The Knight
The Knight at 552m (1,811ft) is a Birkett top 0.7 km north of Place Fell's summit, above the south-east shore of Ullswater, its summit giving views across the lake towards the Helvellyn range. Birk Fell is 0.6 km to the north-north-west.
Summit conditions on The Knight
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 6°C, gusts to 53 mph, 21.2 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.
The forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →
Routes up The Knight
Choose the way up before the car park: these two routes start from two places, and the last two rows give the parking and bus at each route’s own start. Full maps further down.
| Compared | Place Fell and The Knight | Birketts to the South of Ullswater |
|---|---|---|
| Starts from | Patterdale | St Peter's Church, Howtown (The Hause) |
| Distance and climb | 7.28 km, 547 m of climb | 11.53 km, 790 m of climb |
| Time, fast to steady | ~2¼–3¼ h | ~3½–5 h |
| Scrambling | Hands for a few steps: the last push from Boredale Hause to Place Fell's top (about km 3.2). | Hands for a few steps: rocky steps between Low Birk Fell and Birk Fell (km 4.4–6.0). |
| Exposure | Not assessed | Not assessed |
| Navigation | Moderate | Hard |
| Steepest stretch | Descent of about 35% at 4.8 km (Hard) | Climb of about 31% at 1.7 km (Hard) |
| After the summit | No further tops | Over High Dodd |
| Walked or planned | Planned: drawn, not yet walked | Planned: drawn, not yet walked |
| Car park at the start | Patterdale Hotel Car Park (Patterdale Hotel, paid) | unnamed car park south-east of Hallin Fell (free) |
| Bus to the start | 508 at the start | UB1, 550 m walk from Martindale Cattle Grid (near). Seasonal: the UB1 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day. |
Times run from fast to steady pace (Naismith’s rule). Scrambling quotes each route’s own notes; “not mentioned” means they do not say, not that the ground has none. Each route’s page has its map, stages and GPX.
Distance, climb and the steepest stretch are measured from each route’s GPX track; the other grades are set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap, and each route page says which. How we check →
How hard is The Knight?
The shortest way up we hold is Place Fell and The Knight — 7.28 km, 547 m of ascent, ~2¼–3¼ h. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Hard.
All axes: steepness: Hard · navigation: Moderate · length: Easy · terrain: Not assessed · exposure: Not assessed.
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 552 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 27 October 2026, 08:13 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for The Knight
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
3 more places to park near The Knight
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 508 and 509 stop at Patterdale Hotel (opposite), a 110 m walk from the start of Place Fell and The Knight — a route we rate Hard overall (hardest: steepness). 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; that timetable runs to 1 November 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
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 The Knight
Notes from a planned route, not walked: Birketts to the South of Ullswater
If you need to get off (the leg from Birk Fell): There are no immediate lateral escapes from the center of this plateau. You must either push forward towards High Dodd or fall back to the known ground of Birk Fell.
Quoted from the route page of a planned route, drawn from the map and not yet walked: the note for the leg that reaches The Knight.
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
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.
Birketts within 3 km of The Knight
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
Routes over The Knight
Quiet tops above the southern shore. The walk starts and finishes at St Peter's Church, Howtown (The Hause), where parking is limited. The Ullswater Steamer to Howtown is the other way in, and takes one more car off the eastern-shore lane: from the pier to the start is about 1.2 km with 105 m of climbing, and the round comes back to the same place, so plan a return sailing from Howtown. (Seasonal timetable; checked 4 Aug 2026.)
Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked
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. We have not measured that line, so its distance and time are not given here: the figures on this page are for the loop from Patterdale. Sail first and walk back, so a slow descent can’t become a missed boat. (Seasonal timetable; checked 4 Aug 2026.)
Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked
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 The Knight
Terrain & access
A near-path top (about 552 m): a mapped path comes within about 79 m of the summit. We have not checked a way from it to the top: the figures here are measured along a straight line on a terrain model, not a route. That line climbs about 10 m. The summit is on CRoW open access land.
Computed from open data, not walked — pathless ground needs confident navigation, and mapped paths, barriers and access boundaries can be incomplete. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass); Natural England CRoW Access Land; DoBIH v18.4 (CC BY 4.0); Copernicus GLO-30. CRoW access layer: © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 144 fells.
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Birketts to the South of Ullswater route:
On the Place Fell and The Knight route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
About The Knight
Classifications & hill data
Is The Knight a Wainwright?
The Knight is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and the Synge list.
Selected lists
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 the Howtown (Ullswater); St Peter's Church, Howtown (The Hause) start
- Low Gale (opens in new tab) self-cateringabout 0.9 km
- Howtown Cottages (opens in new tab) self-cateringabout 0.8 km
Other places nearby
- Greenbank Farm Bed and Breakfast (opens in new tab) guest houseabout 1.3 km
Also nearby, but not independent
- YHA Helvellyn (opens in new tab) hostelabout 3.2 km
We have not stayed at any of them. We take no bookings or affiliate fees. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).