Some days, you don’t feel like hiking. On Friday 28th February, I didn’t. I was nursing a sport induced shoulder injury (not serious, but sore) and a lot of (self inflicted) muscle fatigue brought about by overtraining, if I’m being totally honest.
So my body was saying “absolutely not” to the prospect of a 4:45am alarm to walk up Skiddaw. But my head was saying “you could use a solo hiking day on a mountain,” and the stunning weather forecast agreed.
With that, I set my alarm and hit the road with the intention of being in the car park by around 8am.
I only had a few hours, including travel time, that day. And Skiddaw is one of the more popular Wainwrights that had thus far eluded me. So a quiet term time Friday was the perfect day for it. But I needed to take a shorter route than many of the walking routes up Skiddaw are in order to make it home on time. I settled on starting at Mallen Dodd and doing an out and back.
And what a day it was! Turns out my head was right this time. I did need the solo hiking day. I felt great afterwards and the stretch for some of my muscles really helped alleviate some of the achey feeling I had. I was absolutely delighted with the decision to go.
Here’s the summary using data from my Garmin.
| Hike date | 28th February 2025 |
| Weather conditions | Cold but beautiful blue skies. Some cloud at the summit. |
| Distance hiked | 10.2km |
| Walking time | 3 hours 45 mins |
| Elevation gain total | 674m |
| Terrain | Easy to follow and well maintained paths most of the way. A tad boggy in places. Rocky up top |
| Hiked with | Solo |
Skiddaw from Mallen Dodd Walking Route
I took this route:
This is around a 10km route and it’s an out and back.
There’s a small car park at the start point. I was one of the first in it that morning but it was beyond full when I got back down at midday!
Immediately, the views from the second you get out of the car are spectacular:
Just look!! You can see from here too how gradual a start for the first 500m or so along a path that is beautifully easy to follow.
The path wasn’t too wet here but I imagine it could be muddy if you’re walking it after a period of rain.
It soon gets steep though. And particularly steep!
The saving grace here is the views back over Derwent Water and Keswick, which are incredible.
The path, even though steep (which never shows up the same in photos, does it?) is clear and well maintained:
After the initial steep climb is does begin to level off and latter part is a more gradual ascent.
You can choose to deviate ever so slightly to add Skiddaw Little Man. But as I’d already bagged that one and was on a tight time, I went straight for the Skiddaw summit.
It was hugely cold and icy up top with a thin layer of snow and a wintery wind chill. There was a lot of fast moving cloud, so my lovely view would then be interrupted with a period of no visibility, before the mist shifted again.
From the summit of Skiddaw, there were beautiful views over Lake Bassenthwaite:
And it was a pretty decent time to stop for a coffee break and enjoy it!
For me, it was just over an hour back down. Very steep at the end point near the car park too.
Bear in mind that when I got back down, before midday, the car park was overflowing with all spaces filled and plenty of people parking questionably in areas that were definitely not great for parking in!
Would I do it again?
I LOVED this hike up Skiddaw. I thought it was a great Wainwright summit and in addition, the views the whole way up were gorgeous. Add to that the straightforward navigation (in good conditions of course) and relatively short distance and it makes for a superb walk when you only have a little bit of time on your hands.
I’ll be back for sure.
Walking up Skiddaw – FAQs
If your child does a lot of hiking, then yes, I would say it is a child friendly hike in good conditions. It is NOT pram friendly, however. So if you’ve tots who can’t make the walk themselves, a toddler hiking carrier would be a better shout!
It took me 3 hours and 45 minutes. I did take my time on the summit and took photos etc. So I would say, depending on your pace, allow a minimum of 3 hours if you’re pretty hill fit and allow up to 5 if you take them at a slower pace.
Do also bear in mind that this was in good conditions. Poor conditions can slow you down no end!
Skiddaw is 931m high, making it England’s 3rd highest mountain behind Scafell Pike and Helvellyn. But with this route, your actual elevation gai is under 700m because you start at a slightly higher elevation.
For this parricular route, I parked at a small car park with the following What3Words address:
Look, any mountain can be dangerous if you’re ill equipped or conditions are poor. Skiddaw is a popular mountain with relatively few mountain rescue call outs compared with other popular fells.
According to Keswick Mountain Rescue 2024 archives, there 5 call outs to Skiddaw or Skiddaw Little Man in 2024.
By comparison, in 2025 so far (as of 4th March), there have been no call outs to Skiddaw, but 5 already to Blencathra.
Hotels and Accommodation Near Skiddaw
Planning to make a trip of it? If you’re looking for hotels near Skiddaw, a great place to stay is Keswick which is really close to the start point for the Mallen Dodd to Skiddaw hiking route.
