⛰️ High Pike (Scandale)

657 m · Wainwright — Eastern Fells · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

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657 mWainwright — Eastern Fells✓ summit is also a Birkett+1 bonus Birkett within 3 km

📖 Key Information

High Pike at 656m (2,152ft), above Scandale, is a broad grassy summit at the southern end of the ridge above Ambleside giving wide views south across Windermere and north to the Fairfield group. Wainwright included it as the southernmost of the Eastern Fells, noting its pleasant, open summit and good views across the Ambleside valley. The ascent from Ambleside via Scandale is a steady climb through typical fell country. Often overlooked in favour of the more dramatic Eastern Fells, it rewards the unhurried walker with fine views of the southern Lake District.

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

🎯 Bonus Birketts within 3 km

These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits — detour to them on this walk and they are pure profit. Distances are straight-line; allow extra for terrain.

1.7 km WHeron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)621 m · Eastern

⚠️ Hazard & Incident Information

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🦶 My hikes over High Pike (Scandale) (Strava)

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🅿️ Potential parking

Kirkstone Pass (laybys / inn) — 2.6 km from summit (straight line)
High start for Red Screes (30 min!), Caudale Moor and Middle Dodd.
Directions ↗
Pelter Bridge, Rydal (paid) — 2.9 km from summit (straight line)
For Loughrigg and the Rydal side of the Fairfield Horseshoe.
Directions ↗

Positions are approximate — zoom the map to confirm. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.

🚌 Buses 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.
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.

🌦️ 7-day summit forecast

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Other fells in this region

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