Bracken How
Bracken How (373 m / 1,224 ft) is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), an Eastern top. It also features on the Synge list.
Summit conditions on Bracken How
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 13° to 7°C, gusts to 43 mph, 20.0 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.
The forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →
Routes up Bracken How
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Ten Birkett tops strung along the Dodds above Ullswater, from Low How and Randerside over Great Dodd and Stybarrow Dodd — 16.5 km and 766 m across eleven stages. Rated hard to navigate; about 4½–6¼ hours.
Distance and climb are measured from the route’s GPX track, and the time from them by Naismith’s rule; the route page says what each grade rests on. How we check →
How hard is Bracken How?
The shortest way up we hold is Birketts above Ullswater — 16.45 km, 766 m of ascent, ~4½–6¼ h. On our scale its hardest axes are distance and navigation — Hard.
All axes: length: Hard · navigation: Hard · steepness: Moderate · terrain: Not assessed · exposure: Not assessed.
These are the route page’s grades, set by the rules on how we grade: length and steepness measured from its GPX track, the others set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap. The route page says which. How we check →
Conditions and 7-day summit forecast
Modelled for the 373 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 27 October 2026, 08:13 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for Bracken How
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
2 more places to park near Bracken How
Positions are approximate.
Vehicles are left at their owner’s risk: we list places people park and cannot vouch for any of them. Take valuables with you and leave nothing on show.
Buses
The 509, 559 and UB1 stop at Dockray, outside The Royal Hotel, a 750 m walk from the start of Birketts above Ullswater — a route we rate Hard overall (hardest: distance and navigation). The UB1 runs until 1 November 2026, the last day of its season. The last bus is 19:09 towards Troutbeck (UB1) and 18:02 towards Grasmere (559) and 16:12 towards Keswick (509), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026; that timetable runs to 1 November 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Hazards on Bracken How
Notes from a planned route, not walked: Birketts above Ullswater
- Almost all grass with few features, the Dodds are a notorious place to go wrong in mist or whiteout — easy to drift off a vague bearing into the wrong valley. Take and trust a compass bearing before leaving the summit; don't navigate by the feel of the slope.
If you need to get off (the leg from Round How): The finish is 0.6 km on (stage 11); stay on the route.
Quoted from the route page of a planned route, drawn from the map and not yet walked: its warnings and the note for the leg that reaches Bracken How.
We have not written a hazard card for this fell yet, and that is not a sign that it is low-hazard. Read the warnings on the route pages that climb it, check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected. The National Park Authority’s What to pack page, AdventureSmart’s hill walking kit list and Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s safety page are linked from our what to carry guide.
If you need Mountain Rescue
Dial 999 or 112 and ask for the Police, then Mountain Rescue.
Before you call, have ready: where you are (a grid reference if you can – the OS Locate app shows yours on your phone), what has happened, how many of you there are, and your mobile number.
Then stay where you are until the rescue team contacts you.
If you cannot make a voice call because of a hearing or speech impairment, emergency SMS works only if you have registered first: text “register” to 999.
From Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s guidance on calling them out (opens in new tab) (read 26 October 2026).
Map, GPX and nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.
Birketts within 3 km of Bracken How
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
Routes over Bracken How
Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked
Every line here is a guide, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate for yourself and carry a map and compass. How to use this guide.
On the hill: terrain and water on Bracken How
Terrain & access
A near-path top (about 373 m): a mapped path comes within about 174 m of the summit. We have not checked a way from it to the top: the figures here are measured along a straight line on a terrain model, not a route. That line climbs about 16 m. The summit is on CRoW open access land.
Computed from open data, not walked — pathless ground needs confident navigation, and mapped paths, barriers and access boundaries can be incomplete. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass); Natural England CRoW Access Land; DoBIH v18.4 (CC BY 4.0); Copernicus GLO-30. CRoW access layer: © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 144 fells.
About Bracken How
Classifications & hill data
Is Bracken How a Wainwright?
Bracken How is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and the Synge list.
Selected lists
This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.
Lists, height and summit position from the Database of British and Irish Hills; the feet are converted from its metres and the grid reference from that position. How we check →
Places to stay near this fell
- Lowthwaite Bed and Breakfast (opens in new tab) guest houseabout 3.9 km
- Low Gale (opens in new tab) self-cateringabout 4.4 km
We have not stayed at any of them. We take no bookings or affiliate fees. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).