Buckden Pike is one of the higher hills in the Yorkshire Dales but a good clear route leads up the fell from the car park in Buckden.
- Height: 702m (2,302 feet).
- Grassy summit plateau.
- Buckden Rake, which runs along the side of the hill, is part of a Roman road that linked forts at Ilkley and Bainbridge.
- Old lead mining works and buildings are scattered below the summit.
- The Buckden Pike Fell Race is run every year in June.
A short distance from the triangulation pillar on the top is a cross erected in memory of five Polish airman who died when their Wellington Bomber crashed in a snow storm in 1942. Nursing a broken ankle, the lone survivor followed the footprints of a fox in the snow to the valley below where he found help. A bronze fox's head can be seen in the base of the cross. To find out more about this crash site and others in the National Park visit our Out of Oblivion website.
The main routes to the summit run from Buckden, Starbotton, Kettlewell and Walden and, depending on which you choose, there are several waterfalls on the way. The southern hillsides are dotted with shakeholes – depressions or holes in the limestone below.
There are stunning views from the summit of Great Whernside, Pendle Hill, Fountains Fell, Pen-y-ghent, Whernside, Ingleborough, Wild Boar Fell, Great Shunner Fell and – on a fine day – the hills of the Lake District.
Walden Road, which leads from Walden to Starbotton, forms part of the descent from the summit and was an old packhorse route. Read more about old routes like this on our Out of Oblivion website.
