hikes.guideLake District

375 m · Outlying Fell — Around Penrith · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Outlying Fell — Around PenrithAlso a Birkett

Heughscar Hill

Heughscar Hill at 279m (915ft) is a small, heathery fell above Askham near Ullswater, its open top giving views across the Lowther valley and towards Ullswater.

375 m
Height
+0
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →
375 mOutlying Fell — Around Penrith✓ summit is also a Birkett+0 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 375 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 18° to 15°C, gusts to 38 mph, 0.3 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌦️
18° / 15°
💨 38 mph
🌧 0.3 mm (98%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
19° / 14°
💨 30 mph
🌧 2.3 mm (98%)
Thu 30 Jul
☁️
17° / 8°
💨 28 mph
🌧 0.1 mm (63%)
Fri 31 Jul
☁️
17° / 4°
💨 25 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (82%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
16° / 4°
💨 11 mph
🌧 6.3 mm (31%)
Sun 2 Aug
🌤️
18° / 5°
💨 18 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (25%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
18° / 8°
💨 12 mph
🌧 0.2 mm (24%)

Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 375 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.

About the walk

Key information

Heughscar Hill

Heughscar Hill at 279m (915ft) is a small, heathery fell above Askham near Ullswater, its open top giving views across the Lowther valley and towards Ullswater. Wainwright included it in his Outlying Fells guide as part of the Around Penrith group. A gentle, easy walk with views of Ullswater and the Eastern Fells on the horizon. Part of the pleasant fell country between Penrith and Ullswater.

Routes up Heughscar Hill

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

Classifications & hill data
Outlying Fell
Around Penrith
Birkett
Synge
375 m
Height
1,230 ft
In feet
NY 4880 2316
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Pooley Bridge (paid), about 2.2 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Heughscar Hill (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 Heughscar Hill

11.68 km · ~436 m ascent · loop · ~3–4 h
Summits: Heughscar HillArthur's Pike

⬇️ Download GPX

Full route guide ↗

✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.

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

Best parking to hike Heughscar Hill

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

Pooley Bridge (paid) — 2.2 km from summit (straight line)
For Heughscar Hill, Dunmallard Hill, Arthur's Pike and the Roman road onto High Street's north end.
Directions (opens in new tab)
Martindale, St Peter's church (free, limited) — 6.7 km from summit (straight line)
Quiet side of Ullswater — Hallin Fell, Steel Knotts, Beda Fell, Pikeawassa.
Directions (opens in new tab)

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

💧 Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is usually a tap or public supply, but never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock or a carcass upstream and leave you seriously ill. Run it through a filter or purifier (a LifeStraw, Sawyer Squeeze or HydraPak) or bring it to a rolling boil first.

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

Buses to Heughscar Hill from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Stagecoach 508 “Ullswater Bus”
Penrith – Pooley Bridge – Aira Force – Glenridding – Patterdale (summer services continue over Kirkstone Pass to Troutbeck and Windermere)
Catch it from: Penrith · Windermere (summer only)
The key route from Penrith for the Eastern and Far Eastern fells: Helvellyn from Glenridding, Place Fell, the Hartsop fells. The summer Kirkstone extension drops you at the pass for Red Screes and Caudale Moor.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Maps & guidebooks for Heughscar Hill

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases — at no extra cost to you. How affiliate links work →