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A stone cairn on Thunacar Knott's grassy top, strewn with grey rocks, with a line of distant fells under heavy cloud.

Thunacar Knott

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723 mWainwright — Central Fells+8 bonus Birketts within 3 km Severe in cloud

Thunacar Knott at 723m (2,372ft) is the broad, grassy summit between Harrison Stickle and High Raise, often crossed without recognition on the way between the Langdale Pikes and the High Raise plateau.

Summit conditions on Thunacar Knott

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 11° to 5°C, gusts to 59 mph, 16.2 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.

Against our lines, Tuesday 27 October: wind, cold and cloud from the Met Office UKV 2 km model (daylight hours, as in the verdict above); rain from the summit line’s forecast (the whole day). A tile is large when this top is past its line.

Wind on the top

Past the line

59 mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour

The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 48 mph times our exposure factor of 1.22. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 59 mph, before any exposure factor.

The line Our line: 25 mph, where our wind Scale begins its 25–35 band: “balance affected; buffeting on exposed ground”. MWIS (opens in new tab) describes what wind does to a walker across a range rather than at a line: from about 20–25 mph it starts to affect your balance.

Estimated: it is not calibrated against summit readings, and the two forecasts can disagree by more than a band.

Rain, and the becks

Past the line

16.2 mm of rain over the whole day, midnight to midnight

The same figure as the summit line above and the 7-day forecast.

The line Our line: 6 mm in the day, where our scorer counts a day as soaking. We read rainfall, never river levels: becks in spate.

Open-Meteo’s forecast. It says nothing about rain already in the ground.

Also checked cold: feels like 1 °C, no ice or snow forecast; cloud: a clear-top reading of 20 out of 100, over our in-cloud line of 20. Under a line is not the same as fine: it means only that these figures are under the lines we use.

Not in these tiles Lightning, river levels, snow or ice already lying, and the ground under your feet. A tile cannot see them, so an empty space here never means they are absent.

Snow figures with a second opinion: Powered by Met Office data

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

Wainwrights are scored for walking conditions each morning from the Met Office’s UK forecast model, read for each summit through Open-Meteo; 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 Thunacar Knott

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

12.12 km · ~884 m ascent · ~3¾–5¼ h · loop · 8 summits
Moderate effort Severe: steepness
Park: New Dungeon Ghyll (LDNPA, paid) · Bus: 516 at the start

A grand round of the Langdale Pikes and the fells behind them.

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 Thunacar Knott?

The shortest way up we hold is Langdale Pikes Round — 12.12 km, 884 m of ascent, ~3¾–5¼ h. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.

All axes: steepness: Severe · navigation: Hard · length: Moderate · exposure: Moderate · terrain: 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 723 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast
Tue 27 Oct
11° / 5°
59 mph
16.2 mm (100%)
Wed 28 Oct
8° / 5°
42 mph
18.1 mm (100%)
Thu 29 Oct
8° / 6°
26 mph
1.1 mm (75%)
Fri 30 Oct
7° / 5°
25 mph
0.9 mm (8%)
Sat 31 Oct
6° / 3°
6 mph
3.0 mm (6%)
Sun 1 Nov
7° / 2°
14 mph
0.0 mm (2%)
Mon 2 Nov
5° / -1°
9 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 Thunacar Knott

