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

Birkett — Western (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 →

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425 mBirkett — Western (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 (Tue 28 Jul): 16° to 14°C, gusts to 26 mph, 2.8 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌦️
16° / 14°
💨 26 mph
🌧 2.8 mm (99%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
15° / 12°
💨 23 mph
🌧 5.6 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
14° / 8°
💨 29 mph
🌧 2.8 mm (87%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
15° / 4°
💨 23 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (86%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
15° / 6°
💨 15 mph
🌧 3.3 mm (82%)
Sun 2 Aug
☁️
17° / 10°
💨 20 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (35%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
17° / 8°
💨 16 mph
🌧 0.2 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 425 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

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.

Classifications & hill data
Birkett
425 m
Height
1,394 ft
In feet
NY 1972 0330
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Dalegarth Station, Eskdale (paid), about 3.5 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 · Western
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

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 145 fells.

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).

Dalegarth Station, Eskdale (paid) — 3.5 km from summit (straight line)
Pay & display at the La'al Ratty terminus — Eskdale fells, Harter Fell, Green Crag.
Directions
🚺 Dalegarth Station (263m) — Accessible☕ Fellbites Cafe
Wasdale Head (NT car park) — 3.7 km from summit (straight line)
National Trust, pay & display (free for members). The classic base for Scafell Pike, Great Gable, Kirk Fell, Yewbarrow. Fills very early.
Directions
🍺 Wasdale Head Inn

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.

Buses to Eskdale Fell - Whinscales from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway (“La'al Ratty”)
Ravenglass (Cumbrian Coast main line) – Eskdale Green – Dalegarth for Boot
Catch it from: Connects from the Cumbrian Coast line (not from Penrith/Ambleside/Windermere directly)
Not a bus, but the only public transport into Eskdale. Wasdale has no public transport at all — car (or a long walk in) is the realistic option for the Wasdale fells.

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

Other fells near Eskdale Fell - Whinscales

Maps & guidebooks for Eskdale Fell - Whinscales

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