Brownthwaite Crag
Brownthwaite Crag at 444m (1,457ft) is a rocky Birkett top in the Far Eastern Fells, between Fusedale (0.3 km to the east) and Martindale (0.6 km to the west), 0.8 km south-south-east of Steel Knotts. Howtown, on Ullswater, is 2.3 km to the north.
Summit conditions on Brownthwaite Crag
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 6°C, gusts to 55 mph, 12.3 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 Brownthwaite Crag
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 | Swarth Fell and Loadpot Hill | Fusedale Circuit |
|---|---|---|
| Starts from | St Peter's Church, the Hause | St Peter's Church, Howtown (The Hause) |
| Distance and climb | 9.69 km, 599 m of climb | 14.68 km, 888 m of climb |
| Time, fast to steady | ~2¾–4 h | ~4¼–6 h |
| Scrambling | Hands for a few steps: the last climb to Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa) (about km 8.4). | Hands for a few steps: between Bonscale Pike and Arthur's Pike (km 4.2–5.5). |
| Exposure | Not assessed | Not assessed |
| Navigation | Hard | Hard |
| Steepest stretch | Climb of about 36% at 2.0 km (Severe) | Climb of about 39% at 3.4 km (Severe) |
| After the summit | Over Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa - Steel Knotts) | Over Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa - Steel Knotts) |
| Walked or planned | Walked in part; km 0.4–1.0, km 2.8–4.3, km 5.6–6.7 from the map | Walked by Lee, September 2024 |
| Car park at the start | Hallin Fell car park (free) | unnamed car park south-east of Hallin Fell (free) |
| Bus to the start | UB1, 530 m walk from Martindale Cattle Grid (near). Seasonal: the UB1 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day. | UB1, 540 m walk from Martindale Cattle Grid (near). Seasonal: the UB1 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day. |
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 Brownthwaite Crag?
The shortest way up we hold is Swarth Fell and Loadpot Hill — 9.69 km, 599 m of ascent, ~2¾–4 h. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.
All axes: steepness: Severe · navigation: Hard · length: 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 444 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 Brownthwaite Crag
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
3 more places to park near Brownthwaite Crag
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 UB1 stops at Martindale Cattle Grid (near), a 530 m walk and 74 m of ascent from the start of Swarth Fell and Loadpot Hill — a route we rate Severe overall (hardest: steepness). Seasonal: the UB1 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day. It returns on 22 March 2027. Confirmed with the operator: its last day on 9 October 2026, its return on 16 October 2026. We haven’t published its last bus times, so check the timetable before you rely on getting back — times here are a guide, not a promise.
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 Brownthwaite Crag
Notes from the Fusedale Circuit route
- Steep crag edges above Ullswater: Bonscale Tower and the western drops off Arthur's Pike and Bonscale Pike are serious — keep well back, especially in cloud or wind.
- Boggy, featureless plateau: the Loadpot Hill saddle is peat-hagged and wet, and the broad grassy tops give little to aim for in mist — a compass day if the cloud is down.
- Summer bracken + a washed-out descent: the Brock Crag short-cut and the steep climb from Mellguards up Bonscale Pike can be thick, navigation-sapping bracken, with one eroded section underfoot — walking poles help.
- Easy-to-miss summits: Wether Hill and Loadpot Hill both have their true top just off the obvious path — step the few metres across to be sure you've actually bagged them.
If you need to get off (the leg from Wether Hill): Gowk Hill / valley bypass. Where the path crosses Fusedale Beck, before it passes north of Gowk Hill, you can skip the short climb onto the boggy ridge of Brownthwaite Crag: take the public footpath north down the valley beside Fusedale Beck. It runs about 3 km down the valley floor to Howtown, and St Peter's Church at the Hause, where the walk began, is about 1 km up the road from there.
Quoted from the route page: its warnings and the note for the leg that reaches Brownthwaite Crag.
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 Brownthwaite Crag
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
Routes over Brownthwaite Crag
Come by boat if you can. Howtown has almost nowhere to park and the eastern-shore lane is long and narrow, but the Ullswater Steamer pier is about 1 km from this start as the crow flies — sail in, walk the round, sail back, and the car never comes down the lane at all. If you are going back by boat, pick your return sailing before you set off, and allow for the whole walk, the walk to and from the pier and a margin; have a plan if you miss it. Sailings are seasonal, so check the timetable before you build a day around it. (Checked 4 Aug 2026; we don’t publish times here because a stale one would be worse than none.)
Download GPX Walked by Lee, September 2024
Download GPX Walked in part, September 2024 · km 0.4–1.0, km 2.8–4.3, km 5.6–6.7 from the map
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 Brownthwaite Crag
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Fusedale Circuit route:
On the Swarth Fell and Loadpot Hill 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 Brownthwaite Crag
My Strava hikes over Brownthwaite Crag
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Fusedale Circuit - absolutely stunning weather. Could see for miles. (opens in new tab) — 15.5 km · 999 m ascent · 4h 10m moving · 6 September 2024
Data from Strava.
Classifications & hill data
Is Brownthwaite Crag a Wainwright?
Brownthwaite Crag 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
- Low Gale (opens in new tab) self-cateringabout 0.9 km
- Howtown Cottages (opens in new tab) self-cateringabout 0.8 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).