Brown Hills
Brown Hills at 551m (1,808ft) is a Birkett top on the moorland west of Ullswater, 0.3 km south-south-west of Swineside Knott and above Glencoyne Bay. Our Swineside Knott & Gowbarrow round climbs it first, from Aira Force. A summit in the Eastern Fells.
Summit conditions on Brown Hills
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 6°C, gusts to 53 mph, 22.2 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 Brown Hills
Choose the way up before the car park: these two routes start from two places, and the last two rows give the parking and bus at each route’s own start. Full maps further down.
| Compared | Swineside Knott & Gowbarrow | Birketts above Ullswater |
|---|---|---|
| Starts from | Aira Force (NT, paid) | High Cascades (NT, paid) |
| Distance and climb | 13.27 km, 657 m of climb | 16.45 km, 766 m of climb |
| Time, fast to steady | ~3¾–5 h | ~4½–6¼ h |
| Scrambling | Hands for a few steps: Airy Crag's top (about km 9.2). | Not mentioned in the route’s notes |
| Exposure | Not assessed | Not assessed |
| Navigation | Moderate | Hard |
| Steepest stretch | Climb of about 29% at 3.0 km (Hard) | Descent of about 21% at 16.3 km (Moderate) |
| After the summit | Over Swineside Knott, Common Fell and Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit) | Over Round How and Bracken How |
| Walked or planned | Planned: drawn, not yet walked | Planned: drawn, not yet walked |
| Car park at the start | Aira Force (NT, paid) | High Cascades (NT, paid) |
| Bus to the start | 508 at the start. The UB1 and UB2 run until 1 November 2026, the last day of their season. | 509, 750 m walk from Dockray, outside The Royal Hotel. The UB1 runs until 1 November 2026, the last day of its season. |
Times run from fast to steady pace (Naismith’s rule). Scrambling quotes each route’s own notes; “not mentioned” means they do not say, not that the ground has none. Each route’s page has its map, stages and GPX.
Distance, climb and the steepest stretch are measured from each route’s GPX track; the other grades are set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap, and each route page says which. How we check →
How hard is Brown Hills?
The shortest way up we hold is Swineside Knott & Gowbarrow — 13.27 km, 657 m of ascent, ~3¾–5 h. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Hard.
All axes: steepness: Hard · length: Moderate · navigation: 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 551 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 27 October 2026, 20:59 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for Brown Hills
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
4 more places to park near Brown Hills
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 508, 509, UB1 and UB2 stop at Matterdale, opposite Aira Force, a 170 m walk from the start of Swineside Knott & Gowbarrow — a route we rate Hard overall (hardest: steepness). The UB1 and UB2 run until 1 November 2026, the last day of their season. The last bus is 18:02 towards Penrith (508) and 17:15 towards Martindale (UB1) and 15:15 towards Lowther (UB2), 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 Brown Hills
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 Birkett Fell): This stage descends towards the valley on the route's own line; stay on it.
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 Brown Hills.
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 Brown Hills
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
Routes over Brown Hills
Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked
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 Brown Hills
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Swineside Knott & Gowbarrow route:
Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is not proof the water is drinkable, so carry your own or use a supply you know is safe. Never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock upstream and leave you seriously ill. Use a treatment method suited to what might be in the water, and follow the device’s own instructions. Boiling and ordinary filters do not make water with dissolved metals or chemicals safe: where that is possible, choose another source.
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
About Brown Hills
Classifications & hill data
Is Brown Hills a Wainwright?
Brown Hills 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).