Walk Whiteside and Hopegill Head, Lake District, England

Going up Whiteside summit

Walk Information:

  • Distance: 9km
  • Duration: 4h30 with plenty of breaks
  • Ascent: 715m
  • Level: Hard
  • Car park: Lanthwaite car park on the B5289, CA13 9UY
  • Outdooractive map: here
  • Dog friendly: Yes, however some scrambling parts that can be challenging for dogs not used to it.

Veuillez faire défiler vers le bas pour la version française.

view along the path to Whiteside

Last Saturday, we decided with our friends to go hiking in the fells. After some late morning planning we decided to do Whiteside and Hopegill Head summits, which are two Wainwright’s summits.

When planning the walk at home, we were thinking to go down by Ladyside Pike from Hopegill Head. However, after talking with some walkers at the top of Whiteside summit they recommended us to not do that and instead take the path following Liza Beck to go back to the car as apparently the section between Hopegill Head and Ladyside Pike is quite steep requiring some scrambling.

View from the top of Whiteside

I knew the path following Liza Beck as Matt and myself had used it before when we did Grasmoor and Whiteless summits but our friends not so we decided to follow the walkers advice. This path is not really hard and the river Liza Beck is full of small waterfalls and pools which are beautiful but I have to admit that I don’t like using this path because it is really damaged and can be slippery. I would definitely avoid it during wet weather.

So it is a bit late (around 10h30) that the four of us and Skye started this walk going first to Whiteside summit. The path is well visible (all along the walk to be honest) and rocky. It is a steady ascent of around 2 km to the top of Whiteside peak with some scrambling sections. I definitely preferred to go up than down. We saw two mountain bikers trying to go down and it looks terrifying.

Ridge between Whiteside and Hopegill Head

Once at the top of Whiteside then took the direction of Hopegill Head following the ridge. The path is wide, mostly flat with only a small scrambling section. We stop in the sun for a lunch break before heading down towards Liza Beck river. We then followed this small river up to the car park.

As usual the view was incredible, really worth the effort. Liza Beck is the perfect place to have a dip in one of the small pools.

Have you done these two summits? Do you know the path between Hopegill Head and Ladyside Pike?

Samedi dernier avec nos amis, nous avons décidé de partir faire une randonnée dans les montagnes du Lake District. Après un planification un peu tardive, nous décidâmes, d’aller faire les deux sommets de Whiteside et Hopegill Head. Ces deux sommets sont classés Wainwright (venant du nom de l’auteur Alfred Wainwright qui a publié une série de livres contenant 214 sommets à faire dans le Lake District).

Lors de notre préparation de la randonnée à la maison, nous avions en tête de descendre par Ladyside pike depuis Hopegill Head. Mais après avoir discuté avec des randonneurs en haut de Whiteside qui nous déconseillèrent ce chemin car apparemment trop escarpé, nous décidâmes de descendre en suivant le cours d’eau Liza Beck.

Path to Hopegill Head

Avec Matthieu, nous connaissions ce sentier le long Liza Beck car nous l’avions déjà emprunté lors de notre randonnée de Grasmoor et Whiteless Pike. Nos amis eux ne le connaissaient pas. Ce sentier est peu pentue mais malheureusement il est très accidenté et à certain passage il faut faire très attention de ne pas glisser. Je vous déconseille vivement de prendre ce sentier par temps de pluie. Par contre le cours d’eau Liza Beck est très mignon avec plein de petites cascades et piscines.

C’est donc en fin de matinée, que tous les quatre avec Skye, nous partîmes en direction du sommet de Whiteside. La montée est assez dure car le sentier ne fait que monter sur 2km avec parfois le besoin de faire un peu d’escalade. Je suis contente que nous n’aillons pas pris ce sentier pour descendre. D’ailleurs nous avons croisé deux monsieurs qui essayaient de descendre avec des vélos de montagnes et ça avait l’air hyper dangereux.

Waterfall along Liza Beck

Une fois en haut de Whiteside, nous prîmes la direction de Hopegill Head en suivant la crête. Le sentier entre ces deux sommets est assez plat, large et pas trop difficile, seul une petit portion nécessite d’utiliser ses mains pour grimper. Après nous être arrêté en haut de Hopegill Head pour une pause déjeuner, nous partîmes en direction de voiture en suivant Liza Beck.

Comme toujours la vue était magnifique et valait la peine de faire ses efforts. Le petit cours d’eau de Liza Beck est aussi super sympa pour se baigner.

Connaissez-vous ces endroits?

10 thoughts on “Walk Whiteside and Hopegill Head, Lake District, England

  1. Have this exact route on my to do list, in fact its been on my list probably for the last 4 years!! It’ll be my last 2 north western Wainwrights to complete that book. I’d heard there had been a few landslips in parts of Liza beck (think it took out a bridge lower down, now replaced) so glad it is still passable. As for Ladyside Pike that is arguably the best mountain top not included in the wainwright list

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes there is a new bridge at the bottom of the valley. You can see on the path that there had been some landslips as the path is really damaged. It is passable by dry weather.
      I think I will plot another walk to do just Ladyside Pike as from Hopegill Head it definitely looked interesting.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. I really must get over that way. The Main problem is that the Buttermere Valley is a bit far for a day trip (well, it is for me these days) so I’ll have to arrange for a stopover sometime.
    I think you were wise to avoid the rough path in descent. Probably ok going up but likely to be dodgy on the way down. I personally find descents much harder than climbs – especially hard on the old knees these days

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes it is hard to access that valley. Even for us in summer it can take more than 1h from Whitehaven. Sometimes quicker to go to South of Scotland.

      I am the same I don’t like going down.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Very lovely! I can almost hear the falls flowing down the rocks! I have not been to England but my husband has and it is on our list! My husband’s parents were both born and raised in England so he would like to visit the country again. This looks like such a lovely area and maybe someday….

    Liked by 1 person

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