hikes.guideLake District

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

Birkett — North Western (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

Sand Hill

Sand Hill at 756m (2,480ft) is an intermediate summit on the Coledale Horseshoe ridge between Grisedale Pike and Hopegill Head, its grassy top giving fine views of the Coledale valley and the surrounding ridges.

756 m
Height
+11
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

Home › Fells › Sand Hill

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Last reviewed

756 mBirkett — North Western (not a Wainwright summit)+11 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 756 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 38 mph, 4.8 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌧️
14° / 12°
💨 38 mph
🌧 4.8 mm (99%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
13° / 10°
💨 28 mph
🌧 14.0 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
11° / 4°
💨 29 mph
🌧 3.0 mm (87%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
13° / 1°
💨 22 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (86%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
13° / 4°
💨 15 mph
🌧 2.7 mm (82%)
Sun 2 Aug
☁️
14° / 4°
💨 17 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (35%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
14° / 4°
💨 16 mph
🌧 0.4 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 756 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

Sand Hill

Sand Hill at 756m (2,480ft) is an intermediate summit on the Coledale Horseshoe ridge between Grisedale Pike and Hopegill Head, its grassy top giving fine views of the Coledale valley and the surrounding ridges. Wainwright included it as a separate fell on the horseshoe circuit. Most walkers pass through it without pausing on the circuit between Hopegill Head and Grisedale Pike. The views down Coledale to Braithwaite and Bassenthwaite Lake are pleasant from the summit ridge.

Routes up Sand Hill

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

Birketts around Grisedale Pike
11.7 km · ~3.3 hr
Coledale Round
16 km · ~5.1 hr · Hard
One of the great north-western horseshoes, and a properly big mountain day from Braithwaite. From the little car park tucked behind the trees on the Whinlatter Pass road — or straight off the bus — a steady wake-up climb leads up over Kinn and Sleet How before Grisedale Pike shows its hand: a steep, craggy pull the map never quite warns you about, with hands needed on rock near the top. From its rocky summit the round opens out — the airy ridge over Hobcarton Crag to Hopegill Head's tiny, wind-blown perch, the broad sweep to Crag Hill and Sail, then a long, satisfying horseshoe back over the quieter tops of Outerside, Stile End and Barrow. Six Wainwrights, a handful of Birkett tops, and some of the best ridge-walking in the Lakes for the effort.
The Grasmoor round: Whiteside, Hopegill Head and Whiteless Pike
16.2 km · ~5 hr · Hard
Ten tops and the finest ridge walking in the North Western Fells — up Whiteside, along the narrow crest of Gasgale Crags to Hopegill Head, over the great whaleback of Grasmoor, then out along Wandope and down the elegant cone of Whiteless Pike to Rannerdale. Sixteen kilometres, a thousand metres of climbing, and views over Crummock Water all the way round.
Classifications & hill data
Birkett
Synge
Nuttall
756 m
Height
2,480 ft
In feet
NY 1870 2187
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Lanthwaite Green (NT), about 2.9 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Sand Hill (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 ENEHobcarton Crag (Hobcarton Head)738 m · North Western
0.9 km NNWLadyside Pike704 m · North Western
0.9 km WNWGasgale Crags703 m · North Western
1.2 km WWhiteside East Top (Whiteside) (Gasgale Crags)719 m · North Western
1.2 km SSEEel Crag (Birkett)807 m · North Western
1.8 km NNEHobcarton End634 m · North Western
2.2 km WNWDodd (Lorton)454 m · North Western
2.3 km SThirdgill Head Man734 m · North Western
2.3 km NNWSwinside509 m · North Western
3.0 km SSEIll Crag (Newlands) (Knott Rigg North Top)546 m · North Western
3.0 km SSWLad Hows426 m · North Western

Routes over Sand Hill

Birketts around Grisedale PikePlanned
11.7 km · ~598 m ascent · loop · ~3–4.5 h
Summits: Hobcarton EndGrisedale PikeHobcarton Crag (Hobcarton Head)Sand HillHopegill HeadLadyside PikeSwinside

⬇️ 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.

Coledale RoundRevised
16.02 km · ~1108 m ascent · loop · ~5–7 h · Loop · Hard
Summits: KinnGrisedale PikeHobcarton Crag (Hobcarton Head)Hopegill HeadSand HillCrag Hill (Eel Crag)SailOutersideStile EndBarrow

✎️ The Whinlatter Pass road car park is small and tucked behind the trees — and the bus to Braithwaite makes this an easy car-free round, adding only a couple of hundred metres of road to reach the start.

⬇️ Download GPX

Best season: At its best in clear, settled weather — the airy sections and the broad Crag Hill plateau want good visibility, and they're exactly where care matters most. The lower path up from Braithwaite can be smothered in bracken at the height of summer; in firm winter conditions the Grisedale Pike climb and the exposed tops become a serious proposition for axe-and-crampon walkers only.

