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735 m · Birkett — Northern (not a Wainwright summit) · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Birkett — Northern (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

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.

735 m
Height
+7
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →
735 mBirkett — Northern (not a Wainwright summit)+7 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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 (Tue 28 Jul): 14° to 13°C, gusts to 34 mph, 5.6 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌦️
14° / 13°
💨 34 mph
🌧 5.6 mm (77%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
13° / 10°
💨 25 mph
🌧 12.6 mm (79%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌧️
12° / 5°
💨 31 mph
🌧 1.8 mm (76%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
14° / 1°
💨 24 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (69%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
13° / 2°
💨 15 mph
🌧 2.7 mm (63%)
Sun 2 Aug
☁️
14° / 2°
💨 17 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (25%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
14° / 5°
💨 16 mph
🌧 0.4 mm (20%)

Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 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.

About the walk

Key information

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. Most Skiddaw walkers pass through it without registering it as a separate summit. The views back to Keswick, Derwent Water and Bassenthwaite Lake from Jenkin Hill are excellent.

🗒️ My 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
Birkett
Synge
735 m
Height
2,411 ft
In feet
NY 2743 2746
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Gale Road / Latrigg top (free), about 2.3 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.

0.6 km WSkiddaw Lesser Man824 m · Northern
1.2 km NSale How666 m · Northern
1.8 km NWSkiddaw South Top926 m · Northern
1.9 km NWSkiddaw Middle Top929 m · Northern
2.4 km NHare Crag538 m · Northern
2.7 km NNWBroad End832 m · Northern

Routes over Jenkin Hill

19.25 km · ~1116 m ascent · loop · ~5.5–7.5 h

⬇️ Download GPX

Full route guide ↗

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

12.01 km · ~799 m ascent · loop · ~3.5–5 h

⬇️ Download GPX

Full route guide ↗

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

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).

Gale Road / Latrigg top (free) — 2.3 km from summit (straight line)
Free car park at the road end behind Latrigg — shortest way up Skiddaw via Jenkin Hill.
Directions (opens in new tab)
Dodd Wood (paid) — 4.0 km from summit (straight line)
Forestry car park for Dodd, Carl Side and the Ullock Pike ridge onto Skiddaw.
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

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

Buses to Jenkin Hill from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

No regular bus serves the start points for this fell — this is one for the car (or a long approach from the nearest served valley). The nearest hubs are Penrith (X4/X5 & 508), Ambleside and Windermere (555, 505, 516).

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

My hikes over Jenkin Hill (Strava)

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.

Maps & guidebooks for Jenkin Hill

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