Jenkin Hill
Jenkin Hill at 573m (1,880ft) is the broad saddle on the main tourist path to Skiddaw from Keswick, a Birkett fell giving the first wide views of the Skiddaw ridge above.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 735 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Sat 12 Sep): 13° to 6°C, gusts to 41 mph, 15.9 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 735 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Jenkin Hill at a glance
Jenkin Hill
Field notes
I don't think anyone starts their day purposefully wanting to bag Jenkin Hill, but they end up doing on their way up to Skiddaw from the Latrigg car park and as a result of bagging Lonscale Fell. There's no feature here to make a meaningful detour for. The only reason to be here is part of a bagging exercise.Routes up Jenkin Hill
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Jenkin Hill a Wainwright?
Jenkin Hill is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and the Synge list.
Where do you park for Jenkin Hill?
The nearest car park we hold is Latrigg, north-west car park, about 1.8 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Underscar (paid), 1.8 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 Jenkin Hill?
The shortest way up we hold is Up to Skiddaw Round Trip — 12 km, 799 m of ascent, about 3.7 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Hard.
All axes: steepness: Hard · navigation: Moderate · exposure: Moderate · length: Moderate · terrain: Moderate.
My hikes over Jenkin Hill (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! (opens in new tab) — 19.2 km · 980 m ascent · 4h 56m moving · 29 Jun 2025
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Jenkin Hill
Best parking to hike Jenkin Hill
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 Jenkin Hill by bus
The 509 stops at Keswick, at Latrigg Close. From there it is 2.6 km and 330 m of ascent to the start of Up to Skiddaw Round Trip — a walk in before the walk. Last bus: Monday to Friday 21:15 towards Keswick (555); Saturday 21:15 towards Keswick (555); Sunday 19:06 towards Keswick (555). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 8 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 Jenkin Hill
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: Latrigg, north-west car park, about 1.8 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Jenkin Hill (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.
Routes over Jenkin Hill
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 Jenkin Hill
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! route:
On the Up to Skiddaw Round Trip route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
Places to stay near this fell
From Underscar: 10 places in Keswick