Castle Rock
Castle Rock at 339m (1,112ft) is a rocky Birkett top above the St John's in the Vale valley between Thirlmere and Blencathra, its dramatic crag face a well-known rock climbing venue. The summit gives views along the valley and towards Blencathra and Helvellyn.
Summit conditions on Castle Rock
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 13° to 7°C, gusts to 49 mph, 13.4 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 Castle Rock
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Castle Rock, Wren Crag and the High Rigg tops above Thirlmere — six summits in 13.9 km with 972 m of climbing, and one stage averaging 28%, the steepest in this group. About 4¼–6 hours.
Distance and climb are measured from the route’s GPX track, and the time from them by Naismith’s rule; the route page says what each grade rests on. How we check →
How hard is Castle Rock?
The shortest way up we hold is Birketts North of Thirlmere — 13.91 km, 972 m of ascent, ~4¼–6 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 339 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 27 October 2026, 08:13 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for Castle Rock
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
2 more places to park near Castle Rock
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 555 stops at Stanah Dam road end (near), a 400 m walk from the start of Birketts North of Thirlmere — a route we rate Hard overall (hardest: steepness). As timetabled from 27 October to 1 November. Towards Kendal (555): Tuesday to Friday 21:35 to Ambleside, 20:35 to Windermere, 17:42 to Kendal; Saturday 21:35 to Ambleside, 20:35 to Windermere, 18:12 to Kendal; Sunday 19:42 to Windermere, 18:12 to Kendal. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 24 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.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Hazards on Castle Rock
Notes from a planned route, not walked: Birketts North of Thirlmere
If you need to get off (the leg from the start): Simply retrace your steps down the steep ascent path back to the Legburthwaite car park. Do not attempt to scramble down the sheer, vertical rock face on the western side.
Quoted from the route page of a planned route, drawn from the map and not yet walked: the note for the leg that reaches Castle Rock.
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 Castle Rock
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
Routes over Castle Rock
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 Castle Rock
Terrain & access
A near-path top (about 339 m): a mapped path comes within about 166 m of the summit. We have not checked a way from it to the top: the figures here are measured along a straight line on a terrain model, not a route. That line climbs about 107 m. At its steepest it crosses crag (about 55°): it is not a way up.
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 v18.4 (CC BY 4.0); 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 Birketts North of Thirlmere route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
Access on Castle Rock
Access: Castle Rock stands on United Utilities (Thirlmere estate) (opens in new tab)’s land, which the landowner manages for public access with permissive paths. This is invited access, not open-access land — the estate can close or re-route paths (storm damage and forestry work are common reasons), so check United Utilities (Thirlmere estate)’s current information before travelling. (Source: UU permissive estate; walkers' path up the east side (front face is a climbing crag), accessed 2026-07-29.)
Closures and re-routes are announced by the landowner, not on the national map.
How we worked out the access
Summit and approach positions are tested against Natural England’s CRoW Act 2000 access layer; rights of way and wall or fence detail come from OpenStreetMap. Both are open datasets with known gaps — in our own survey only 4 of 26 wall and fence crossings had a stile or gate mapped within 150 m — so absence of a mapped feature never means absence of a real one. Nothing here is field-verified unless marked, and none of it is legal advice. How we checked 377 fells.
Access land: © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
About Castle Rock
Classifications & hill data
Is Castle Rock a Wainwright?
Castle Rock 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
- Fornside Farm Cottages (opens in new tab) guest houseabout 1.1 km
- Dale Head Hall Lakeside Hotel (opens in new tab) hotelabout 2.1 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).