Selside Pike

Overlooking the quiet valleys of Mardale and Swindale, this broad, grassy Wainwright offers a gentler experience than its rugged neighbours. Often paired with Branstree, its summit is marked by an impressive stone shelter cairn, providing a fine vantage point for the steep-sided head of Haweswater and the remote Swindale pastures.

• •The name Selside is rooted in Old Norse, where 'sel' means a shieling or summer pasture and 'side' refers to the hillside. This reflects the fell's long-standing history as seasonal grazing land for farmers in the valleys below.
• •Alfred Wainwright described the summit as a 'spacious plateau of grass' and highlighted the view of the High Street range across the Haweswater reservoir as the fell's most rewarding feature.
• •A line of old iron fence posts runs across the ridge toward Branstree; these are not just remnants of farming boundaries but serve as vital navigational markers during the thick hill-fogs frequent in this part of the Lakes.
• •The summit is crowned by a 'currick,' a substantial stone-built shelter. These are distinctive to the Far Eastern Fells and the North Pennines, built by shepherds to provide protection from the biting winds that sweep across the Shap fells.
• •It is a fell that demands a high tolerance for damp socks; even in a dry summer, the peat hags on the northern approach retain an impressive ability to swallow a walking boot whole.