Howes
583 m · Outlying Fell — South Lakeland · 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 583 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Sat 12 Sep): 14° to 7°C, gusts to 45 mph, 21.7 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 18:50 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 583 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Getting there
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Howes a Wainwright?
Howes is one of Wainwright's Outlying Fells, not one of the 214 in the Pictorial Guides.
Where do you park for Howes?
The nearest car park we hold is Branstree, north (layby), about 2.4 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Brown Howe (layby), 2.4 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.
Routes up Howes
No route guide for this fell yet. The nearest routes we publish start close by:
- Mardale Ill Bell, High Street, The Knott, Rampsgill Head, High Raise and Kidsty Pike — starts 2.9 km away
- Mardale circuit — starts 2.9 km away
- Two Birketts from Mardale Head — starts 2.9 km away
Parking & buses for Howes
Best parking to hike Howes
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.
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 Howes by bus
The nearest bus stop we hold is the 508 at Hartsop, adjacent to road end, 8.4 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 Howes
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
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Branstree, north (layby), about 2.4 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Howes (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.