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734 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

Thirdgill Head Man

Thirdgill Head Man is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), a quiet North Western top reached by few walkers.

734 m
Height
+8
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

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734 mBirkett — North Western (not a Wainwright summit)+8 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 734 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 38 mph, 4.8 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌧️
14° / 13°
💨 38 mph
🌧 4.8 mm (99%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
13° / 10°
💨 28 mph
🌧 14.0 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
12° / 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
☁️
15° / 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 734 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

Thirdgill Head Man

Thirdgill Head Man is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), a quiet North Western top reached by few walkers. The name comes from head (Old English heafod, the head or top of a valley). Its nearest tops are Wandope (0.5 km E); Whiteless Pike (0.7 km SW); Grasmoor (1.1 km NW) — 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 Thirdgill Head Man

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

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.
High Snockrigg, Eel Crag & Lad Hows
15.7 km · ~5.5 hr
Classifications & hill data
Birkett
734 m
Height
2,408 ft
In feet
NY 1835 1960
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Buttermere village (NT, paid), about 2.7 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Thirdgill Head Man (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.

1.2 km WSWLad Hows426 m · North Western
1.3 km NNEEel Crag (Birkett)807 m · North Western
1.7 km ESEIll Crag (Newlands) (Knott Rigg North Top)546 m · North Western
2.3 km NSand Hill756 m · North Western
2.6 km NNWWhiteside East Top (Whiteside) (Gasgale Crags)719 m · North Western
2.6 km NNWGasgale Crags703 m · North Western
2.7 km NNEHobcarton Crag (Hobcarton Head)738 m · North Western
2.7 km SHigh Snockrigg526 m · North Western

Routes over Thirdgill Head Man

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.

High Snockrigg, Eel Crag & Lad HowsPlanned
15.69 km · ~1399 m ascent · loop · ~5.5–7.5 h
Summits: High SnockriggWhiteless PikeThirdgill Head ManCrag Hill (Eel Crag)Eel Crag (Birkett)GrasmoorLad Hows

⬇️ 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.

Best parking to hike Thirdgill Head Man

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

Buttermere village (NT, paid) — 2.7 km from summit (straight line)
For Red Pike, High Stile, Robinson, Rannerdale Knotts.
Directions
🚺 Buttermere village (132m) — Accessible☕ Syke Farm Tea Room☕ Croft House Farm Café🍺 The Buttermere Court Hotel
Lanthwaite Green (NT) — 3.0 km from summit (straight line)
At the foot of Grasmoor and Whiteside, Crummock Water.
Directions

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

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

On the High Snockrigg, Eel Crag & Lad Hows route:

🛖 map (9 m)🛖 map (52 m)🚌 Mountain Road junction (11 m)🚌 Bridge Hotel (133 m)🚌 The Fish Hotel (184 m)🚌 Buttermere Youth Hostel (N bound) (209 m)⛺ Syke Farm Campsite (355 m)

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

Buses to Thirdgill Head Man 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.

Other fells near Thirdgill Head Man

Maps & guidebooks for Thirdgill Head Man

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