⚠️ Warnings: Grisedale Pike's upper climb is steep and craggy — you'll want hands on rock near the top. It's no place to be rushed, or to be in poor conditions.; Along Sand Hill and Hobcarton Crag, keep left in cloud: there's a sharp, rocky drop close on the right that's easy to drift towards.; Hopegill Head's summit is tiny and exposed — in a strong wind you may have to crouch to claim it.; Watch the short grassy ridge at Kinn; a careless step could slide you down the bank. Worth marking on the GPS.; Off Sail, take the switchback path down to the col — the alternative Long Comb line dropping to the right looked treacherous; avoid it.; High Moss is reliably boggy underfoot.

Full route guide ↗

A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass.

The Grasmoor round: Whiteside, Hopegill Head and Whiteless PikePlanned
16.17 km · ~1068 m ascent · loop · ~5–6.5 h · Hard
Summits: Whiteside (Whiteside West Top)Whiteside East Top (Whiteside) (Gasgale Crags)Gasgale CragsHopegill HeadSand HillGrasmoorWandopeThirdgill Head ManWhiteless PikeRannerdale Knotts

✎️ If you only do one round in the North Western Fells, this is it. Grasmoor is a bigger, wilder mountain than its modest reputation suggests, and the ridge from Whiteside over Gasgale Crags to Hopegill Head is as good as ridge walking gets outside the Langdales. Whiteless Pike at the end is a perfect little peak — and a punishing descent.

⬇️ Download GPX

Best season: Late spring to autumn, in clear conditions. Gasgale Crags is narrow and rocky, and Grasmoor’s summit plateau is a blank, stony expanse that is thoroughly disorientating in cloud.

⚠️ Warnings: The climb straight up Whiteside from Lanthwaite is brutally steep — a relentless, loose, eroded pull with little respite. It is the hardest 500 m on this route and it comes first.; Gasgale Crags is a narrow, rocky ridge. It is not a scramble in the Sharp Edge sense, but it is airy, the rock is loose in places, and it wants care in wind or wet.; Grasmoor’s summit is a featureless stony plateau with crags on three sides. In cloud it is a genuine navigation trap — take a bearing before you leave the cairn.; The descent off Whiteless Pike is a knee-breaker — steep, sustained and relentless, right at the end of a long day. It is one of the steepest sustained descents in the Lakes.; A long day with 1,068 m of ascent and ten tops. Navigation is graded hard: the high ground is broad and the drops are real.

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 Sand Hill

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

Lanthwaite Green (NT) — 2.9 km from summit (straight line)
At the foot of Grasmoor and Whiteside, Crummock Water.
Directions
Whinlatter Visitor Centre (paid) — 3.0 km from summit (straight line)
Forest centre — Lord's Seat, Barf, Whinlatter fells, Grisedale Pike's back route.
Directions
🚺 Whinlatter Forest Park Centre (120m) — Free☕ The Cottage in the Wood☕ Cafe Ambio

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 around Grisedale Pike route:

💧 possible water source (42 m)🚌 Visitors Centre (53 m)

On the Coledale Round route:

🛖 map (25 m)⛺ Hope Memorial Camp (64 m)

On the The Grasmoor round: Whiteside, Hopegill Head and Whiteless Pike route:

🛖 map (5 m)🚌 Lanthwaite Green Farm (58 m)

💧 Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is usually a tap or public supply, but never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock or a carcass upstream and leave you seriously ill. Run it through a filter or purifier (a LifeStraw, Sawyer Squeeze or HydraPak) or bring it to a rolling boil first.

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

Buses to Sand Hill from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Stagecoach 77 / 77A “Honister Rambler”
Keswick – Portinscale – Hawse End (Catbells) – Grange – Seatoller – Honister Pass – Buttermere – Lorton – Whinlatter – Keswick (circular)
Catch it from: Keswick (connect via 555 from Windermere/Ambleside or X4/X5 from Penrith)
Seasonal (roughly Easter–October). Brilliant for the North Western fells: Catbells, Dale Head from Honister, the Buttermere fells and Whinlatter.

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

My hikes over Sand Hill (Strava)

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

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

A note on Coledale Beck

Coledale Beck runs below the old Force Crag mine and carries mine-derived zinc — enough to matter for river life, though the lead and cadmium that would harm a person stay below the drinking limit here. Treat any hill water before drinking (a filter won’t remove dissolved metals); don’t single this beck out as a clean fill-up.

What’s actually in this beck — we mapped every mine-fed one →

Metal-mine water data © Environment Agency (Open Government Licence v3.0).

Other fells near Sand Hill

Maps & guidebooks for Sand Hill

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