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339 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 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.

339 m
Height
+8
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

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339 mBirkett — Eastern (not a Wainwright summit)+8 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 339 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 17° to 16°C, gusts to 31 mph, 2.6 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌦️
17° / 16°
💨 31 mph
🌧 2.6 mm (100%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
17° / 13°
💨 28 mph
🌧 4.0 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
14° / 6°
💨 29 mph
🌧 2.1 mm (78%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
16° / 3°
💨 23 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (78%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
16° / 5°
💨 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 339 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 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. A fine viewpoint for appreciating the classic shape of Blencathra across the valley.

Routes up Castle Rock

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
339 m
Height
1,112 ft
In feet
NY 3216 1966
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Legburthwaite (United Utilities, small), about 0.6 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Castle Rock (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.

0.7 km NWWren Crag311 m · Eastern
1.2 km SWGreat How (Thirlmere)333 m · Eastern
1.7 km ENELittle Dodd (St John's Common)785 m · Eastern
1.7 km NNECalfhow Pike660 m · Eastern
2.0 km WSWThe Benn (Sippling Crag)446 m · Eastern
2.1 km SSEBrown Crag610 m · Eastern
2.3 km NWHigh Rigg (High Rigg South Top)343 m · Eastern
2.3 km WSWCastle Crag (Shoulthwalte)404 m · Eastern

Routes over Castle Rock

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 near-path top (about 339 m): a mapped path comes within about 166 m of the summit, with a last stretch of open ground (about 107 m of ascent, up to ~55°). There is steep ground (over 30°) on the direct line — pick your line with care. The summit is on CRoW open access land, but the direct approach crosses land that is neither access land nor a right of way — check access.

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 Rock

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

Legburthwaite (United Utilities, small) — 0.6 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) — 2.9 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 Rock 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.

Other fells near Castle Rock

Maps & guidebooks for Castle Rock

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