Castle How (Raw Pike)
Castle How at 498m (1,634ft) is a Birkett top on the rough fell ground above Grasmere and Easedale, its rocky summit giving views across the Grasmere valley and towards the Central Fells.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 498 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Sat 12 Sep): 15° to 8°C, gusts to 35 mph, 35.3 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 15:36 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 498 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Castle How (Raw Pike) at a glance
Routes up Castle How (Raw Pike)
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Castle How (Raw Pike) a Wainwright?
Castle How (Raw Pike) is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and the Synge list.
Where do you park for Castle How (Raw Pike)?
The nearest car park we hold is New Dungeon Ghyll (LDNPA, paid), about 1.7 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Stickle Ghyll (NT, paid), 1.9 km out. We only look within 2.5 km, measured straight-line: over longer distances a road may cross a pass and the drive bears no relation to the line.
How hard is Castle How (Raw Pike)?
The shortest way up we hold is Castle How & Lang How - Birketts — 10.9 km, 445 m of ascent, about 2.9 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is navigation — Hard.
All axes: navigation: Hard · steepness: Hard · exposure: Moderate · length: Moderate · terrain: Moderate.
My hikes over Castle How (Raw Pike) (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Sunrise Summit Stroll with Chris (opens in new tab) — 17.6 km · 850 m ascent · 4h 59m moving · 23 Mar 2025
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Castle How (Raw Pike)
Best parking to hike Castle How (Raw Pike)
Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).
Positions are approximate — zoom the map to confirm.
Tip: pan and zoom the interactive map at the top of this page to spot other potential parking near your route.
Vehicles are left entirely at their owner’s risk. We list places people park; we cannot vouch for any of them. Judge it on the day: take valuables with you, leave nothing on show, and if a spot feels wrong when you get there, park somewhere else.
Getting to Castle How (Raw Pike) by bus
The 555 stops at Grasmere, at School, 80 m from the start of Castle How & Lang How - Birketts. Last bus: Monday to Friday 20:46 towards Keswick (555); Saturday 20:46 towards Keswick (555); Sunday 18:36 towards Keswick (555). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 12 September 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.
Hazards on Castle How (Raw Pike)
No hazard card for this fell. The usual open-fell rules apply: check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: New Dungeon Ghyll (LDNPA, paid), about 1.7 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Castle How (Raw Pike) (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.
Routes over Castle How (Raw Pike)
🥾 Walked in part — Lee walked this ground in March 2025; km 1.6–2.6, km 4.9–5.8 of this line are from the map.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
On the hill: terrain and water on Castle How (Raw Pike)
Terrain & access
A near-path top (about 498 m): a mapped path comes within about 90 m of the summit, with a last stretch of open ground (about 22 m of ascent, up to ~17°). 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; Copernicus GLO-30. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 144 fells.
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Castle How & Lang How - Birketts route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
Places to stay near this fell
From Grasmere: 10 places
Other fells near Castle How (Raw Pike)
- Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)
- Blea Rigg
- Bleaberry Fell
- Calf Crag
- Eagle Crag
- Gibson Knott
- Grange Fell (Brund Fell)
- Great Crag (Stonethwaite)
- Harrison Stickle
- Helm Crag
- High Raise (High White Stones)
- High Rigg (Naddle Fell)
- High Seat
- High Tove
- Loft Crag
- Loughrigg Fell
- Pavey Ark
- Pike of Stickle
- Raven Crag
- Sergeant Man
- Sergeant's Crag
- Silver How
- Steel Fell (Dead Pike)
- Tarn Crag (Easedale)
- Thunacar Knott
- Ullscarf
- Walla Crag