Skiddaw

Climbing Skiddaw from the car park below Latrigg, north of Keswick

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This route climbs Skiddaw from the free car park below Latrigg, at the top of the lane north of Keswick. The car park has room for about 40 cars and sits at about 295 m. The nearest bus stop with a current service is Brentfield in Keswick, about 1.5 km away in a straight line, served by the 509, X4 and X5.

The line is 5 km long and gains about 650 m. Almost all of it, 4.7 km, is a public bridleway in the rights of way data, and the first 3.4 km have a gravel surface on the map. OpenStreetMap grades the path hiking, its easiest mountain grade.

The first 800 m are nearly level. The main climb follows, from about 330 m to 645 m by the second kilometre. Between 2 km and 3.5 km the gradient eases, gaining only another 120 m. It steepens again over the next 900 m, from about 770 m to 910 m, and the route passes Skiddaw South Top at 4.5 km. The last 500 m run along the summit ridge and gain only a few metres.

Nearly the whole line, 4.6 km, crosses open access land. Skiddaw is one of only four Wainwrights over 3,000 ft.

The GPX file is the same line, from the car park to the summit. Return the same way unless you have planned another descent with a map.

Download the GPXFree. The route is © OpenStreetMap contributors and the file is released under the Open Database Licence: you may copy, share and adapt it.