England · Lake District National Park

Sour Howes

WainwrightBirkettSynge

2 classifications here — Birkett and Synge — belong to lists OpenFell holds only part of, so they have no list page. See how far the coverage goes.

Sour Howes, 483 m, Westmorland and Furness
Sour Howes, 483 m, Westmorland and Furness. Photo by Mick Knapton at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Height
483 m · 1,585 ft
Grid reference
NY 42765 03217
Coordinates
54.42117, -2.88360
County / area
Westmorland and Furness
OS Landranger
90
OS Explorer
OL7N
Summit feature
grassy hummock
Key col
NY 4282 0373 (448 m)

About Sour Howes

Sour Howes is a low fell about five kilometres east of Ambleside, set on the ground between the Troutbeck and Kentmere valleys. It is one of two distinct fells on Applethwaite Common, the other being Sallows, and the pair are usually thought of together.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Sour Howes (CC BY-SA 4.0). Heights, prominence and grid references come from the Database of British & Irish Hills, not from Wikipedia.

Access rights here

Conditional Right to roam: Right to roam only on mapped CRoW open access land.

Permission needed Wild camping: Needs the landowner's permission — the Dartmoor commons are the only exception in England.

General position for England — local byelaws, seasonal restrictions and closures can override it. Full details: access rights in England ·check another location.

Daylight at this summit today

Sunrise
—
Sunset
—
Daylight
—
Civil twilight ends
—

Computed astronomically for 54.421, -2.884. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Summit weather live

Loading forecast for the summit (483 m)…

Forecast adjusted to summit altitude. Weather data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0).

Finding the summit

Surveyor's note

Wainwright's summit is probably shaly ridge 60m ESE NY 42832 03198; Wainwright's sketch map may be misleading as it indicates summit is further SW where ground is obviously lower.

The recorded summit point is grassy hummock. That distinction matters on broad or flat tops, where the obvious cairn is not always the true high point.

Survey method
Abney level
Record revised
17-Oct-11
Drop measured from
NY 4282 0373 · 448 m

Survey notes are field observations recorded in the Database of British & Irish Hills (v18.3, CC BY 4.0) by the hill-surveying community.

Reaching Sour Howes by train

2 National Rail stations sit within 8 km of the summit — close enough to make a car-free day of it. Distances are straight lines, not walking routes.

StationFrom summitSummit lies
Windermere4.8 kmN of the station
Staveley6.6 kmNW of the station

Each station page lists every hill in its reach, long-distance paths from the door and a live-times link — see all stations with hills in reach. Station positions from NaPTAN (OGL v3.0).

Get food nearby

3 places to eat or drink within 10 km of the summit, rated under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (Scotland runs its own Food Hygiene Information Scheme, a pass/fail equivalent).

Rated places to eat within 10 km of Sour Howes
PlaceTypeRatingDistance
Queens Head HotelPub/bar/nightclub5 out of 51.5 km · W
The Mortal ManPub/bar/nightclub5 out of 51.7 km · W
The Old Post OfficeRestaurant/Cafe/Canteen5 out of 52.1 km · W

Classifications and ratings are the local authority's own and can be coarse — this is a lead, not a guarantee of opening hours or that food is served to non-residents. Follow a name through to the official rating page to check, and confirm before you rely on it.

Food hygiene data from the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland (Open Government Licence v3.0). Distances and directions computed by OpenFell from the summit.

Which hill this one belongs to

Sour Howes is not counted as an independent hill in its own right. In prominence terms it belongs to High Street (829 m) — the nearest Marilyn you can reach from this summit without first dropping below its key col, 448 m.

Grouping is by prominence alone: a summit belongs to the nearest higher Marilyn it connects to without a deeper intervening col. Over a large massif that can gather hills no one would walk in a single day, and which few would describe as parts of the same mountain — it is a measure of independence, not a suggested route.

Nearest listed peaks

PeakHeightDistance
Sallows516 m1.2 km
Baystones486.9 m3.1 km
Troutbeck Tongue364 m3.3 km
Yoke707 m3.7 km
High Knott275 m4.1 km
Orrest Head238 m4.1 km