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

Birkett — Central (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

High Rigg (High Rigg South Top)

High Rigg South Top at 343m (1,125ft) is a Birkett top on the High Rigg ridge above the St John's in the Vale valley between Thirlmere and Blencathra.

343 m
Height
+7
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX → Parking & buses →

Home › Fells › High Rigg (High Rigg South Top)

Written and walked by Lee McCoy

343 mBirkett — Central (not a Wainwright summit)+7 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 343 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Sat 12 Sep): 17° to 8°C, gusts to 34 mph, 12.7 mm of rain forecast.

Sat 12 Sep
🌧️
17° / 8°
💨 34 mph
🌧 12.7 mm (100%)
Sun 13 Sep
☁️
16° / 10°
💨 11 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (12%)
Mon 14 Sep
🌦️
18° / 13°
💨 36 mph
🌧 3.2 mm (100%)
Tue 15 Sep
🌧️
16° / 10°
💨 37 mph
🌧 10.6 mm (98%)
Wed 16 Sep
🌦️
12° / 10°
💨 27 mph
🌧 4.1 mm (54%)
Thu 17 Sep
🌧️
12° / 10°
💨 35 mph
🌧 16.8 mm (97%)
Fri 18 Sep
🌧️
13° / 10°
💨 37 mph
🌧 13.8 mm (92%)

Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 18:50 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 343 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

High Rigg (High Rigg South Top) at a glance

High Rigg (High Rigg South Top)

High Rigg South Top at 343m (1,125ft) is a Birkett top on the High Rigg ridge above the St John's in the Vale valley between Thirlmere and Blencathra. The ridge gives fine views of both Blencathra's southern face and the Helvellyn range across Thirlmere. A pleasant walking ridge above one of the Lake District's most classically beautiful valleys.

Routes up High Rigg (High Rigg South Top)

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

Birketts North of Thirlmere
13.8 km · ~4.3 hr
Castle Rock, Wren Crag and the High Rigg tops above Thirlmere — six summits in 13.8 km with 910 m of climbing, and one stage averaging 28%, the steepest in this group. Hard for exposure; about 4.3 hours.

Classifications & hill data

Birkett
Synge
343 m
Height
1,125 ft
In feet
NY 3071 2147
Grid ref

The short answers

Is High Rigg (High Rigg South Top) a Wainwright?

High Rigg (High Rigg South Top) is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and the Synge list.

Where do you park for High Rigg (High Rigg South Top)?

The nearest car park we hold is High Rigg South Top (verge), about 1.1 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is High Rigg, west (layby), 1.5 km out. 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.

How hard is High Rigg (High Rigg South Top)?

The shortest way up we hold is Birketts North of Thirlmere — 13.8 km, 910 m of ascent, about 4.3 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.

All axes: steepness: Severe · exposure: Hard · length: Moderate · navigation: Moderate · terrain: Moderate.

My hikes over High Rigg (High Rigg South Top) (Strava)

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.

Parking & buses for High Rigg (High Rigg South Top)

Best parking to hike High Rigg (High Rigg South Top)

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

High Rigg South Top (verge) — 1.1 km from summit (straight line)
1.1 km from High Rigg High Rigg South Top.
Directions Something changed here?
High Rigg, west (layby) — 1.5 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: High Rigg (High Rigg South Top) (1.5 km), High Rigg (Naddle Fell) (1.5 km), Walla Crag (1.7 km). Free (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
St John's in the Vale verge, High Rigg (free) — 1.7 km from summit (straight line)
Free verge parking for High Rigg and Naddle Fell, room for about five cars. The nearest parking to either summit.
Directions Something changed here?
High Rigg, north-east (layby) — 1.8 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Threlkeld Knotts, Clough Head, Calfhow Pike and High Rigg (Naddle Fell) — the 'Threlkeld Knotts & Clough Head' route starts 340 m away. Also serves 'High Rigg'. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
High Rigg (layby) — 1.9 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Threlkeld Knotts, Clough Head, Calfhow Pike and High Rigg (Naddle Fell) — the 'Threlkeld Knotts & Clough Head' route starts 347 m away. Also serves 'High Rigg'. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions 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 High Rigg (High Rigg South Top) by bus

The 555 stops at Stanah Dam road end (near), 400 m from the start of Birketts North of Thirlmere. Last bus: Monday to Friday 21:35 towards Ambleside (555) and 20:35 towards Windermere (555) and 18:12 towards Kendal (555); Saturday 21:35 towards Ambleside (555) and 20:35 towards Windermere (555) and 18:12 towards Kendal (555); Sunday 19:42 towards Windermere (555) and 18:12 towards Kendal (555). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

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.

Hazards on High Rigg (High Rigg South Top)

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: High Rigg South Top (verge), about 1.1 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near High Rigg (High Rigg South Top) (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.

1.6 km SEWren Crag311 m · Central
2.2 km SSWThe Benn (Sippling Crag)446 m · Central
2.3 km SECastle Rock339 m · Eastern
2.4 km ECalfhow Pike660 m · Eastern
2.7 km SSWCastle Crag (Shoulthwaite)404 m · Central
2.8 km NEThrelkeld Knotts514 m · Eastern
2.8 km SSEGreat How (Thirlmere)333 m · Central

Routes over High Rigg (High Rigg South Top)

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 (Shoulthwaite)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. How to use this guide.

On the hill: terrain and water on High Rigg (High Rigg South Top)

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.

Places to stay near this fell

Fornside Farm Cottages guest house

about 1.1 km from the start, in a straight line

Ranked first on usefulness, not distance. It answers more of a walking family's questions than anything else in the valley: four separate self-catering units sleeping 4 or 6, an EV charger, dogs in two of the four, a private farm trail, and walks from the door onto the Helvellyn range the three routes climb. It is also 1.12 km from the start, so the tiebreak never had to be used.

The four cottages are converted 17th-century barns adjoining a grade II listed farmhouse, heated by a ground source heat pump part-powered by solar panels — and there is a private farm trail through the woods and fields for guests.

  • Family rooms “Rigg Barn was converted from a detached bank barn and sleeps up to six people.”
  • Parking “You can charge your electric vehicle on our PodPoint car charger, available exclusively for our guests.”
  • Children “We have just returned from a week in Swaledale Garth with our toddler.”

Dale Head Hall Lakeside Hotel hotel

about 2.1 km from the start, in a straight line

The only serviced hotel inside two and a half kilometres of the start, and the only property in the cluster offering rooms on the ground floor — which matters to anyone who has just come down Sticks Pass on tired knees, and to a family who would rather not carry a sleeping child upstairs. Several rooms are explicitly convertible to family use with extra single beds.

A 16th-century hall standing alone on the shore of Thirlmere inside a designated red squirrel reserve, with Helvellyn directly behind it; the site publishes its front door as the what3words location CRACKS.DIAMOND.RESPECTED.

  • Family rooms “A warm, traditionally designed family room, with one double and two single beds. Overlooking the back of the hotel.”
  • Evening meal “Why not enjoy a trip out to nearby Keswick for the day before coming back and enjoying a delicious bar meal.”
  • Children “This room can accommodate two extra single beds for a family.”

What each place says about itself, quoted from their own site. We have not stayed at any of them, and there are no prices, no booking and no affiliate links. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap.

Other fells near High Rigg (High Rigg South Top)