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Lonscale Pike - a wide panorama of rolling green fells and deep valleys, hazy lakes and lowlands in the distance

Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top)

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703 mBirkett — Northern (not a Wainwright summit)+6 bonus Birketts within 3 km

Lonscale Pike at 703m (2,306ft) is a dramatic Birkett top on the eastern spur of Lonscale Fell above Skiddaw Forest, its sharp rocky summit giving fine views across the Glenderaterra valley towards Blencathra and south to the Central Fells.

Summit conditions on Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top)

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 10° to 5°C, gusts to 58 mph, 15.0 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

The forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Routes up Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top)

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

19.25 km · ~1118 m ascent · ~5½–7¾ h · loop · 10 summits
Hard effort Hard: distance, steepness and terrain
Park: Latrigg car park (free) · Bus: 554, 2.5 km walk from Keswick, opposite The Pheasant

Skiddaw the long way, taking in Lonscale Fell and Bakestall: 19.3 km and 1,118 m, with a pull averaging 22% from Lesser Man onto Little Man and loose slate underfoot high up.

Distance and climb are measured from the route’s GPX track, and the time from them by Naismith’s rule; the route page says what each grade rests on. How we check →

How hard is Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top)?

The shortest way up we hold is Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! — 19.25 km, 1118 m of ascent, ~5½–7¾ h. On our scale its hardest axes are distance, steepness and terrain — Hard.

All axes: length: Hard · steepness: Hard · terrain: Hard · navigation: Moderate · exposure: Easy.

These are the route page’s grades, set by the rules on how we grade: length and steepness measured from its GPX track, the others set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap. The route page says which. How we check →

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 703 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast
Tue 27 Oct
10° / 5°
58 mph
15.0 mm (100%)
Wed 28 Oct
8° / 5°
40 mph
9.1 mm (100%)
Thu 29 Oct
9° / 6°
24 mph
2.1 mm (10%)
Fri 30 Oct
8° / 6°
22 mph
0.0 mm (6%)
Sat 31 Oct
8° / 2°
8 mph
0.0 mm (13%)
Sun 1 Nov
7° / -1°
14 mph
2.1 mm (4%)
Mon 2 Nov
5° / -3°
6 mph
0.0 mm (0%)

Taken 27 October 2026, 20:59 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Parking & buses for Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top)

Parking

Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.

Latrigg car park — 0.1 km from the start of Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! (straight line)
Free car park at the top of Gale Road behind Latrigg — the shortest way up Skiddaw via Jenkin Hill, and 0.7 km from Latrigg itself. Gale Road runs a long way down and people park in random spots along it; this pin is the very top. Lee has confirmed in person. Three of our routes start within 70 m of the pin: 'Latrigg', 'Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun!' and 'Up to Skiddaw Round Trip'.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
If it is full: Latrigg (verge) (2.5 km, 270 m up); Keswick, Crosthwaite Road (paid) (2.8 km, 289 m up); Keswick, Otley Road (paid) (3.0 km, 303 m up)
Knowe Crags, south-west (layby) — 2.1 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Knowe Crags (Blease Fell) (1.7 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Latrigg, north-west car park — 2.4 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Latrigg (1.2 km), Jenkin Hill (1.8 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (1.9 km). Fee not verified — check signage on arrival.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
2 more places to park near Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top)
Underscar (paid) — 2.5 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Latrigg (1.3 km), Jenkin Hill (1.8 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (1.9 km).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Latrigg (layby) — 2.8 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Latrigg (1.7 km). Free (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?

Positions are approximate.

Vehicles are left at their owner’s risk: we list places people park and cannot vouch for any of them. Take valuables with you and leave nothing on show.

