hikes.guideLake District

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

Birkett — Far Eastern (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

High Dodd

High Dodd at 501m (1,644ft) is a Birkett top on the broad ridge above the eastern shore of Ullswater, giving views across the lake and towards the main Helvellyn massif.

501 m
Height
+6
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

Home › Fells › High Dodd

501 mBirkett — Far Eastern (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 501 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 17° to 14°C, gusts to 34 mph, 2.3 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌦️
17° / 14°
💨 34 mph
🌧 2.3 mm (100%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
17° / 12°
💨 26 mph
🌧 2.4 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
15° / 6°
💨 29 mph
🌧 0.8 mm (78%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
16° / 4°
💨 24 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (78%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
15° / 7°
💨 12 mph
🌧 5.1 mm (54%)
Sun 2 Aug
☁️
16° / 5°
💨 18 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (24%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
17° / 7°
💨 12 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 501 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

High Dodd

High Dodd at 501m (1,644ft) is a Birkett top on the broad ridge above the eastern shore of Ullswater, giving views across the lake and towards the main Helvellyn massif. Part of the Gowbarrow and Place Fell ridge above Ullswater. A quiet summit giving fine aerial views of the upper lake.

Routes up High Dodd

Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.

Birketts to the South of Ullswater
11.5 km · ~3.4 hr
Classifications & hill data
Birkett
Synge
501 m
Height
1,644 ft
In feet
NY 4155 1824
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Martindale, St Peter's church (free, limited), about 2.1 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near High Dodd (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.

0.9 km NNWLow Birk Fell373 m · Far Eastern
1.0 km NESleet Fell378 m · Far Eastern
1.3 km WBirk Fell (Bleaberry Knott - Birk Fell)512 m · Far Eastern
1.3 km WSWThe Knight552 m · Eastern
2.8 km NNWGreen Hill - Gowbarrow Park439 m · Eastern
2.9 km ESEBrownthwaite Crag444 m · Far Eastern

Routes over High Dodd

Birketts to the South of UllswaterPlanned
11.53 km · ~663 m ascent · loop · ~3–4.5 h
Summits: Sleet FellLow Birk FellBirk Fell (Bleaberry Knott - Birk Fell)The KnightHigh Dodd

⬇️ Download GPX

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.

Best parking to hike High Dodd

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

Martindale, St Peter's church (free, limited) — 2.1 km from summit (straight line)
Quiet side of Ullswater — Hallin Fell, Steel Knotts, Beda Fell, Pikeawassa.
Directions
Aira Force (NT, paid) — 2.8 km from summit (straight line)
For Gowbarrow Fell and the path toward Great Dodd via Dockray.
Directions
🚺 Aira Force Car Park (130m) — Free · Accessible☕ Aira Force Tearooms

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 to the South of Ullswater route:

🚌 Hause Farm (165 m)

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.

Buses to High Dodd from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Stagecoach 508 “Ullswater Bus”
Penrith – Pooley Bridge – Aira Force – Glenridding – Patterdale (summer services continue over Kirkstone Pass to Troutbeck and Windermere)
Catch it from: Penrith · Windermere (summer only)
The key route from Penrith for the Eastern and Far Eastern fells: Helvellyn from Glenridding, Place Fell, the Hartsop fells. The summer Kirkstone extension drops you at the pass for Red Screes and Caudale Moor.

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

Other fells near High Dodd

Maps & guidebooks for High Dodd

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases — at no extra cost to you. How affiliate links work →