Sleddale Pike

Tucked away near Shap above the quiet waters of Wet Sleddale Reservoir, this modest, grassy summit offers a peaceful escape from the central Lake District crowds. A key feature of the Wet Sleddale Horseshoe, it is a Wainwright Outlying Fell best known for its solitude and sprawling, heather-clad slopes.

• •The name Sleddale derives from the Old Norse 'slétta', meaning a flat or level place, and 'dalr', for valley, describing the character of the land beneath the pike's eastern slopes.
• •Alfred Wainwright featured the hill in his 'Outlying Fells of Lakeland' as part of a six-mile circuit, praising the area for its 'unfailing peace' away from the more popular tourist hubs.
• •As part of the Shap Fells Site of Special Scientific Interest, the terrain around the summit is a protected environment of blanket bog and upland heath, vital for ground-nesting birds like the golden plover.
• •From the summit, the view eastward looks across the M6 corridor to the long skyline of the North Pennines, while the western horizon is dominated by the higher, bulkier mass of Branstree and High Street.
• •Despite being termed a 'pike', the summit is a gentle, sprawling dome where the greatest physical exertion often involves navigating the expansive and deceptively deep peat bogs that guard the approach.