Buckden Pike

How to hike Buckden Pike

1. Starting from Buckden Car Park, head to the gate leading from the Northern point of the car park (with the toilet block behind you and the entrance/exit of the car park to your left) Head out the gate in the wall, and immediately turn right, following the line of the dry stone wall. You will steeply head up and then right again continuing along the path until it reaches the beck. When you reach the water turn right. There is a little crossing point downstream.

2. Cross the beck and turn left to begin the climb up the bank on the otherside. The path steadily rises upwards in a southerly direction, leading away from Buckden and in the direction of Starbotton. It is a gradual climb for around 1.5km until it then sharply turns left, so you virtually double back on yourself. There is a signpost pointing in the direction of the Lead Mine.

3. The path will take you towards a perimeter dry stone wall and then starts climbing up, following the waymarkers, keeping the wall to your left. The path here is well walked and clear.

4. Upon the approach to the lead mine, there is a stile in the dry stone wall, directly ahead of you, cross that and continue following the clear path until you reach the remains of the Buckden Pike Lead Mine. It’s clear because of the huge spoil heaps and you will see the opening to one of the levels in the hillside up ahead. This is a stupidly dramatic part of the walk. you’ve got to pause and take it in, there are ruins of the old lead mines, the buildings and then you see the beginnings of Buckden Beck as it heads down towards the village (a word here, there is a path marked on the OS map but it’s been devastated by landslips and is sketchy at best. Don’t use this as a potential get out route, it’s not suitable for kids, it’s barely suitable for adults!)

5. Here is a great place for a snack stop, before you tackle the steep ascent to the summit of Buckden Pike and also here, the path isn’t quite as easy to follow. If you look up the hill from the lead mine, you will see a visible narrow path that takes you around the side of the hill, but this is quite rocky, narrow and steep, so we’ve never taken that one.

6. Instead, from the lead mine level opening, keep to the right of the gully and head west. Your direction will have the opening of the lead mine at your back and the broken down dry stone wall perimeter and gully to your left. Follow the edge of the dry stone wall straight on to the corner point where it then runs right, uphill. Follow it right, heading steeply uphill handrailing the wall on your left. Once you hit the top of the ridge line there is a dry stone wall ahead of you, turn right and follow it.

7. This takes you to a corner point in the wall (that will be on your left) and the path takes you diagonally upwards and leftwards away from it. Keep heading uphill. There are two foot-worn paths uphill (you are on open access land so this is often the case) but use the drystone wall on your left as a guide and the steep uphill as your assurance you are headed in the correct direction! Both paths will take you to a newly flagged path along the ridgeline. (Fun Fact, I learned on my Hill and Moorland Leader course that these flags are made from reused factory flagstones from demolished factories in Leeds!)

8. You will also see some curious looking bog dams. This is the National Trust restoring the upland peat bogs which are INCREDIBLY environmentally important. Did you know that peat bogs store TWICE as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined? These bad boys are literally helping to keep our planet healthy and what you’ll see are ‘leaky dams’ which help to keep the bogs wet and therefore healthy. Take a peek into the water and you’ll see Sphagnum moss and if you visit in Spring, a blummin’ TONNE of frogspawn!

9. Oooh, I went off on a tangent then didn’t I! Head left when you hit the leaky dams and the flagged path. You’ll find a ladder stile over the wall and you’ll see ….. BAH BAH BAHHHHH THE SUMMIT TRIG! And cairn. Yes. The super steep climb will give you double the summit rewards! AND views! From Buckden Pike cairn, looking ahead and to the right you will see the Yorkshire Three Peaks in the distance, Pen y Ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside, but the views will take you much further afield even as far as Mallerstang and the Westmorland Dales, with the angular profile of Wild Boar Fell in the distance to the North too.

10. Take a moment to appreciate the geek. And now let’s carry on with the route instructions…

11. Now this bit’s probably the easiest part…. head back to the trig point from the Summit cairn and turn left, heading downhill in the direction of Cray. The National Park are doing some restoration to the path at the time of writing (2024) and so the structure of the path could change, but the one thing is sure, it’s blummin clear and easy to follow!

12. Just keep following it. There’s not much else to say! It crosses through several perimeters of fields (definitely a name for an indie band) until you reach a dry stone wall, at which point head right and follow it down until you hit the T-Junction with the Buckden Rake path. (If you’re feeling super keen now, head to point 14…..)

13. If you just want to head back to the car park (because you’ve run out of Haribo) turn left and head through the gate, continuing along the same path until you hit the car park!

14. COW CLOSE WATERFALLS… be warned, they’re seasonal. Unless you’re doing this walk in a wet Winter, Spring or an insanely wet Summer and Autumn don’t bother. Not that I don’t love this place, it’s just rubbish if there’s no water! But if you love a little wander to a loverly waterfall. Then tag this one on. It’s about 3km extra to your walk.

15. At point 12 turn right and then follow the directions from our Cow Close Waterfall walk from point 2/3.

16. OH YES! MORE WATERFALLS! You can also spend some time paddling in the waterfalls of Buckden Beck, which are situated around 1km up from the start of this walk. Well worth the trip!

Last walked March 2024.