Parking

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

New Dungeon Ghyll (LDNPA, paid) — 0.1 km from the start of Langdale Pikes Round (straight line)
Walking base for Sergeant Man, High Raise (High White Stones), Thunacar Knott and Pavey Ark — the 'Langdale Pikes Round' route starts 127 m away. Also serves 'Langdale Horseshoe'. Fees: pay and display at the machine; whether it takes cards is not published (the Authority's machine records, FOI/2026.500).
Directions (opens in new tab)When people arrive, and what it costs →Something changed here?
Public toilets (opens in new tab) (~133 m straight line) — Free
Old Dungeon Ghyll (NT, paid) — 2.0 km from summit (straight line)
Head of Great Langdale — Bowfell, Crinkle Crags, Pike o' Blisco, the Langdale Pikes. Free for NT members (checked August 2026).
Typically full before 10:00 on fine weekends, Apr-Oct — Lee McCoy, local observation, 9 August 2026.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
If it is full: Stickle Ghyll (NT, paid) (1.0 km, 24 m up); Great Langdale, valley road verge (free) (0.8 km) a few spaces only; Side Pike (verge) (0.8 km) a few spaces only
Stickle Ghyll (NT, paid) — 2.2 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Pavey Ark, Harrison Stickle, Thorn Crag and Loft Crag — the 'Langdale Horseshoe' route starts 67 m away. Also serves 'Langdale Pikes Round'. Paid National Trust car park - the prices we used to show here came from an aggregator rather than the Trust, so we no longer publish a figure; check the machine on arrival, and members should bring their card (National Trust car-park list, checked August 2026). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged). Height barrier (community-reported). Direct start up Stickle Ghyll for the Langdale Pikes.
Typically full before 10:00 on fine weekends, Apr-Oct — Lee McCoy, local observation, 9 August 2026.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
If it is full: Old Dungeon Ghyll (NT, paid) (1.0 km); Blea Tarn (NT, paid) (3.2 km, 93 m up)
Public toilets (opens in new tab) (~147 m straight line) — Free
2 more places to park near Thunacar Knott
Great Langdale, valley road verge (free) — 2.2 km from summit (straight line)
On the valley road, between the Stickle Ghyll and Old Dungeon Ghyll car parks. The 'Langdale Horseshoe' route starts 370 m away.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Side Pike (verge) — 2.7 km from summit (straight line)
0.9 km from Side Pike.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?

Positions are approximate.

Of the pay-and-display machine tickets sold at New Dungeon Ghyll from 17 August 2024 to 31 March 2026, 33% were bought before 10am (our count of FOI/2026.500 ticket data). Contains public sector information provided by the Lake District National Park Authority and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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 516 stops at New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, a 140 m walk from the start of Langdale Pikes Round — a route we rate Severe overall (hardest: steepness). As timetabled from 27 October to 1 November. Towards Kendal (516): Tuesday to Thursday, Sunday 20:13; Friday and Saturday 22:33. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 23 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

Stagecoach 516 “Langdale Rambler”
Ambleside – Skelwith Bridge – Elterwater – New Dungeon Ghyll – Old Dungeon Ghyll
Catch it from: Ambleside · Windermere (change at Ambleside)
The Langdale bus — Pikes, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags, Pike o' Blisco all walkable from the Dungeon Ghyll stops. Seasonal frequency varies; check before relying on the last bus back.

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 Thunacar Knott

Hazard & Incident Information for Thunacar Knott

Checked by Lee McCoy, . Draws on published material from Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team. Editorial background, not a live callout feed.

Hazard: Moderate

A low rise on the boggy plateau behind the Langdale Pikes, gentle and unremarkable in itself but sitting amid genuinely dangerous neighbours. The real risk is navigation: the flat, tarn-dotted, boggy top is featureless in cloud, and drifting off it the wrong way leads to the sheer crag edges of Pavey Ark and Harrison Stickle. Grassy tufts also hide jagged rocks and holes. Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team covers this ground.

  • Featureless plateau navigation toward the Pikes' crags: The boggy plateau has few landmarks, and the sheer drops of Pavey Ark and Harrison Stickle lie close by. In mist a wrong bearing off Thunacar Knott can take you to a cliff edge. Navigate carefully by compass and know where the crag edges are before you move.
  • Hidden rocks & holes in the grass: Grassy tufts on the plateau conceal jagged rocks and holes — easy to turn an ankle or trip, especially with tired legs or in poor light. Watch your footing across the rough, tufty ground.
  • Boggy ground & exposure: The plateau is boggy, particularly toward High Raise and Harrison Stickle, and offers no shelter. Pick careful lines and dress for exposed, changeable conditions.
Who should attempt this fell: Thunacar Knott is a harmless little top on its own, but it sits on a featureless plateau ringed by the sheer edges of the Langdale Pikes — so navigate deliberately by compass in cloud and always know where the Pavey Ark and Harrison Stickle crags are. Watch your footing on the rock-and-hole-strewn grass, and treat it as serious navigation ground in winter.

