Thunacar Knott
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.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 723 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Sat 12 Sep): 13° to 6°C, gusts to 44 mph, 35.3 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 18:50 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 723 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Thunacar Knott at a glance
Thunacar Knott
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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 and I firmly agree with AW when he says “not popularly known by name, and is the one unattractive summit in a distinguished Langdale company” and called it “completely unphotogenic” - 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.Routes up Thunacar Knott
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
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.
Where do you park for Thunacar Knott?
The nearest car park we hold is Old Dungeon Ghyll (NT, paid), about 2.0 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Stickle Ghyll (NT, paid), 2.2 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 Thunacar Knott?
The shortest way up we hold is Langdale Pikes Round — 12.3 km, 830 m of ascent, about 3.9 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.
All axes: steepness: Severe · navigation: Hard · exposure: Moderate · length: Moderate · terrain: Moderate.
My hikes over Thunacar Knott (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- 8 Wainwrights today - had some catching up to do! (opens in new tab) — 14.5 km · 1013 m ascent · 4h 23m moving · 1 Jun 2024
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Thunacar Knott
Best parking to hike Thunacar Knott
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.
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 Thunacar Knott by bus
The 516 stops at New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel (at), 140 m from the start of Langdale Pikes Round — a route we rate Moderate. Last bus: Monday to Friday 20:13 towards Kendal (516) and 18:13 towards Ambleside (516); Saturday 22:33 towards Kendal (516) and 21:13 towards Ambleside (516); Sunday 20:13 towards Kendal (516) and 18:13 towards Ambleside (516). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 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.
Hazards on Thunacar Knott
Hazard & Incident Information for Thunacar Knott
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.
Most common causes: 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) · 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 Thunacar Knott in cloud
SevereA broad, gently-sloping top with little to steer by — easy to lose your bearings and hard to relocate in mist. 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: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Old Dungeon Ghyll (NT, paid), about 2.0 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Thunacar Knott (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 Thunacar Knott
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & 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:
💧 Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is usually a tap or public supply, but never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock or a carcass upstream and leave you seriously ill. Run it through a filter or purifier (a LifeStraw, Sawyer Squeeze or HydraPak) or bring it to a rolling boil first.
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
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.
What you can see from Thunacar Knott, 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 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.
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.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:47 BST ±5.0 min | 04:37 | +10 min |
| Equinox | 06:15 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:15 | — |
| Midwinter | 08:27 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:33 | -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.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:57 BST ±5.0 min | 21:52 | +5 min |
| Equinox | 18:14 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:26 | -12 min |
| Midwinter | 15:32 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:49 | -17 min |
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. 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.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales.
- Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) Wales
- Carnedd Llewelyn Wales
- Ingleborough Yorkshire Dales
- Solway Firth bay/estuary
- Whernside Yorkshire Dales
All 82 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Pavey Ark, Harrison Stickle, Pike of Stickle, Loft Crag, Sergeant Man, High Raise (High White Stones), Tarn Crag (Easedale), Rossett Pike, Bowfell, Pike of Blisco, Lingmoor Fell (Brown How), Glaramara, Allen Crags, Esk Pike, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Cold Pike, Silver How, Helm Crag, Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot, Great End, Scafell Pike, Wetherlam, Stone Arthur, Green Gable, Great Carrs, Great Gable, Loughrigg Fell, Scafell, Seat Sandal, Swirl How, Heron Pike (Rydal), Nab Scar, Grey Friar, Great Rigg, Dollywaggon Pike, Grange Fell (Brund Fell), Fairfield, Kirk Fell, Black Fell, Nethermost Pike, Dale Head, Hart Crag, High Spy, Low Pike, Helvellyn, High Pike (Scandale), Dove Crag, The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man), Dow Crag, White Side, St Sunday Crag, Raise, Pillar, Red Pike (Wasdale), Red Screes, Cat Bells (Catbells), Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell), Baystones (Wansfell), Ard Crags, Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor), Causey Pike, Scar Crags, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Thornthwaite Crag, Sour Howes, Ill Bell, Yoke, Grasmoor, Sallows, High Street, Great Borne, Kentmere Pike, Dodd (Skiddaw), Skiddaw Little Man, Barf, Lord's Seat, Carl Side, Long Side, Broom Fell, Ullock Pike, Skiddaw, Binsey
How Thunacar Knott’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.
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 12.3 km with 830 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 drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-08-30 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)
Other fells near Thunacar Knott
- Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)
- Blea Rigg
- Bleaberry Fell
- Calf Crag
- Eagle Crag
- Gibson Knott
- Grange Fell (Brund Fell)
- Great Crag (Stonethwaite)
- Harrison Stickle
- Helm Crag
- High Raise (High White Stones)
- High Rigg (Naddle Fell)
- High Seat
- High Tove
- Loft Crag
- Loughrigg Fell
- Pavey Ark
- Pike of Stickle
- Raven Crag
- Sergeant Man
- Sergeant's Crag
- Silver How
- Steel Fell (Dead Pike)
- Tarn Crag (Easedale)
- Ullscarf
- Walla Crag