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358 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

Whin Crag (Eskdale)

Whin Crag at 358m (1,175ft) is a Birkett top above the Eskdale valley in the Western Fells, its rocky summit giving views across Eskdale and towards the Scafell group.

358 m
Height
+9
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →
358 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 358 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 16° to 15°C, gusts to 26 mph, 2.8 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌦️
16° / 15°
💨 26 mph
🌧 2.8 mm (99%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
16° / 13°
💨 23 mph
🌧 5.6 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
14° / 9°
💨 29 mph
🌧 2.8 mm (87%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
16° / 5°
💨 23 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (86%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
16° / 6°
💨 15 mph
🌧 3.3 mm (82%)
Sun 2 Aug
☁️
18° / 10°
💨 20 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (35%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
17° / 9°
💨 16 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 358 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.

About the walk

Key information

Whin Crag (Eskdale)

Whin Crag at 358m (1,175ft) is a Birkett top above the Eskdale valley in the Western Fells, its rocky summit giving views across Eskdale and towards the Scafell group. Part of the fell country above the middle reaches of Eskdale. A quiet summit with fine views of the upper Esk valley.

Classifications & hill data
Birkett
358 m
Height
1,175 ft
In feet
NY 2004 0232
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Dalegarth Station, Eskdale (paid), about 3.1 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Whin Crag (Eskdale) (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.

0.5 km NEDawsonground Crags397 m · Southern
0.7 km SSEGoat Crag312 m · Southern
1.0 km NNWEskdale Fell - Whinscales425 m · Western
1.7 km NGreat How - Eskdale Fell522 m · Western
2.4 km SKepple Crag328 m · Southern
2.5 km NEHigh Scarth487 m · Southern
2.7 km NESilverybield Crag395 m · Southern
2.8 km EBorder End522 m · Southern
2.8 km ESEHorsehow Crags433 m · Southern

Terrain & access

A pathless top (about 358 m) — the nearest mapped path is about 447 m away, the open ground you’d cross to the summit (about 53 m of ascent, up to ~29°). The summit is on CRoW open access land.

Computed from open data, not walked — pathless ground needs confident navigation, and mapped paths, barriers and access boundaries can be incomplete. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass); Natural England CRoW Access Land; DoBIH; Copernicus GLO-30. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 145 fells.

Best parking to hike Whin Crag (Eskdale)

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

Dalegarth Station, Eskdale (paid) — 3.1 km from summit (straight line)
Pay & display at the La'al Ratty terminus — Eskdale fells, Harter Fell, Green Crag.
Directions (opens in new tab)
Hardknott Pass (roadside pull-ins) — 3.8 km from summit (straight line)
Limited pull-ins near the pass summit for Hard Knott and Harter Fell. Don't block passing places.
Directions (opens in new tab)

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.

Buses to Whin Crag (Eskdale) from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway (“La'al Ratty”)
Ravenglass (Cumbrian Coast main line) – Eskdale Green – Dalegarth for Boot
Catch it from: Connects from the Cumbrian Coast line (not from Penrith/Ambleside/Windermere directly)
Not a bus, but the only public transport into Eskdale. Wasdale has no public transport at all — car (or a long walk in) is the realistic option for the Wasdale fells.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Maps & guidebooks for Whin Crag (Eskdale)

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