Buses

The 553, 554, X4 and X5 stop at Keswick, opposite The Pheasant. From there it is 2.5 km and 300 m of ascent to the start of Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! — a route we rate Hard overall (hardest: distance, steepness and terrain) — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 24.3 km in all, with the walk. As timetabled from 27 October to 1 November. Towards Keswick (554): Tuesday to Friday 17:49; Saturday 20:19; Sunday 17:50. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 8 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

Stagecoach 554
Carlisle to Keswick via Dalston, Thursby, Wigton, Bothel and Bewaldeth, then the west shore of Bassenthwaite Lake (Castle Inn, High Side, Ravenstone, Osprey View Point) and the Portinscale road ends
Catch it from: Keswick · Carlisle
Seven days a week on the current timetable: eight journeys each way Monday to Friday and on Sundays, ten on Saturdays, run by Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire. The Carlisle side's way into the Northern fells without a car - Castle Inn and the Village turn for Binsey and the Uldale fells (Brae Fell, Little Sca Fell, Meal Fell), the Bassenthwaite Lake stops for Skiddaw, Dodd, Carl Side and Long Side, High Side Farm for Bakestall, The Pheasant for Latrigg and Lonscale Fell. Every stop's times are on this site's 554 page under Buses; last buses home are shown only where we have checked them.

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

Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat

Hazards on Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top)

Notes from the Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! route

If you need to get off (the leg from Lonscale Fell): Return to the main summit and descend back to the start.

Quoted from the route page: the note for the leg that reaches Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top).

We have not written a hazard card for this fell yet, and that is not a sign that it is low-hazard. Read the warnings on the route pages that climb it, check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected. The National Park Authority’s What to pack page, AdventureSmart’s hill walking kit list and Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s safety page are linked from our what to carry guide.

If you need Mountain Rescue

Dial 999 or 112 and ask for the Police, then Mountain Rescue.

Before you call, have ready: where you are (a grid reference if you can – the OS Locate app shows yours on your phone), what has happened, how many of you there are, and your mobile number.

Then stay where you are until the rescue team contacts you.

If you cannot make a voice call because of a hearing or speech impairment, emergency SMS works only if you have registered first: text “register” to 999.

From Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s guidance on calling them out (opens in new tab) (read 26 October 2026).

Map, GPX and nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).

Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.

Birketts within 3 km of Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top)

These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.

1.5 km WJenkin Hill735 m · Northern
1.8 km NWSale How666 m · Northern
2.0 km WSkiddaw Lesser Man824 m · Northern
2.3 km EKnowe Crags (Blease Fell)805 m · Northern
2.8 km NNWHare Crag538 m · Northern
2.9 km EGategill Fell Top852 m · Northern

Routes over Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top)

19.25 km · ~1118 m ascent · loop · ~5½–7¾ h
Hard effort Hard: distance, steepness and terrain

Download GPX Walked by Lee, June 2025

Warnings: Lonscale Fell: The east face is a long line of crags falling steeply to Glenderaterra, and Lonscale Pike sits right on the edge. Keep well back from the eastern rim, especially in wind or cloud, and take care if visiting the airy east top.

From the hazard notes for Lonscale Fell, each with its sources.

Route guide: Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! →

Every line here is a guide, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate for yourself and carry a map and compass. How to use this guide.

On the hill: terrain and water on Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top)

Water & shelter on the way up

On the Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Lesser Man, Skiddaw and Bakestall in the sun! route:

shelter (opens in new tab) (weather shelter, mapped, not checked; 8 m off the line)

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

About Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top)

Lonscale Pike - a wide panorama of rolling green fells and deep valleys, hazy lakes and lowlands in the distance
© Lee McCoy

Part of the Skiddaw massif, easily combined with Skiddaw on a longer day. The views of Blencathra from this angle are particularly striking.

My Strava hikes over Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top)

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Data from Strava.

Classifications & hill data

Is Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top) a Wainwright?

Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top) is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and the Synge list.

Selected lists

703 m
Height
2,306 ft
In feet
NY 2888 2729
Grid ref

This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.

Lists, height and summit position from the Database of British and Irish Hills; the feet are converted from its metres and the grid reference from that position. How we check →

Places to stay near this fell

From Underscar: 10 places in Keswick

Other fells near Lonscale Pike (Lonscale Fell East Top)