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

Birkett — Eastern (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

Castle Crag (Shoulthwalte)

Castle Crag at 404m (1,325ft) is a Birkett top above the Shoulthwaite valley between Thirlmere and Ullswater, its rocky summit giving views across Thirlmere and towards the Helvellyn range.

404 m
Height
+7
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

Home › Fells › Castle Crag (Shoulthwalte)

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Last reviewed

404 mBirkett — Eastern (not a Wainwright summit)+7 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 404 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 16° to 15°C, gusts to 32 mph, 2.8 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌦️
16° / 15°
💨 32 mph
🌧 2.8 mm (100%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
17° / 13°
💨 29 mph
🌧 4.4 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
14° / 5°
💨 29 mph
🌧 2.0 mm (78%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
16° / 3°
💨 23 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (78%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
16° / 4°
💨 14 mph
🌧 5.4 mm (54%)
Sun 2 Aug
🌫️
17° / 5°
💨 18 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (24%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
17° / 6°
💨 15 mph
🌧 0.4 mm (23%)

Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 404 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

Castle Crag (Shoulthwalte)

Castle Crag at 404m (1,325ft) is a Birkett top above the Shoulthwaite valley between Thirlmere and Ullswater, its rocky summit giving views across Thirlmere and towards the Helvellyn range. A quiet, unfrequented fell in the Central Fells above the A591 road. Good views of the long Thirlmere reservoir.

Routes up Castle Crag (Shoulthwalte)

Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.

Birketts North of Thirlmere
13.8 km · ~4.3 hr
Classifications & hill data
Birkett
Synge
404 m
Height
1,325 ft
In feet
NY 2998 1887
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Legburthwaite (United Utilities, small), about 2.0 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Castle Crag (Shoulthwalte) (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.

0.5 km NNEThe Benn (Sippling Crag)446 m · Eastern
1.4 km EGreat How (Thirlmere)333 m · Eastern
2.0 km NEWren Crag311 m · Eastern
2.3 km ENECastle Rock339 m · Eastern
2.6 km SSEFisher Crag421 m · Central
2.7 km NNEHigh Rigg (High Rigg South Top)343 m · Eastern
2.9 km SArmboth Fell (Birkett)479 m · Central

Routes over Castle Crag (Shoulthwalte)

Birketts North of ThirlmerePlanned
13.83 km · ~910 m ascent · loop · ~4–5.5 h
Summits: Castle RockWren CragHigh Rigg (High Rigg South Top)The Benn (Sippling Crag)Castle Crag (Shoulthwalte)Great How (Thirlmere)

⬇️ Download GPX

⚠️ Warnings: Access: The summits of The Benn (Sippling Crag), Castle Crag (Shoulthwalte) and Great How (Thirlmere) lie outside mapped CRoW open-access land. That records no statutory right of access — it is not a statement that access is forbidden, and permissive access is not recorded in that layer. This ground is above Thirlmere, a working reservoir managed by United Utilities, whose car parks at Legburthwaite and Swirls we list under parking. This line is computed rather than walked, so treat the access as unchecked and look for the courteous way through — how we work this out.

Full route guide ↗

✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.

A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass.

Terrain & access

A 404 m top with a mapped path to within about 3 m of the summit. 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.

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 Castle Crag (Shoulthwalte)

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

Legburthwaite (United Utilities, small) — 2.0 km from summit (straight line)
St John's in the Vale — Sticks Pass side, High Rigg, Raven Crag.
Directions
🚺 Legburthwaite Car Park (155m) — Free
Swirls, Thirlmere (paid) — 2.6 km from summit (straight line)
The standard west-side route up Helvellyn via Browncove Crags.
Directions
🚺 The Swirls Car Park (461m) — Free · Accessible · RADAR key🚺 Armbroth Car Park (1587m) — Free

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.

Water & shelter on the way up

On the Birketts North of Thirlmere route:

🛖 map (14 m)🛖 map (111 m)🛖 map (134 m)🚌 Thirlmere Dam Road End (252 m)

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.

Buses to Castle Crag (Shoulthwalte) from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Stagecoach 555
Kendal – Staveley – Windermere – Ambleside – Rydal – Grasmere – Thirlmere (Wythburn & Swirls) – Keswick
Catch it from: Windermere · Ambleside
Year-round, roughly hourly. The backbone bus of the A591 — ideal for Helvellyn (Wythburn/Swirls), Fairfield, the Central fells and anything around Grasmere/Rydal. From Penrith, take the X4/X5 to Keswick and change.

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

My hikes over Castle Crag (Shoulthwalte) (Strava)

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.

Other fells near Castle Crag (Shoulthwalte)

Maps & guidebooks for Castle Crag (Shoulthwalte)

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