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

Birkett — Southern (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

Eskdale Fell - Whinscales

Eskdale Fell - Whinscales is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), a quiet Western top reached by few walkers.

425 m
Height
+6
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX → Parking & buses →
425 mBirkett — Southern (not a Wainwright summit)+6 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 425 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 13° to 9°C, gusts to 25 mph, 0.7 mm of rain forecast.

Fri 11 Sep
🌦️
13° / 9°
💨 25 mph
🌧 0.7 mm (100%)
Sat 12 Sep
🌧️
15° / 10°
💨 43 mph
🌧 36.7 mm (100%)
Sun 13 Sep
🌦️
13° / 10°
💨 16 mph
🌧 1.1 mm (74%)
Mon 14 Sep
🌧️
15° / 8°
💨 32 mph
🌧 24.1 mm (96%)
Tue 15 Sep
🌧️
14° / 9°
💨 34 mph
🌧 14.1 mm (100%)
Wed 16 Sep
🌦️
11° / 10°
💨 33 mph
🌧 6.5 mm (96%)
Thu 17 Sep
🌧️
12° / 9°
💨 38 mph
🌧 12.0 mm (98%)

Forecast snapshot from 11 Sep 2026, 08:30 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 425 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.

Eskdale Fell - Whinscales at a glance

Eskdale Fell - Whinscales

Eskdale Fell - Whinscales is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), a quiet Western top reached by few walkers. It rises the upper Esk valley. The name comes from fell (Old Norse fjall, a mountain or hill). Its nearest tops are Great How - Eskdale Fell (0.7 km N); Dawsonground Crags (0.9 km SE); Whin Crag (Eskdale) (1.0 km S) — it's usually taken in on a round of these neighbours. It's a worthwhile objective for anyone working through the Birkett list, or as a short extension to a bigger day on the higher neighbouring fells.

Getting there

🅿️ Wha House, Eskdale (NT, free)
Upper Eskdale - Slight Side, Harter Fell and the Scafell approaches.
🅿️ Goat Crag (layby)
Walking base for Green Crag, Harter Fell (Eskdale) and Hard Knott — the 'Alternative Hardknott Round (Green Crag, Harter Fell & Hard Knott)' route starts 25 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). Grass surface (OSM-tagged).

Full parking & bus details ↓

Right now on the summit

🌦️ 13°low 9°C
Gusts25 mph

Full 7-day summit forecast →

Classifications & hill data

Birkett
425 m
Height
1,394 ft
In feet
NY 1972 0330
Grid ref

The short answers

Is Eskdale Fell - Whinscales a Wainwright?

Eskdale Fell - Whinscales is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list.

Where do you park for Eskdale Fell - Whinscales?

The nearest car park we hold is Wha House, Eskdale (NT, free), about 2.4 km from the summit in a straight line. 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.

Routes up Eskdale Fell - Whinscales

No route guide for this fell yet. The nearest routes we publish start close by:

Parking & buses for Eskdale Fell - Whinscales

Best parking to hike Eskdale Fell - Whinscales

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

Wha House, Eskdale (NT, free) — 2.4 km from summit (straight line)
Upper Eskdale - Slight Side, Harter Fell and the Scafell approaches.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Goat Crag (layby) — 2.5 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Green Crag, Harter Fell (Eskdale) and Hard Knott — the 'Alternative Hardknott Round (Green Crag, Harter Fell & Hard Knott)' route starts 25 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). Grass surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Goat Crag, south-east (layby) — 2.6 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Green Crag, Harter Fell (Eskdale) and Hard Knott — the 'Alternative Hardknott Round (Green Crag, Harter Fell & Hard Knott)' route starts 204 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Roadside parking for Horsehow Crags south (free) — 2.7 km from summit (straight line)
Approx 8 spaces. 1.1 km from Horsehow Crags. Added from the 5 Aug 2026 OSM candidate review.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Horsehow Crags (layby) — 2.9 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Horsehow Crags (0.8 km), Border End (1.2 km), Demming Crag (1.2 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?

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.

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 Eskdale Fell - Whinscales by bus

The nearest bus stop we hold is the 516 at Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel (at), 12.0 km of walking from the start — not realistically reachable without a car.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Hazards on Eskdale Fell - Whinscales

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

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

Nearest parking: Wha House, Eskdale (NT, free), about 2.4 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Eskdale Fell - Whinscales (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 NGreat How - Eskdale Fell522 m · Southern
0.9 km SEDawsonground Crags397 m · Southern
1.0 km SSEWhin Crag (Eskdale)358 m · Southern
1.7 km SSEGoat Crag312 m · Southern
2.1 km ENEHigh Scarth487 m · Southern
2.5 km ENESilverybield Crag395 m · Southern

On the hill: terrain and water on Eskdale Fell - Whinscales

Terrain & access

A pathless top (about 425 m) — the nearest mapped path is about 400 m away, the open ground you’d cross to the summit (about 71 m of ascent, up to ~42°). There is steep ground (over 30°) on the direct line — pick your line with care. 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.

Other fells near Eskdale Fell - Whinscales