Great How (Swirl Band)
775 m · Birkett — Southern (not a Wainwright summit) · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses and live summit weather.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 775 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 14° to 12°C, gusts to 36 mph, 4.2 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 775 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Three Shire Stone, Wrynose Pass (verge), about 2.7 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Great How (Swirl Band) (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.
Best parking to hike Great How (Swirl Band)
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. 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 Great How (Swirl Band) from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere
No regular bus serves the start points for this fell — this is one for the car (or a long approach from the nearest served valley). The nearest hubs are Penrith (X4/X5 & 508), Ambleside and Windermere (555, 505, 516).
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
My hikes over Great How (Swirl Band) (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Awesome trek up Wetherlam, Swirl How, Great Carrs, Grey Friars, Brim Fell, Dow Crag & Old Man of Coniston. (opens in new tab) — 19.2 km · 1417 m ascent · 5h 34m moving · 31 Aug 2024
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Other fells near Great How (Swirl Band)
- Allen Crags
- Black Fell
- Bowfell
- Brim Fell
- Cold Pike
- Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle)
- Dow Crag
- Esk Pike
- Glaramara
- Great Carrs
- Great End
- Green Crag
- Grey Friar
- Hard Knott
- Harter Fell (Eskdale)
- Holme Fell
- Illgill Head
- Lingmell
- Lingmoor Fell (Brown How)
- Pike of Blisco
- Rossett Pike
- Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
- Scafell
- Scafell Pike
- Seathwaite Fell (Wainwright summit)
- Slight Side
- Swirl How
- The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man)
- Wetherlam
- Whin Rigg (Wasdale)
Maps & guidebooks for Great How (Swirl Band)
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