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411 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

Swinescar Pike

Swinescar Pike (411 m / 1,348 ft) is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), one of the lesser-known Central tops.

411 m
Height
+3
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

Home › Fells › Swinescar Pike

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Last reviewed

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

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

Modelled guidance for the 411 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 17° to 15°C, gusts to 33 mph, 10.3 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌧️
17° / 15°
💨 33 mph
🌧 10.3 mm (100%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
17° / 13°
💨 26 mph
🌧 2.7 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
14° / 7°
💨 28 mph
🌧 1.3 mm (78%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
16° / 3°
💨 24 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (78%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
16° / 5°
💨 15 mph
🌧 3.6 mm (54%)
Sun 2 Aug
🌫️
17° / 7°
💨 19 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (24%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
18° / 7°
💨 12 mph
🌧 0.2 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 411 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

Swinescar Pike

Swinescar Pike (411 m / 1,348 ft) is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), one of the lesser-known Central tops. It rises the Grasmere and Easedale. The name comes from pike (Old Norse pík, a peak). It also features on the Synge list. Its nearest tops are Lang How (0.3 km E); Castle How (Raw Pike) (0.9 km NW); Silver How (1.1 km E) — it's usually taken in on a round of these neighbours. It's a worthwhile objective for anyone working through the Birkett list, or as a short extension to a bigger day on the higher neighbouring fells.

Routes up Swinescar Pike

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

Castle How & Lang How - Birketts
10.9 km · ~2.9 hr
West of Grasmere
15.4 km · ~4.4 hr
Classifications & hill data
Birkett
Synge
411 m
Height
1,348 ft
In feet
NY 3148 0700
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Grasmere village (paid), about 2.3 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Swinescar Pike (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.

0.3 km ELang How414 m · Central
0.9 km NWCastle How (Raw Pike)498 m · Central
2.7 km SWSide Pike362 m · Central

Routes over Swinescar Pike

Castle How & Lang How - BirkettsPlanned
10.91 km · ~445 m ascent · loop · ~2.5–4 h
Summits: Lang HowSwinescar PikeCastle How (Raw Pike)

⬇️ 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.

West of GrasmereRevised
15.44 km · ~806 m ascent · loop · ~4–6 h
Summits: Tarn Crag (Easedale)Codale HeadSergeant ManBlea RiggSwinescar PikeSilver How

⬇️ 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 Swinescar Pike

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

Grasmere village (paid) — 2.3 km from summit (straight line)
For Helm Crag, Silver How, the Easedale fells and the Far Easedale round.
Directions
🚺 Grasmere (71m) — Accessible · RADAR key🚺 Stock Lane carpark (425m) — Accessible☕ The Little Inn Coffee Shop☕ Grasmere Tea Gardens☕ Thirteen Valleys Kitchen🍺 1769 Bar & Restaurant🍺 Tweedies Bar🍺 The Distiller’s Arms🏪 Grasmere Outdoors🏪 Mountain Hi🏪 Trespass🏪 Mountain Warehouse
Stickle Ghyll / New Dungeon Ghyll (NT, paid) — 2.5 km from summit (straight line)
Direct start up Stickle Ghyll for the Langdale Pikes.
Directions
🚺 Public toilets (640m) — Free🚺 Public toilets (770m) — Free

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 Castle How & Lang How - Birketts route:

🛖 map (42 m)🚌 Stock Lane at School (17 m)🚌 School (69 m)🚌 map (255 m)🚌 Daffodil House for Dove Cottage (313 m)

On the West of Grasmere route:

🛖 map (44 m)🚌 Heaton Cooper Studio (227 m)🚌 School (266 m)🚌 Stock Lane at School (301 m)⛺ map (486 m)

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

Buses to Swinescar Pike 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 516 “Langdale Rambler”
Ambleside – Skelwith Bridge – Elterwater – New Dungeon Ghyll – Old Dungeon Ghyll
Catch it from: Ambleside · Windermere (change at Ambleside)
The Langdale bus — Pikes, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags, Pike o' Blisco all walkable from the Dungeon Ghyll stops. Seasonal frequency varies; check before relying on the last bus back.

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

My hikes over Swinescar Pike (Strava)

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

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

Other fells near Swinescar Pike

Maps & guidebooks for Swinescar Pike

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