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) in the Eastern Fells. The name comes from pike (Old Norse pík, a peak). It also features on the Fellranger, Synge, Nuttall lists.
Summit conditions on Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 11° to 5°C, gusts to 59 mph, 13.7 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.
The forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →
Routes up Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
Choose the way up before the car park: these two routes start from two places, and the last two rows give the parking and bus at each route’s own start. Full maps further down.
| Compared | Fairfield Horseshoe | Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside |
|---|---|---|
| Starts from | Rydal (or Ambleside) | Ambleside |
| Distance and climb | 16.92 km, 1,009 m of climb | 22.39 km, 1,425 m of climb |
| Time, fast to steady | ~5–6¾ h | ~6¾–9¼ h |
| Scrambling | Hands for a few steps: High Pike and Low Pike, and a short down-climb by Sweden Crag above Low Sweden Bridge (km 9.4–12.2 and km 13.1–13.5). A little easy scrambling in places, but nothing obligatory. | Hands for a few steps: rocky steps between Dove Crag and Hart Crag (km 10.0–11.4). |
| Exposure | Hard | Hard |
| Navigation | Hard | Hard |
| Steepest stretch | Climb of about 30% at 1.3 km (Hard) | Descent of about 28% at 18.6 km (Hard) |
| After the summit | Over Great Rigg, Fairfield, Hart Crag, Dove Crag, High Pike (Scandale) and Low Pike | Over Heron Pike (Rydal) and Nab Scar |
| Walked or planned | Walked by Lee, April 2023 | Walked by Lee, April 2023 |
| Car park at the start | Pelter Bridge, Rydal (paid) | Ambleside, Lake Road (paid) |
| Bus to the start | 555, 2.3 km walk from Rydal, at White Moss Common | 555, 340 m walk from Ambleside, at Hayes Garden Centre |
Times run from fast to steady pace (Naismith’s rule). Scrambling quotes each route’s own notes; “not mentioned” means they do not say, not that the ground has none. Each route’s page has its map, stages and GPX.
Distance, climb and the steepest stretch are measured from each route’s GPX track; the other grades are set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap, and each route page says which. How we check →
How hard is Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)?
The shortest way up we hold is Fairfield Horseshoe — 16.92 km, 1009 m of ascent, ~5–6¾ h. On our scale its hardest axes are distance, steepness, navigation and exposure — Hard.
All axes: length: Hard · steepness: Hard · navigation: Hard · exposure: Hard · terrain: Not assessed.
These are the route page’s grades, set by the rules on how we grade: length and steepness measured from its GPX track, the others set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap. The route page says which. How we check →
Conditions and 7-day summit forecast
Modelled for the 621 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 27 October 2026, 20:59 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
4 more places to park near Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
Positions are approximate.
Of the pay-and-display machine tickets sold at Broadgate Meadow from 17 August 2024 to 31 March 2026, 11% were bought before 10am (our count of FOI/2026.500 ticket data). Contains public sector information provided by the Lake District National Park Authority and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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 505, 516 and 555 stop at Ambleside, at Hayes Garden Centre, a 340 m walk from the start of Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside — a route we rate Severe overall (hardest: distance). Last bus: Monday to Friday 22:43 towards Grasmere (555) and 20:29 towards Keswick (555); Saturday 22:43 towards Grasmere (555) and 20:29 towards Keswick (555); Sunday 19:09 towards Grasmere (555) and 18:15 towards Keswick (555). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026; that timetable runs to 1 November 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Hazards on Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
Notes from the Fairfield Horseshoe route
- A little easy scrambling in places, but nothing obligatory.
If you need to get off (the leg from Heron Pike): At Heron Pike, at about 3.5 km, you can drop west: paths lead down to Grasmere, the simplest early way off if you have had enough. On Rydal Fell beyond it, go back to Heron Pike for that way down, or on towards Great Rigg for the Stone Arthur way down at about 5.5 km.
Quoted from the route page: its warnings and the note for the leg that reaches Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell).
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.
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 (opens in new tab) (read 26 October 2026).
Map, GPX and nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.
Birketts within 3 km of Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
No bonus Birketts within 3 km.
Routes over Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
Download GPX Walked by Lee, April 2023
Download GPX Walked by Lee, April 2023
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.
On the hill: terrain and water on Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Fairfield Horseshoe route:
On the Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
About Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
My Strava hikes over Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Bit of a hike in the Lake District (opens in new tab) — 23.0 km · 1488 m ascent · 6h 13m moving · 3 April 2023
Data from Strava.
Classifications & hill data
Is Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell) a Wainwright?
Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell) is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list and the Fellranger list.
Selected lists
This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.
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 →
Places to stay near this fell
From Rydal: 7 places in Ambleside · From Ambleside or Grasmere: 3 places