Slight Side Hiking Guide & Routes

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762 mWainwright — Southern Fells✓ summit is also a Birkett+13 bonus Birketts within 3 km

📖 Key Information

Slight Side at 762m (2,500ft) forms the south-western shoulder of Scafell, a long, grassy ridge that extends the fell's bulk towards the Eskdale valley. Wainwright described it as the finest approach to Scafell from Eskdale — the long ridge walk from Boot via Catcove Beck offers superb views of the upper Esk and the whole southern arc of the Lake District fells. The summit itself is a small cairn on a broad ridge with commanding views towards the sea and across Eskdale. Rarely visited in its own right, it is best appreciated as part of the Scafell ascent from the south, one of Lakeland's quieter mountain routes.

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.

0.8 km SEHigh Scarth487 m · Southern

1.6 km SWGreat How - Eskdale Fell522 m · Western

1.6 km EScar Lathing439 m · Southern

1.6 km SESilverybield Crag395 m · Southern

1.8 km ESEThrostlehow Crag404 m · Southern

2.1 km NNEPen762 m · Southern

2.1 km SWEskdale Fell - Whinscales425 m · Western

2.1 km ENEHigh Gait Crags572 m · Southern

2.4 km SSWDawsonground Crags397 m · Southern

2.7 km NNEBroad Crag935 m · Southern

2.7 km NNEIll Crag931 m · Southern

2.9 km SSWWhin Crag (Eskdale)358 m · Southern

2.9 km SEYew Bank499 m · Southern

⚠️ Hazard & Incident Information

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🦶 My hikes over Slight Side (Strava)

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🅿️ Potential parking

Hardknott Pass (roadside pull-ins) — 3.7 km from summit (straight line)

Limited pull-ins near the pass summit for Hard Knott and Harter Fell. Don't block passing places.

Directions ↗

Dalegarth Station, Eskdale (paid) — 5.8 km from summit (straight line)

Pay & display at the La'al Ratty terminus — Eskdale fells, Harter Fell, Green Crag.

Directions ↗

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

🚌 Buses from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway (“La'al Ratty”)

Ravenglass (Cumbrian Coast main line) – Eskdale Green – Dalegarth for Boot

Catch it from: Connects from the Cumbrian Coast line (not from Penrith/Ambleside/Windermere directly)

Not a bus, but the only public transport into Eskdale. Wasdale has no public transport at all — car (or a long walk in) is the realistic option for the Wasdale fells.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

🌦️ 7-day summit forecast

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Open Slight Side in the interactive explorer ↗

⛰️ Slight Side