Rannerdale Knotts
Rannerdale Knotts at 355m (1,165ft) is a small, delightful ridge of rocky knolls above Crummock Water, giving some of the finest views of the lake from any fell in the North Western Fells.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 355 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 17° to 15°C, gusts to 32 mph, 2.3 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 355 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
Rannerdale Knotts
- How long
- ~1.5–2 h
- Height
- 355 m (1,165 ft)
Routes up Rannerdale Knotts
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Buttermere village (NT, paid), about 1.4 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Rannerdale Knotts (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 Rannerdale Knotts
✎️ If you only do one round in the North Western Fells, this is it. Grasmoor is a bigger, wilder mountain than its modest reputation suggests, and the ridge from Whiteside over Gasgale Crags to Hopegill Head is as good as ridge walking gets outside the Langdales. Whiteless Pike at the end is a perfect little peak — and a punishing descent.
✎️ 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.
The View from Rannerdale Knotts
A computed 360° skyline — every visible named top labelled by distance and bearing, from the terrain model in perfect clarity, not photographed. Drag to pan; reveal the far four-nations horizon.
What you can see from Rannerdale Knotts, by direction
- North: Grasmoor (2 km)
- North-east: Lad Hows (1 km), Whiteless Pike (2 km), Thirdgill Head Man (2 km)
- East: Robinson (4 km)
- South-east: High Snockrigg (2 km), Fleetwith Pike (6 km), Haystacks (6 km), Honister Crag (6 km), Grey Knotts (8 km), Brandreth (8 km), Kirk Fell East Top (8 km), Green Gable (9 km), Great Gable (9 km), Combe Head (11 km), Great End (12 km), Broad Crag (12 km), Ill Crag (12 km)
- South: Dodd (2 km), Red Pike (3 km), High Stile (3 km), High Stile (4 km), High Crag (4 km)
- South-west: Starling Dodd (4 km), Great Borne (5 km)
- West: Scale Knott (2 km), Mellbreak (2 km), Hen Comb (4 km), Floutern Cop (5 km), Banna Fell (5 km)
- North-west: Mellbreak North Top (3 km), Loweswater Fell (5 km), Low Fell (5 km), Darling Fell (6 km), Sourfoot Fell (6 km), Fellbarrow (7 km), Hatteringill Head (7 km), Criffel (48 km), Bengairn (54 km), Bengray (68 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Merrick (100 km, Scotland), Cairnsmore of Fleet (83 km, Scotland), Corserine (96 km, Scotland), Lamachan Hill (94 km, Scotland), Green Lowther (98 km, Scotland), Queensberry (83 km, Scotland), Cairn Table (115 km, Scotland), Cairnsmore [Black Craig of Dee] (82 km, Scotland).
Computed from terrain in perfect clarity, not photographed · distances are straight-line.
Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.
Rannerdale Knotts is one of our picked Lake District viewpoints — what you can see from it, when the light is best, and where to park.
What you can see from Rannerdale Knotts
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Scotland.
- Merrick Scotland
- Criffel Scotland
All 18 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Whiteless Pike, Mellbreak (Mellbreak South Top), Grasmoor, Red Pike (Buttermere), High Stile, Starling Dodd, Robinson, High Crag (Buttermere), Great Borne, Low Fell, Fleetwith Pike, Haystacks (Buttermere), Fellbarrow - Mosser Fell, Grey Knotts, Brandreth, Green Gable, Great Gable, Great End
How Rannerdale Knotts’s view compares with all 214 — the View Report: every Wainwright ranked by what you can see from the top.
Sightlines from a bare-earth terrain model (forests and buildings not included), corrected for the Earth’s curvature and average atmospheric refraction. “Distant” sightlines and any over 100 km depend on exceptionally clear air. Modelled from Copernicus GLO-30 open elevation data — a guide to the view, not a guarantee of any single one.
Best parking to hike Rannerdale Knotts
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.
Water & shelter on the way up
On the The Grasmoor round: Whiteside, Hopegill Head and Whiteless Pike route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
Buses to Rannerdale Knotts from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Hazard & Incident Information for Rannerdale Knotts
One of the lowest fells in the Lakes at 355 m, and a popular short outing above Crummock Water — but craggier than its modest height suggests. It's a steep-sided little ridge of rocky knolls that ends abruptly in a wall of crag and scree dropping to the lake, and the routes thread among those crags. Easy access and fame for its bluebells bring many casual walkers onto genuinely steep ground. Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team covers this fell.
