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5.74 km · ~166 m ascent · ~1–2 h · loop · 1 summit

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Knipe Scar - Birkett

5.74 km
Distance
~1–2 h
Typical time
~166 m
Ascent
1
Summit
Download GPX →Planned route · not yet walked

Key facts

Distance 5.74 km
Ascent ~166 m
Descent ~166 m
Time ~1–2 h
Type Loop
A short limestone walk on Knipescar Common east of Haweswater — 5.7 km and 166 m, nothing steeper than about 6%, and easy for both length and exposure. Under an hour and a half.
✎️ 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.

🧭 The automated detail on this page — distance, climb, pacing and a first-pass difficulty read — is live. Hand-written field notes are being added.

Difficulty profile

LengthEasy5.74 km — a short outing.
SteepnessModerateSteepest sustained pull about 19% around the 1.4 km mark.
TerrainModerateMostly good mountain path. desk assessment — not field-verified
NavigationHardCare needed in cloud — ~33% featureless high ground, 12 path junctions near the line. desk assessment — not field-verified
ExposureNot assessedExposure (drops, scrambling, how bad a slip would be) can’t be judged from gradient data alone, so we don’t guess. A rating appears once the route is editorially assessed or walked.

Five independent axes, not one score. “Desk” ratings come from maps and guidebooks, not yet walked — treat them as a guide, not a survey.

Access & barriers

Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route? A quick read from the gates and stiles mapped along the way.

Dog
Gates only
Buggy
Not buggy-able
Knees
Gentle descent
  • Dog: Gates and kissing gates only — a dog can do the whole route.
  • Buggy: Stiles or rough going on the route.
  • Knees: No sustained steep descent — kind on the knees.

On the line: 5 gates · 1 step-over stile

These are mapped barriers, from OpenStreetMap — coverage in the Lakes is good but not guaranteed complete. Spotted a stile or gate we’ve missed? Tell us and we’ll fix it. Barrier data as of 2026-07-26. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).

Daylight & turnaround

Daylight is short from October to February — check today’s sunrise and sunset before you set off, and carry a head-torch and spare batteries. On short days, decide your turn-back time before you start.

Why this matters: 78% of Mountain Rescue call-outs come after midday — the day runs out on the way home, not on the way up. See also walking in bad weather and today’s conditions.

OpenTopoMap
Elevation profile, shaded by steepness
Elevation profile Rises from about 176 m to 335 m over 5.7 km, with the summits marked in order. The area beneath is shaded by sustained steepness over a 250 m window, in the same four bands as the route’s steepness rating: Easy under 15%, Moderate 15 to 25%, Hard 25 to 35%, Severe above 35%. 335 m 176 m 0 km 5.7 km 1

1 Knipescar Common (Knipe Scar)

Easy 90%Moderate 10%HardSevere

~166 m
Total ascent
335 m
High point
177 m
Start height

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right).

This walk covers about 5.74 km with around 166 m of ascent, taking in 1 summit. The map above shows the line; the elevation profile and stage notes are below.

Pacing

SummitCumulativeAscentTime (fast–steady)
1Knipescar Common (Knipe Scar)2.5 km159 m0:46–1:01
Finish5.7 km166 m1:25–1:54

Naismith-based estimate — a fast/steady range. Your pace will vary. These use Naismith’s textbook constants (5 km/h, 600 m of ascent an hour). Measured against a pace fitted to 41 recorded Lakeland walks they run about 8% slow, and we have left them that way deliberately: a slow estimate strands nobody.

The walk, stage by stage

  1. 1

    Start → Knipescar Common (Knipe Scar) (2.5 km, 159 m)

    Climb of about 159 m over 2.5 km (around 6% average).

  2. Knipescar Common (Knipe Scar) → Finish (3.3 km, 7 m)

    Descent of about 156 m over 3.3 km.

Summits bagged (1)

  1. 1Knipescar Common (Knipe Scar)341 mAround Penrith · Outlying Fell, Birkett, Synge

Getting there & parking

Knipescar Common (verge) — 0.6 km from the start (straight line)
0.7 km from Knipescar Common.
Directions Something changed here?
Knipescar Common, south-west (layby) — 0.8 km from the start (straight line)
Nearest fells: Knipescar Common (Knipe Scar) (1.5 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?

Positions are approximate. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.

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.

Every option near this start, on the parking map →

💧 No mapped drinking water or shelter on this route — that doesn’t mean there is none, and never drink untreated from a beck. (Facilities data © OpenStreetMap contributors.)

Buses

The nearest bus stop we hold is the UB2 at Askham, outside Stores, 6.1 km of walking from this start — not realistically reachable without a car. This looks like a seasonal service. Our timetable data has the UB2 stopping on 1 November 2026, but we haven’t confirmed that with the operator — so treat it as a reason to check rather than a date to plan around.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before travelling.

Safety & conditions

Check live conditions in the “From the fells” panel, on MWIS and the Met Office mountain forecast before you set off.

Download

Download GPX

GPX track for your GPS or phone.

Places to stay near this start

New Ing Lodge hostel

about 4.8 km from the start, in a straight line

And it is the far edge of the radius: 4.77 km / 2.96 miles from the Knipe Scar start, in Shap. Its homepage sells four separate things through four tabbed facility panels, and they do NOT share facilities, so this record describes only what a family booking a room actually gets. The Bed-and-Breakfast panel, from GBP 55 per night, lists: "Family Ensuite Rooms Double Ensuite Rooms FULLY LICENSED BAR Overnight Laundry Free Parking GARDEN AREA PLAY AREA Outdoor Seating area EV Charger". That is a family ensuite room, overnight laundry, free parking, a play area, a garden and an EV charger - useful for a wet Birkett day with a car and a child. What a B&B booking does NOT include: the games room, sauna, hot tub, firepit, kitchen and living/dining area appear only in the Exclusive Use panel ("SLEEPS UP TO 30 FREE PARKING GAMES ROOM GARDEN AREA PLAY AREA SAUNA and hotTUb"), which is whole-lodge hire from GBP 500 per night. The dorm ("1 x Dorm Rooms 4 Bunks per room") and camping (from GBP 8, "Spacious OutDoor Area Bathroom / Shower") are third and fourth options with their own shorter lists - camping is the separate OSM candidate at 4.81 km, same business, not a second row.

The same page sells the place three ways at once, at prices an order of magnitude apart - the whole lodge on exclusive hire, sleeping up to 30, from GBP 500 a night; ensuite bed and breakfast from GBP 55; and a pitch from GBP 8 - and the sauna, hot tub and games room are listed only against the GBP 500 exclusive-hire package, not against the rooms.

  • Dogs “Stayed for 3 nights as a family with a German shephard in a family room, spotless, large and comfortable to say the least.”
  • Family rooms “Family Ensuite Rooms Double Ensuite Rooms”
  • Evening meal “Double Ensuite Rooms FULLY LICENSED BAR Overnight Laundry”
  • Parking “Overnight Laundry Free Parking”
  • Children “Family Ensuite Rooms Double Ensuite Rooms FULLY LICENSED BAR Overnight Laundry Free Parking GARDEN AREA PLAY AREA”

What each place says about itself, quoted from their own site. We have not stayed at any of them, and there are no prices, no booking and no affiliate links. Distances are straight lines from the route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap.

Appears in these collections
Dog-friendly walks