 3 km — every Birkett near here is already a Wainwright summit, so just enjoy the walk.

Routes over Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)

Fairfield HorseshoeRevised
16.92 km · ~925 m ascent · loop · ~4.5–6.5 h · Clockwise · Moderate
Summits: Nab ScarHeron Pike (Rydal)Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)Great RiggFairfieldHart CragDove CragHigh Pike (Scandale)Low Pike

⬇️ Download GPX

Best season: Any season in good conditions; save the broad, featureless summit for a clear day.

⚠️ Warnings: Fairfield's broad summit plateau is confusing in cloud — carry a map and compass and take a bearing before descending.; A little easy scrambling in places, but nothing obligatory.

Full route guide ↗

A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass.

Long Hike to Fairfield from AmblesideRevised
22.39 km · ~1350 m ascent · loop · ~6.5–9 h
Summits: Red ScreesDove CragHart CragFairfieldGreat RiggHeron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)Heron Pike (Rydal)Nab Scar

⬇️ Download GPX

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 Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)

Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).

Grasmere village (paid) — 2.3 km from summit (straight line)
For Helm Crag, Silver How, the Easedale fells and the Far Easedale round.
Directions
🚺 Grasmere (71m) — Accessible · RADAR key🚺 Stock Lane carpark (425m) — Accessible☕ The Little Inn Coffee Shop☕ Grasmere Tea Gardens☕ Thirteen Valleys Kitchen🍺 1769 Bar & Restaurant🍺 Tweedies Bar🍺 The Distiller’s Arms🏪 Grasmere Outdoors🏪 Mountain Hi🏪 Trespass🏪 Mountain Warehouse
White Moss (paid) — 2.5 km from summit (straight line)
Between Rydal and Grasmere — Loughrigg, Silver How, Heron Pike.
Directions
🚺 White Moss (369m) — Free🚺 Public toilets (666m)

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.

Water & shelter on the way up

On the Fairfield Horseshoe route:

🚌 Church for Rydal Mount (146 m)⛺ map (432 m)⛺ Rydal Hall Youth Centre Bunkhouse (441 m)

On the Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside route:

🛖 map (6 m)🛖 map (65 m)🛖 map (77 m)🚺 map (30 m)🚺 map (108 m)🚺 map (123 m)🚌 Loughrigg Avenue (71 m)🚌 Hayes Garden Centre (189 m)🚌 Kelsick Road Stand 1 (256 m)⛺ Ambleside Backpackers (19 m)

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.

Buses to Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell) from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Stagecoach 555
Kendal – Staveley – Windermere – Ambleside – Rydal – Grasmere – Thirlmere (Wythburn & Swirls) – Keswick
Catch it from: Windermere · Ambleside
Year-round, roughly hourly. The backbone bus of the A591 — ideal for Helvellyn (Wythburn/Swirls), Fairfield, the Central fells and anything around Grasmere/Rydal. From Penrith, take the X4/X5 to Keswick and change.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

My hikes over Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell) (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 Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)

Maps & guidebooks for Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)

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