Pinnacle Howe

The walk up Pinnacle Howe rewards you with proper fell-top views across the Eden Valley and towards the Lake District peaks. It's not a mountain - more a sturdy little hill with serious bones, the kind of place where the landscape suddenly opens up and you realise why people move to Cumbria.

From Penrith, it's a straightforward walk, accessible enough for reasonably fit families but steep enough in sections that you won't sleepwalk the whole way. The summit itself is modest - not a dramatic crag or a trig point moment - but the 360-degree spread of moorland and distant fells makes the effort worthwhile. Allow a couple of hours return from the car park.

This is one for people who like getting their legs moving without needing to be mountaineers about it. Children aged eight and up would handle it fine. The terrain is rough in places, so proper boots matter.

If you're based at one of the caravan parks nearby - Park Foot or Waterfoot are both close enough - Pinnacle Howe works brilliantly as a morning or early-afternoon excursion before heading to Ullswater for an evening walk or a chip shop tea. It's the kind of fell walk that ticks a box without eating your whole day. Free to access, obviously. Go when the weather's clear. On a grey day it's just a muddy slog.