hikes.guideLake District

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

Birkett — Southern (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

Seathwaite Fell (Great Slack - Seathwaite Fell)

Seathwaite Fell at 601m (1,972ft) sits above the head of Borrowdale, its broad, boggy summit plateau forming the watershed between Styhead Gill and Grains Gill.

631 m
Height
+9
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

Home › Fells › Seathwaite Fell (Great Slack - Seathwaite Fell)

631 mBirkett — Southern (not a Wainwright summit)+9 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 631 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 14° to 13°C, gusts to 40 mph, 10.3 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌧️
14° / 13°
💨 40 mph
🌧 10.3 mm (99%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
14° / 11°
💨 33 mph
🌧 11.6 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
12° / 6°
💨 29 mph
🌧 2.8 mm (87%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
14° / 2°
💨 23 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (86%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
14° / 4°
💨 15 mph
🌧 4.5 mm (82%)
Sun 2 Aug
☁️
15° / 6°
💨 19 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (35%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
15° / 6°
💨 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 631 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

Seathwaite Fell (Great Slack - Seathwaite Fell)

Seathwaite Fell at 601m (1,972ft) sits above the head of Borrowdale, its broad, boggy summit plateau forming the watershed between Styhead Gill and Grains Gill. Wainwright included it in his Southern Fells guide, noting its relatively featureless top is redeemed by good views north down Borrowdale and south-east to the Great Gable group. The ascent from Seathwaite farm is short but damp in places. More commonly visited as part of the approach to the Scafell group via Aaron Crags or as an add-on from Styhead. The true summit is the Wainwright top — the AA cairn — on the north edge of the plateau.

Routes up Seathwaite Fell (Great Slack - Seathwaite Fell)

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

Seathwaite, Green Gable, Base Brown
14.8 km · ~4.5 hr
Classifications & hill data
Birkett
Synge
Nuttall
631 m
Height
2,070 ft
In feet
NY 2273 0971
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale (free verge), about 2.6 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Seathwaite Fell (Great Slack - Seathwaite Fell) (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.

1.4 km ESEHigh House Tarn Top (High House - Allen Crags)683 m · Southern
1.5 km ERed Beck Top (Glaramara South Top) (Lincomb Head - Glaramara)720 m · Southern
1.9 km ENELooking Steads (Glaramara)774 m · Southern
2.3 km SSWBroad Crag935 m · Southern
2.4 km SIll Crag931 m · Southern
2.5 km ENECombe Head735 m · Southern
2.8 km NEThornythwaite Fell574 m · Southern
3.0 km WNWKirk Fell East Top (Kirk Fell North Top)787 m · Western
3.0 km SSEPike de Bield810 m · Southern

Routes over Seathwaite Fell (Great Slack - Seathwaite Fell)

Seathwaite, Green Gable, Base BrownLive
14.79 km · ~938 m ascent · loop · ~4.5–6 h
Summits: Seathwaite Fell (Wainwright summit)Seathwaite Fell (Great Slack - Seathwaite Fell)Green GableBase Brown

⬇️ Download GPX

Full route guide ↗

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

Best parking to hike Seathwaite Fell (Great Slack - Seathwaite Fell)

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

Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale (free verge) — 2.6 km from summit (straight line)
Free verge parking on the Seathwaite lane — the honeypot start for the Scafells, Great Gable and Glaramara. Arrive very early.
Directions
🚺 Public toilets (1002m) — Free
Honister Pass (paid, slate mine) — 3.9 km from summit (straight line)
Pay & display at the top of the pass — Dale Head, Fleetwith Pike, Grey Knotts with minimal ascent.
Directions
🚺 Public toilets (61m) — Free🚺 Public toilets (1787m) — Free☕ Sky Hi Cafe

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 Seathwaite, Green Gable, Base Brown route:

🚺 map (39 m)

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

Buses to Seathwaite Fell (Great Slack - Seathwaite Fell) from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Stagecoach 78 “Borrowdale Rambler”
Keswick – Lodore – Grange – Rosthwaite – Seatoller
Catch it from: Keswick (connect via 555 or X4/X5)
Year-round, frequent in season. Serves all the Borrowdale starts — Glaramara, the Scafells and Great Gable via Seathwaite (alight Seatoller, 20 min walk up the lane).
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.

Other fells near Seathwaite Fell (Great Slack - Seathwaite Fell)

Maps & guidebooks for Seathwaite Fell (Great Slack - Seathwaite Fell)

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