Long Side is a fell

Fell

“Fell” is a word used to refer to mountains, or certain types of mountainous landscape, in Scandinavia, the Isle of Man, and parts of northern England.- Etymology :...

 in the English Lake District

Lake District

The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...

, it is situated six kilometres north west of Keswick

Keswick, Cumbria

Keswick is a market town and civil parish within the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It had a population of 4,984, according to the 2001 census, and is situated just north of Derwent Water, and a short distance from Bassenthwaite Lake, both in the Lake District National Park...

 in the northern sector of the national park and is part of the Skiddaw

Skiddaw

Skiddaw is a mountain in the Lake District National Park in England. With a summit at 931 m above sea level it is the fourth highest mountain in England. It lies just north of the town of Keswick, Cumbria, and dominates the skyline in this part of the northern lakes...

 group of fells. Long Side which reaches a height of 734 m (2,408 ft) is located on Skiddaw’s north western ridge, the middle section of which is known as Longside Edge. Strictly speaking the actual summit of the fell is nameless with the name Long Side applying to the south western slope below the summit and is so marked on maps. The fell is often climbed by walkers on their way to the summit of Skiddaw, the route up the north west ridge which passes over Long Side is regarded as being the finest and quietest ascent of that 3000 feet (914.4 m) mountain by guide book writers.

Topography

Long Side falls away steeply on its south western flank towards Bassenthwaite Lake

Bassenthwaite Lake

Bassenthwaite Lake is one of the largest water bodies in the English Lake District. It is long and narrow, approximately long and wide, but is also extremely shallow, with a maximum depth of about ....

, these slopes are clothed in the coniferous

Pinophyta

The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferophyta or Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. Pinophytes are gymnosperms. They are cone-bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being...

 woodlands of Longside Wood below the 400 metre contour. To the north west the fell descends in steep broken crags to the quiet and unfrequented valley of Southerndale. To the north west the fell connects to the adjacent fell of Ullock Pike

Ullock Pike

Ullock Pike is a fell situated in northern part of the English Lake District. It is located seven kilometres north west of Keswick and achieves a height of 692 metres...

 by a path that runs for 600 metres along the rim of Longside Edge. To the south east the edge continues from Long Side to link to the higher fell of Carl Side

Carl Side

Carl Side is a fell in the English Lake District, forming a part of the Skiddaw "family" near the town of Keswick and prominently visible from its streets...

, 800 metres distant.

Geology

In common with much of the Northern Fells the Kirk Stile Formation of the Skiddaw Group predominates. This is composed of laminated mudstone

Mudstone

Mudstone is a fine grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.0625 mm with individual grains too small to be distinguished without a microscope. With increased pressure over time the platey clay minerals may become aligned, with the...

 and siltstone

Siltstone

Siltstone is a sedimentary rock which has a grain size in the silt range, finer than sandstone and coarser than claystones.- Description :As its name implies, it is primarily composed of silt sized particles, defined as grains 1/16 - 1/256 mm or 4 to 8 on the Krumbein phi scale...

 with greywacke

Greywacke

Greywacke or Graywacke is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lithic fragments set in a compact, clay-fine matrix. It is a texturally immature sedimentary rock generally found...

 sandstone and is of Ordovician

Ordovician

The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago . It follows the Cambrian Period and is followed by the Silurian Period...

 age.

Ascents

As mentioned ascents of Long Side are often done by walkers en route to Skiddaw, this route starts at the Ravenstone Hotel on the A591 (grid reference ) and climbs Ullock Pike first by its northern ridge before continuing along Longside Edge to the summit of Long Side. The route to Skiddaw keeps on the ridge to Carl Side before ascending a steep loose path through the scree to the summit of Skiddaw. A direct ascent of Long Side is possible from the Old Sawmill car park (grid reference ) on the A591 using the Forestry Commission

Forestry Commission

The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in Great Britain. Its mission is to protect and expand Britain's forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment....

way marked trail to find a way through Longside Wood to the open fell and then ascending the steep fell side to the summit.

Summit and View

The summit is marked by a pile of stones. There is a fine view of Bassenthwaite lake. To the east Skiddaw is seen as a massive bulk blocking out much of the view in that direction.