- The craggy north-west end above Crummock: The ridge ends suddenly in a wall of crag and scree falling steeply to the valley by Crummock Water. Keep back from the abrupt end and the edges among the summit knolls, especially in wind or cloud — it's a small fell with a real drop.
- The summit gully vs the zigzag: At the rocky summit crags the path forks: straight on is a steeper rocky gully between the crags, while keeping right gives a gentler zigzag. Take the easier line if you're unsure of steep, rocky ground, and don't push into the gully when wet.
- Rough, steep descent & casual walkers: Descents drop through the crags on rough, steep, partly stone-pitched paths. With many first-time and family walkers drawn here, wear proper footwear, take the steep sections carefully, and keep children back from the crag edges.
Most common causes: Walkers straying onto or over the craggy north-west end above Crummock · Slips in the steeper summit gully or on the rough, steep descent · Casual visitors underestimating a low but craggy fell · Winter ice on the rocky knolls and steep paths
Local Mountain Rescue: Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team (opens in new tab) · Reviewed 14 Jun 2026
Safety: Hazard guidance compiled from published Mountain Rescue reports and well-documented accident history - editorial background, not a live feed of callouts. Always check current conditions, carry proper navigation equipment, and seek qualified instruction before heading onto the fells. In an emergency, call 999, ask for Police, then Mountain Rescue.
Navigating Rannerdale Knotts in cloud
StraightforwardA broad, gently-sloping top with little to steer by — easy to lose your bearings and hard to relocate in mist. Navigation here is relatively straightforward even in cloud — but carry map and compass and know how to use them; a low score never means “safe”.
In winter — snow, whiteout, cornices, buried features — every top demands full winter navigation skills whatever its band, and a broad, gentle summit can be the worst place of all. See walking in bad weather and the navigation guide.
How Rannerdale Knotts compares with all 214 — the Clag Index: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.
Frequently asked questions about Rannerdale Knotts
Is Rannerdale Knotts an easy walk?
Easy to moderate — at 355 m (1,165 ft) it's one of the smallest Wainwrights, climbed in about an hour. The paths are good and nothing is sustained, but the direct ridge has a brief rocky step or two where you'll use a hand for balance — momentary, not a scramble in any real sense.
If you'd rather avoid even that, the gentler line up Rannerdale itself (the valley behind) reaches the ridge with no rocky ground.
How long does Rannerdale Knotts take?
About 1–1.5 hours up and down from the Crummock Water laybys, or 2–2.5 hours as a circuit over the top and back through the Rannerdale valley — a lovely short round.
Where do you park for Rannerdale Knotts?
The roadside parking at Cinderdale Common, on the Crummock Water road just below the fell, is the usual start (note the Crummock-side parking is not National Trust). The National Trust car park at Buttermere village (pay and display, just outside the village towards Cockermouth) works for a longer approach along the lake shore — the NT's own Buttermere-to-Rannerdale trail starts there.
Be warned: in bluebell season (late April–May) the Cinderdale parking fills very early — arrive first thing or start from Buttermere.
When are the bluebells out at Rannerdale?
Typically from late April to mid-May, varying a week or two either way with the spring weather. The display is in the Rannerdale valley itself — the hidden valley behind the Knotts — not on the summit path, and it's unusual for growing in open fellside rather than woodland.
Please keep to the paths: the flowers are fragile, the display has been damaged by trampling in busy years, and the National Trust asks visitors not to walk or sit among the flowers for photographs.
Sources: National Trust — Buttermere Valley (opens in new tab)
Is Rannerdale Knotts a Wainwright, and where is it?
Yes — one of the smallest in the book. It's the little rocky ridge on the north-eastern shore of Crummock Water, between Buttermere village and the Lanthwaite end of the lake, with Grasmoor rising steeply behind it. Small fell, front-row view.
Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-07-19 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)
Other fells near Rannerdale Knotts
- Ard Crags
- Barf
- Barrow
- Broom Fell
- Castle Crag
- Cat Bells (Catbells)
- Causey Pike
- Crag Hill (Eel Crag)
- Dale Head
- Grasmoor
- Graystones (Graystones North Top)
- Grisedale Pike
- High Spy
- Hindscarth
- Hopegill Head
- Knott Rigg
- Ling Fell
- Lord's Seat
- Maiden Moor
- Outerside
- Robinson
- Sail
- Sale Fell
- Scar Crags
- Wandope
- Whinlatter (Brown How - Whinlatter)
- Whiteless Pike
- Whiteside (Whiteside West Top)
Maps & guidebooks for Rannerdale Knotts
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