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318 m · Birkett — North Western (not a Wainwright summit) · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Birkett — North Western (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

Burthwaite Heights

Burthwaite Heights at 318m (1,043ft) is a Birkett top above the Bassenthwaite valley on the western flanks of the Skiddaw massif, its open summit giving views across Bassenthwaite Lake and towards the Solway Firth.

318 m
Height
+4
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

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318 mBirkett — North Western (not a Wainwright summit)+4 bonus Birketts within 3 km

Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast

Modelled guidance for the 318 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 17° to 15°C, gusts to 34 mph, 2.9 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌦️
17° / 15°
💨 34 mph
🌧 2.9 mm (77%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
17° / 13°
💨 30 mph
🌧 11.0 mm (79%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌧️
15° / 6°
💨 30 mph
🌧 2.5 mm (76%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
16° / 4°
💨 23 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (69%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
16° / 5°
💨 15 mph
🌧 1.5 mm (63%)
Sun 2 Aug
🌤️
17° / 4°
💨 16 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (25%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
17° / 8°
💨 15 mph
🌧 0.4 mm (20%)

Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 318 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

About the walk

Key information

Burthwaite Heights

Burthwaite Heights at 318m (1,043ft) is a Birkett top above the Bassenthwaite valley on the western flanks of the Skiddaw massif, its open summit giving views across Bassenthwaite Lake and towards the Solway Firth. Part of the broad ridge above Thornthwaite and Barf. A quiet fell giving good views of the northern lake country.

Classifications & hill data
Birkett
Synge
318 m
Height
1,043 ft
In feet
NY 1886 2833
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.

Nearest parking: Whinlatter Visitor Centre (paid), about 4.2 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Burthwaite Heights (within 3 km)

These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits — detour to them on this walk and they are pure profit. Distances are straight-line; allow extra for terrain.

1.4 km NERivings335 m · Northern
2.0 km NELothwaite345 m · Northern
2.2 km SSWGraystones455 m · North Western
2.4 km SWKirk Fell (Lorton)437 m · Western

Terrain & access

A pathless top (about 318 m) — the nearest mapped path is about 320 m away, the open ground you’d cross to the summit (about 29 m of ascent, up to ~21°). The summit is not on CRoW open access land, and the direct approach crosses land that is neither access land nor a right of way — there may be no public right to the top, so check access before you go. The direct line crosses 1 wall.

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; Copernicus GLO-30. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 145 fells.

Best parking to hike Burthwaite Heights

Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).

Whinlatter Visitor Centre (paid) — 4.2 km from summit (straight line)
Forest centre — Lord's Seat, Barf, Whinlatter fells, Grisedale Pike's back route.
Directions
🚺 Whinlatter Forest Park Centre (120m) — Free☕ The Cottage in the Wood☕ Cafe Ambio
Dodd Wood (paid) — 4.6 km from summit (straight line)
Forestry car park for Dodd, Carl Side and the Ullock Pike ridge onto Skiddaw.
Directions
🚺 Dodd Wood Car Park (79m) — Free☕ The Old Sawmill Tearoom

Positions are approximate — zoom the map to confirm. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.

Tip: pan and zoom the interactive map at the top of this page to spot other potential parking near your route.

Buses to Burthwaite Heights from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Stagecoach 77 / 77A “Honister Rambler”
Keswick – Portinscale – Hawse End (Catbells) – Grange – Seatoller – Honister Pass – Buttermere – Lorton – Whinlatter – Keswick (circular)
Catch it from: Keswick (connect via 555 from Windermere/Ambleside or X4/X5 from Penrith)
Seasonal (roughly Easter–October). Brilliant for the North Western fells: Catbells, Dale Head from Honister, the Buttermere fells and Whinlatter.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Other fells near Burthwaite Heights

Maps & guidebooks for Burthwaite Heights

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