The short answers
Is The Knight a Wainwright?
The Knight is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and the Synge list.
Where do you park for The Knight?
The nearest car park we hold is Ullswater Steamers Glenridding Pier car park (paid), about 1.6 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Stybarrow Crag layby (free), 1.7 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 The Knight?
The shortest way up we hold is Place Fell and The Knight — 7.1 km, 514 m of ascent, about 2.3 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.
All axes: steepness: Severe · exposure: Hard · navigation: Moderate · terrain: Moderate · length: Easy.
Parking & buses for The Knight
Best parking to hike The Knight
Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).
Ullswater Steamers Glenridding Pier car park (paid) — 1.6 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Glenridding Dodd, Heron Pike (Glenridding), Sheffield Pike and Catstye Cam — the 'Glenridding Dodd, Sheffield Pike, Catstye Cam, Birkhouse Moor' route starts 373 m away. Also serves 'Helvellyn via Striding Edge & Swirral Edge'. Fees: Pay-and-display; contactless card/cash machine in the main car park near the pier house entrance ('just at the bottom of the ramp'). Tariff amounts not published on the operator's site. Car parking charges apply while using the EV charger.
Directions ↗ (opens in new tab)Something changed here?Glencoyne Bay (NT, paid) — 1.7 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Glenridding Dodd (0.8 km), Heron Pike (Glenridding) (1.4 km), Birk Fell (Bleaberry Knott - Birk Fell) (1.6 km). Fees: £6 for 2 hours; £8 for 4 hours; £9.50 all day. Free for NT members (checked Aug 2026).
Directions ↗ (opens in new tab)Something changed here?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 The Knight by bus
The 508 stops at Patterdale Hotel (opp), 110 m from the start of Place Fell and The Knight. The last bus is 19:46 towards Windermere (508) and 15:09 towards Hartsop (509), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
Stagecoach 508 “Ullswater Bus”
Penrith – Pooley Bridge – Aira Force – Glenridding – Patterdale (summer services continue over Kirkstone Pass to Troutbeck and Windermere)
Catch it from: Penrith · Windermere (summer only)
The key route from Penrith for the Eastern and Far Eastern fells: Helvellyn from Glenridding, Place Fell, the Hartsop fells. The summer Kirkstone extension drops you at the pass for Red Screes and Caudale Moor.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip map
Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Ullswater Steamers Glenridding Pier car park (paid), about 1.6 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near The Knight (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 The Knight
11.53 km · ~663 m ascent · loop · ~3–4.5 h
✎️ Quiet tops with an access problem — this stretch of the Sandwick shore has next to no parking. The Ullswater Steamer to Howtown is the honest way in, and takes one more car off the eastern-shore lane. Sail out, walk back. (Seasonal timetable; checked 4 Aug 2026.)
⬇️ Download GPX
Full route guide ↗
✎️ 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. How to use this guide.
7.12 km · ~514 m ascent · loop · ~2–3 h
✎️ Much better as a one-way day than an out-and-back: take the Ullswater Steamer from Glenridding to Howtown and walk back over the top, with Ullswater below you the whole way. Same fell, twice the walk. Sail first and walk back, so a slow descent can’t become a missed boat. (Seasonal timetable; checked 4 Aug 2026.)
⬇️ Download GPX
Full route guide ↗
✎️ 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. How to use this guide.
Places to stay near this fell
From the Howtown (Ullswater); St Peter's Church, Howtown (The Hause) start
about 0.9 km from the start, in a straight line
The most complete answer in the cluster and the one physically tied to these routes: it sleeps 7 in four bedrooms, has a cot, off-road parking, drying facilities, its own washing machine, is dog friendly, is single storey, and prepared meals can be had from the owners' hotel kitchen without getting back in the car. It also states its minimum stay, which nothing else at Howtown does.
The cottage stands right beside Fusedale Beck - the beck the Fusedale Circuit follows out of Howtown - and the steamer jetty is reachable on foot without a car.
- Dogs “Low Gale Ullswater is an elevated single storey, dog friendly holiday cottage located just beside Fusedale Beck and can easily accomodate 7 people.”
