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.
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 (Sat 12 Sep): 14° to 7°C, gusts to 47 mph, 31.3 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 18:50 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.
Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell) at a glance
Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
Routes up Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
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.
Where do you park for Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)?
The nearest car park we hold is Grasmere, roadside layby (free), about 1.9 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Nab Scar (layby), 1.9 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 Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)?
The shortest way up we hold is Fairfield Horseshoe — 16.9 km, 925 m of ascent, about 4.9 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is exposure — Hard.
All axes: exposure: Hard · navigation: Hard · length: Hard · steepness: Hard · terrain: Moderate.
My hikes over Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell) (Strava)
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 Apr 2023
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
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).
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 Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell) by bus
The 505 stops at Ambleside, at Hayes Garden Centre, 340 m from the start of Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside. Last bus: Monday to Friday 22:43 towards Grasmere (555) and 20:29 towards Keswick (555) and 09:47 towards Coniston (505) and 09:21 towards Dungeon Ghyll (516); Saturday 22:43 towards Grasmere (555) and 20:29 towards Keswick (555) and 09:47 towards Coniston (505) and 09:21 towards Dungeon Ghyll (516); Sunday 19:09 towards Grasmere (555) and 18:15 towards Keswick (555) and 09:47 towards Coniston (505) and 09:21 towards Dungeon Ghyll (516). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 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.
Hazards on Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
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.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Grasmere, roadside layby (free), about 1.9 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)
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & 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.
Places to stay near this fell
From Rydal: 7 places in Ambleside · From Ambleside or Grasmere: 3 places
Other fells near Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)
- Arnison Crag
- Birkhouse Moor
- Birks
- Catstye Cam
- Clough Head
- Dollywaggon Pike
- Dove Crag
- Fairfield
- Glenridding Dodd
- Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit)
- Great Dodd
- Great Mell Fell
- Great Rigg
- Hart Crag
- Hart Side
- Hartsop Above How (Gill Crag)
- Helvellyn
- Heron Pike (Rydal)
- High Hartsop Dodd
- High Pike (Scandale)
- Little Hart Crag (West Top)
- Little Mell Fell
- Low Pike
- Middle Dodd
- Nab Scar
- Nethermost Pike
- Raise
- Red Screes
- Seat Sandal
- Sheffield Pike
- St Sunday Crag
- Stone Arthur
- Stybarrow Dodd
- Watson's Dodd
- White Side