About Ullock Pike

Ullock Pike is a fell situated in northern part of the English Lake District located seven kilometres north west of Keswick and achieves a height of 692 metres (2270 feet).

The fell sits on Skiddaw’s south western ridge along with two other fells (Long Side and Carl Side) and is regarded as the finest way to ascend Skiddaw.

Ullock Pike drops away steeply on its eastern side to the little known valley of Southerndale while its western slopes which are clothed in woodland lower down fall to Bassenthwaite Lake.

When viewed from the north, Ullock Pike is observed as a slender peak which catches the eye but from other directions it is seen as just a bump at the end of Longside Edge.

The fell of Long Side is just 600 metres away along the ridge to the south west and Ullock Pike has just 14 metres of Topographic prominence from it.

It therefore fails to qualify as a Hewitt or a Nuttall and relies on Wainwright to give it the status of a separate fell. He does mainly because of the quality of the view and the excellence of its form from the north.

There is a low lying outlying top to Ullock Pike which stands 1.5 kilometres away along the northern ridge and has the unusual name of Watches.

With a height of 333 metres, it is a distinctive summit made more remarkable by an unusual rash of Igneous rocks amongst the grass and local Skiddaw slate. These give the initial impression of being an ancient stone circle or even a small quarry but are apparently a natural rock formation.

The top of the fell is a small neat spot carpeted with heather which gives a fine all round view even though it is curtailed by the bulk of Skiddaw to the east.

There are two possible starting points for the ascent of Ullock Pike. From the north, the one from the Ravenstone Hotel at grid reference NY235296 is hampered by a lack of parking space but does have a bus stop (there is parking in Dodd Wood 1.5 km to the south).

The other starting place is at NY236310 on the minor road to Orthwaite. Both routes utilise the northern ridge to climb the fell but there is a significant false top which is in view for a long time before the true summit is attained.