- Family rooms “2 bathrooms 1 double bedroom 2 twin rooms 1 single room Ample storage and drying facilites”
- Parking “Free Superfast Broadband Dog friendly Off road parking Smoke-free Garden / Patios Cot available Dishwasher *Washing Machine”
- Children “Free Superfast Broadband Dog friendly Off road parking Smoke-free Garden / Patios Cot available Dishwasher *Washing Machine”
about 0.8 km from the start, in a straight line
Four cottages 200 yards from the lake and under a kilometre from the start, every one of them dog friendly with parking, a cot and drying facilities. Cottage No4 is the one to ask for with a bad knee or a buggy: it puts a shower room AND a triple room on the ground floor, which nothing else at Howtown does.
There is no booking engine. You email David at the Howtown Hotel, and he confirms the cottage and the dates himself.
- Dogs “Competitively priced, warm, cosy, functional and comfortable holiday homes for 4 to 7 visitors + dogs, 200yds from Ullswater”
- Family rooms “Howtown Cottage No 4: Sleeps seven people with one double and one twin on the first floor and a triple room on the ground flo or.”
- Parking “Facilities: Howtown Cottage No1 Free Superfast Broadband Dog friendly Parking Smoke-free Garden / Patios”
- Children “1 Shower room on ground floor 1 bathroom 1 double bedroom 1 twin room 1 triple room on ground floor Dishwasher Cot available”
Other places nearby
about 1.3 km from the start, in a straight line
The only property in the whole radius that prices a packed lunch and an evening meal on its own page - Packed Lunches £6.00, Evening Meals From £14.00 - alongside a family room for three and drying facilities. A family walking St Sunday Crag can be fed before it leaves and fed again when it gets back without moving the car.
A working sheep farm sitting below Arnison Crag, looking across at Place Fell and Angletarn Pikes - the two things a guest walks up next. The guest dining/sitting room has a log burner and there is one shared bathroom.
- Drying room “We also have drying facilities and a large patio and garden to enjoy the view.”
- Family rooms “Family: Room for three with a double and one single bed.”
- Evening meal “We offer hearty home-cooked breakfasts and evening meals as well as packed lunches if required.”
- Packed lunch “Packed Lunches £6.00”
- Children “Family: Room for three with a double and one single bed.”
about 3.2 km from the start, in a straight line
The only bed in this cluster that is already up the hill - 963 ft up the Greenside road - with a shared drying room, free parking on site and meals served in the building. Two things will decide it for a family: dogs cannot come at all unless you are in the Camping & Cabins or have hired the whole hostel, and reception is shut from 10:00 until 17:00, so an early arrival cannot check in.
Worth knowing: “Dogs: Pets are not permitted at YHA Helvellyn, except in our Camping & Cabins accommodation or when hiring the whole hostel through YHA Exclusive Hire. Assistance dogs are welcome - please notify us at the time of booking.”
It began life as accommodation for the lead miners at Greenside, opened to hostellers as "Glenridding", took men only in 1947 and admitted women the year after; mine debris still lies around the building.
- Drying room “Free parking on premises Games Group meals Intermittent mobile coverage Licensed bar Minibus parking on premises Mountain view Restaurant Shared drying room Unlimited breakfast Water refill station WiFi”
- Family rooms “Private room is offered here”
- Evening meal “With tasty breakfasts, packed lunches and evening meals, groups are sure to find something delicious to eat at YHA Helvellyn (see sample menu ).”
- Packed lunch “With tasty breakfasts, packed lunches and evening meals, groups are sure to find something delicious to eat at YHA Helvellyn (see sample menu ).”
- Parking “Free parking on premises”
- Children “Under 12s are not permitted in dorm rooms. Children under 3 can stay with us for free.”
about 0.5 km from the start, in a straight line
This is the nearest hostel bed to the start, 460 m away, and the row exists to carry the one thing the cache actually proves about it: YHA's own pet rule bars a dog from both dorms and private rooms, so the private-room workaround for the under-12 dorm rule does not solve a dog. No Patterdale-specific facility is claimed here, because the capture contains none.
Worth knowing: “Pets - including dogs - are not permitted in our hostels when staying in a dorm or a private room. This is a consideration of other guests who may be allergic as well as the logistics of pets staying.”
- Children “People of all ages are welcome at YHA. Guests aged under 16 must be accompanied by an adult aged 18 years or older.”