What to watch for: Navigation errors off the featureless plateau toward the Pavey Ark / Harrison Stickle crags · Trips and ankle injuries on rocks and holes hidden in the grass · Floundering in bog toward High Raise · Disorientation in cloud on benign-looking but trackless ground

Local Mountain Rescue: Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team (opens in new tab)

Safety: 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.

Report incorrect information (opens in new tab)

Navigating in cloud

Severe

Of the three things our terrain model measures, the highest reading here is the amount of near-level ground around the summit. A serious place to be caught in cloud: carry map and compass (or GPS) and know how to use them, or save it for a clear day.

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 Thunacar Knott compares with all 214: the Clag Index (experimental).

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 Thunacar Knott

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

0.9 km SThorn Crag644 m · Central
1.4 km NECodale Head732 m · Central
2.1 km NLow White Stones731 m · Central
2.4 km WBlack Crags (Mickleden)588 m · Southern
2.7 km WBuck Pike (Mickleden)606 m · Southern
2.7 km SWWhite Stones - The Band568 m · Southern
2.8 km ECastle How (Raw Pike)498 m · Central
2.9 km SSESide Pike362 m · Southern

Routes over Thunacar Knott

12.12 km · ~884 m ascent · loop · ~3¾–5¼ h · Anticlockwise
Moderate effort Severe: steepness

Download GPX Walked by Lee, June 2024

Best season: Any season in good conditions; the plateau behind the Pikes is featureless in cloud.

Warnings: Avoid Jack's Rake on Pavey Ark unless you're a confident scrambler — the walkers' route reaches the same summit. Boggy ground and confusing navigation on the High Raise and Sergeant Man plateau in mist. Steep, rocky ground around the Pikes. Loft Crag: The small abrupt summit stands right above Gimmer Crag, a sheer climbing buttress falling to Langdale. Keep well back from the southern edge near the top, especially in cloud or wind — and if scrambling on the south side, be aware climbers may be on the crag below. The boggy plateau has few landmarks, and the sheer drops of Pavey Ark and Harrison Stickle lie close by. In mist a wrong bearing off Thunacar Knott can take you to a cliff edge. Navigate carefully by compass and know where the crag edges are before you move.

From the hazard notes for Loft Crag, each with its sources.

Route guide: Langdale Pikes Round →

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 Thunacar Knott

Water & shelter on the way up

On the Langdale Pikes Round route:

possible water source (opens in new tab) (7 m off the line) shelter (opens in new tab) (weather shelter, mapped, not checked; 6 m off the line) New Dungeon Ghyll (opens in new tab) (110 m from the start, straight line)

Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is not proof the water is drinkable, so carry your own or use a supply you know is safe. Never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock upstream and leave you seriously ill. Use a treatment method suited to what might be in the water, and follow the device’s own instructions. Boiling and ordinary filters do not make water with dissolved metals or chemicals safe: where that is possible, choose another source.

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

About Thunacar Knott

A stone cairn on Thunacar Knott's grassy top, strewn with grey rocks, with a line of distant fells under heavy cloud.
© Lee McCoy

The summit area is wet and featureless, but the position between the dramatic Langdale Pikes and the open plateau gives it a satisfying context. Most naturally part of the full Central Fells circuit from Langdale via Harrison Stickle, High Raise and Sergeant Man. Its highest point is a rock by the southern cairn; the Wainwright summit is the large cairn on a mound about 155 m to the north-north-west.

Field notes

Now this is one that surely doesn't stick in anybody's memory banks given that it's so close to Pavey Ark and I'm confident that most will have that vista in their heads as they continue the Langdale Pikes Round. Perhaps that's why I forgot to take a photo. Just like the Whinlatter fell, I just walked past it not noticing it was a named fell.

— Lee McCoy, who walked it on our Langdale Pikes Round route in June 2024

My Strava hikes over Thunacar Knott

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Data from Strava.

Classifications & hill data

Is Thunacar Knott a Wainwright?

