Great Cockup

Orthwaite, a tiny hamlet on the minor road behind Bassenthwaite, is the start for the standard route. A bridleway climbs Hause Gill for about 2 km, and then you turn up the steep southern slopes to the top. You can also go straight up over Little Cockup, the lower shoulder above Orthwaite, but the bracken there gets thick in summer.

Many walkers come to it last on a round of the Uldale Fells from Longlands, where there is informal parking for about four cars. That route goes over Little and Great Sca Fell and Meal Fell, drops to the ravine of Trusmadoor, and climbs Great Cockup by a rocky slate path along the ravine's edge. You come back through Trusmadoor, ford the River Ellen and follow a quad bike track to Longlands, about 11 km in all.

The ground is mostly grass and heather. Apart from that short slate path there is no rock, and nothing needs hands.

A small cairn sits in low heather on a broad top. You see Skiddaw's northern slopes, and north to the Scottish Borders. About 500 metres west of the summit are old grouse butts, some reduced to foundations, and a lone boulder low on the southern slope is thought to be a glacial erratic.

The name

It probably comes from Old English words for a blind valley where wild birds gathered, a name that moved from the valley to the hill. The other meaning of the word has made it famous. Denis Norden filmed a sketch here for It'll Be Alright on the Night in 1996, and the Hesket Newmarket Brewery sells a Great Cockup Porter.