⛰️ Sour Howes

483 m · Wainwright — Far Eastern Fells · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

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483 mWainwright — Far Eastern Fells✓ summit is also a Birkett+1 bonus Birkett within 3 km

📖 Key Information

Sour Howes at 483m (1,585ft) is a broad, grassy summit above Troutbeck with good views south to Windermere. Wainwright noted it as a pleasant, easy outing from Troutbeck, its summit open moorland with fine views of the Kentmere fells. Combined naturally with Sallows as a gentle circuit above the Troutbeck valley. A good low-level option when the higher fells are in cloud.

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

🎯 Bonus Birketts 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.

0.6 km SECapple Howe445 m · Far Eastern

⚠️ Hazard & Incident Information

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🦶 My hikes over Sour Howes (Strava)

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🅿️ Potential parking

Church Bridge, Troutbeck (limited) — 2.3 km from summit (straight line)
For Wansfell, Troutbeck Tongue and the Ill Bell ridge via Garburn Pass.
Directions ↗
Kentmere Institute (donation, very limited) — 2.9 km from summit (straight line)
Tiny — arrive by 8am or use the verges lower down. Kentmere Horseshoe: Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick, Kentmere Pike.
Directions ↗

Positions are approximate — zoom the map to confirm. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.

🚌 Buses from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

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.
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.

🌦️ 7-day summit forecast

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Other fells in this region

Open Sour Howes in the interactive explorer ↗