Thunacar Knott is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list and the Fellranger list.

Selected lists

723 m
Height
2,372 ft
In feet
NY 2797 0799
Grid ref

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

The summit is also a Birkett.

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 →

The view from Thunacar Knott

The 360° skyline from Thunacar Knott

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.

drag to pan · arrow keys
Computed 360-degree skyline from Thunacar Knott36 labelled tops shown (6 distant behind the far-horizon toggle). Theoretical visibility in perfect clarity; computed from terrain, not photographed.eye levelNNEESESSWWNWScafell Pike · 6 kmHelvellyn · 10 kmSkiddaw · 21 kmGreat End · 5 kmGreat Gable · 7 kmHigh Crag · 8 kmRaise · 11 kmFairfield · 9 kmCrinkle Crags · 4 kmGreat Dodd · 14 kmGrasmoor · 16 kmSt Sunday Crag · 10 kmHigh Street · 16 kmRed Pike · 12 kmHart Crag · 9 kmThe Old Man of Coniston · 10 kmGrisedale Pike · 17 kmGlaramara · 4 kmRed Screes · 12 kmGrey Friar · 8 kmWetherlam · 7 kmHigh Raise · 2 kmLittle Stand · 6 kmCombe Head · 4 kmYoke · 16 kmCold Pike · 5 kmGreat Borne · 18 kmBowfell · 4 kmLord's Seat · 20 kmHarrison Stickle · 1 kmPavey Ark · 0 kmIngleborough · 57 km · clear daysWhernside · 53 km · clear daysWard's Stone · 58 km · clear daysThe Calf · 40 km · clear daysCat Bells · 12 kmScafell · 7 kmBroad Crag · 6 kmHelvellyn Lower Man · 10 kmDollywaggon Pike · 8 kmStybarrow Dodd · 13 kmScoat Fell · 12 kmCrag Hill · 15 kmShelter Crags · 4 kmGreen Gable · 7 kmDove Crag · 10 kmThornthwaite Crag · 15 kmLooking Steads · 4 kmGreat Rigg · 8 kmIll Bell · 16 kmBlack Sails · 7 kmLong Side · 21 kmGreat Knott · 4 kmCausey Pike · 14 kmCrinkle Crags South Top · 4 kmGreat Carrs · 7 kmAllen Crags · 4 kmRosthwaite Fell · 4 kmBlack Crags · 2 kmBaystones · 13 kmWansfell Pike · 12 kmBinsey · 28 kmnameless · 22 kmKing's How · 9 kmFair Snape Fell · 68 km · clear daysBlack Fell · 9 kmHigh Knott · 19 kmReston Scar · 20 kmWhite Hill · 63 km · clear daysOrrest Head · 16 kmHampsfell · 31 km · clear daysBrant Fell · 18 kmSnowdon · 168 km · a handful of days a yearTinto · 130 km · a handful of days a yearGreen Lowther · 111 km · a rare clear dayGreat Whernside · 80 km · a rare clear dayWinter Hill · 100 km · a rare clear dayKirkland Hill · 121 km · a handful of days a year
The skyline as a list, by direction
  • North: Skiddaw Lesser Man (20 km), Skiddaw Little Man (20 km), Skiddaw South Top (21 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (21 km), Skiddaw (21 km), Skiddaw North Top (21 km)
  • North-east: Dollywaggon Pike (8 km), High Crag (8 km), Fairfield (9 km), Nethermost Pike (9 km), Cofa Pike (9 km), Helvellyn (10 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (10 km), White Side (10 km), St Sunday Crag (10 km), Raise (11 km), Stybarrow Dodd (13 km), Great Dodd (14 km)
  • East: Hart Crag (9 km), Dove Crag (10 km), High Street (16 km)
  • South: Swirl How (8 km), The Old Man of Coniston (10 km)
  • South-west: Shelter Crags (4 km), Crinkle Crags (4 km), Crinkle Crags (4 km)
  • West: Esk Pike (4 km), Great End (5 km), Ill Crag (6 km), Broad Crag (6 km), Scafell Pike (6 km), Great Gable (7 km), Scafell (7 km), Kirk Fell (9 km), Pillar (12 km), Red Pike (12 km), Scoat Fell (12 km)
  • North-west: Green Gable (7 km), Crag Hill (15 km), Grasmoor (16 km)

On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (168 km, Wales), Carnedd Llewelyn (156 km, Wales), Tinto (130 km, Scotland), Green Lowther (111 km, Scotland), Queensberry (96 km, Scotland), Culter Fell (123 km, Scotland), Great Whernside (80 km, England), Manod Mawr (172 km, Wales).

Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills v18.4 (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.

Sunrise and sunset on Thunacar Knott

Thunacar Knott sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (on 1 July) first light is only 11 minutes after almanac sunrise, so the published sunrise time is a fair guide here.

0°30°40°50°60°04:47
Midsummer. The filled shape is the skyline as seen from the summit; the line is the sun’s path. Where they meet is first light — everything left of that point is the wait.
Times for 2026, in Lakeland clock time (GMT in winter, BST in summer) — and model outputs rather than observations.
First lightAlmanac sunriseDifference
Midsummer04:47 BST ±5.0 min04:37+10 min
Equinox06:15 GMT ±5.0 min06:15—
Midwinter08:27 GMT ±5.0 min08:33-6 min

A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean 0.35°).

Last light — when the sun leaves Thunacar Knott

The evening here runs close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its earliest evening of the modelled year (at midwinter) last light is only 17 minutes before almanac sunset, so the published sunset time is a fair guide on Thunacar Knott.

The evening of the same three days. A negative difference means a ridge takes the sun before the valley loses it.
Last lightAlmanac sunsetDifference
Midsummer21:57 BST ±5.0 min21:52+5 min
Equinox18:14 GMT ±5.0 min18:26-12 min
Midwinter15:32 GMT ±5.0 min15:49-17 min

These are daylight figures, not a descent plan: the light goes on fading for a good while after the sun leaves, and going down in it is a decision about your own ground and party, not about this table.

What you can see from Thunacar Knott

On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.
83Wainwrights in view+12 marginal
168 kmFurthest sightlineSnowdon (Yr Wyddfa) · possible under favourable refraction
1Sea in viewSolway Firth

On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales.

Far horizons
  • Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) WalesSSW · 168 km clear
  • Carnedd Llewelyn WalesSSW · 152 km distant
  • Ingleborough Yorkshire DalesSE · 58 km clear
  • Solway Firth bay/estuaryNNW · 57 km in view
  • Whernside Yorkshire DalesESE · 53 km clear
All 83 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)

How the view from Thunacar Knott compares with all 214 — the View Report: every Wainwright ranked by what you can see from the top.

How the skyline, light and sightlines are computed

Computed, not photographed. First light is the first minute the sun’s upper limb clears this summit’s own skyline and last light the last minute it is still clear of it, both solved against the 360° horizon profile behind The View from Thunacar Knott. Almanac sunrise and sunset are the flat-horizon convention. Every time carries a ± band from the 30 m elevation model — it smooths arêtes and cornices, so nothing here claims better than five minutes.

Sightlines from the Copernicus GLO-30 elevation model, which is a surface model: each 30 m cell holds the top of whatever stands there, trees and buildings included, rather than bare ground. 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.

Places to stay near this fell

From Great Langdale: 3 places in Grasmere

Frequently asked questions about Thunacar Knott

Is Thunacar Knott worth climbing?

On its own merits, barely — it is a low rise on the boggy plateau behind the Langdale Pikes, and it is gentle and unremarkable underfoot. It earns its place on a round rather than a walk of its own, and our Langdale Pikes day covers it in 12.1 km with 884 m of ascent.

The reason to take it seriously is the company it keeps. The plateau is flat, tarn-dotted and short of landmarks, and it sits directly above the crags of the Pikes — so a drift in cloud from ground that feels completely safe can put you above steep ground very quickly. We grade the navigation on that round hard.

Questions from Google’s “People also ask”. · Last updated 2026-08-30 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)

Other fells near Thunacar Knott