Where is it? Near Ambleside

In which area of outstanding natural beauty? The Lake District

How tall is it? 1099 feet (approx)

Write Up
What a lovely little hill Loughrigg is. Except that it isn’t little – it’s actually quite w i d e . I loved our little walk up this fell, the start was extremely steep, we were overtaken by a man who looked at least thirty years older than me (but we caught him up!), that appeared delighted to have been asked by me “Is this the path to Loughrigg?” which he answered “Yes, it certainly is” with an huge smile, thus confirming my frequently aired opinion that everyone in the lake district is always happy. Loughrigg sits at near the centre of a number of much greater-sized fells yet remains the most frequently ascended hill in this vicinity. This it has in common with Keswick’s Latrigg. Being near the “Langdale Pikes” has not diminished the standing and respect given to this little charmer of a fell.

Loughrigg is one of those minority hills where you can’t see the top from the bottom. Granted, you can’t see the top of Scafell Pike from the bottom of it but in Loughrigg’s case you can’t even make out the top from the top, there are scores of peaks which could be classed as the true summit, and don’t let the fact that your summit has a cairn convince you of its rightfulness to claim the mantle of “Summit of Loughrigg”.

There is a vast amount of water to be seen from here. Windermere is “just over your left shoulder”, Rydal Water lies ahead of you, Loughrigg Tarn (which is simply exquisite to behold) lies very close at hand and Grasmere is an hop, skip and a jump away! Yet Fairfield and the other surrounding, larger fells all appear somewhat arid! Loughrigg has a number of ascents, this is probably due to its expansive shape and its position in Ambleside, close to the centre of town and at the bottom of a car park. To fully discover and explore Loughrigg would take either a long time or many visits, the typical ‘sit around staring at things’ method of fell top appreciation won’t yield many of Loughrigg’s secrets such as the caves or ascertaining which of its two subsiduary ridges you can make out.

All in all a little treasure of a fell with fantastic views of many of the central and southern fells from the top.