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508 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

Wythburn Fell

Wythburn Fell at 508m (1,667ft) is a Birkett top on the broad moorland above the southern end of Thirlmere in the Central Fells, its grassy summit giving views across the reservoir and towards the Helvellyn range.

508 m
Height
+5
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →
508 mBirkett — Central (not a Wainwright summit)+5 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 508 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 16° to 14°C, gusts to 30 mph, 7.1 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌧️
16° / 14°
💨 30 mph
🌧 7.1 mm (100%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
16° / 12°
💨 30 mph
🌧 4.2 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
13° / 6°
💨 28 mph
🌧 1.3 mm (78%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
15° / 3°
💨 24 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (78%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
15° / 5°
💨 15 mph
🌧 3.6 mm (54%)
Sun 2 Aug
🌫️
16° / 7°
💨 19 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (24%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
17° / 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 508 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

Wythburn Fell

Wythburn Fell at 508m (1,667ft) is a Birkett top on the broad moorland above the southern end of Thirlmere in the Central Fells, its grassy summit giving views across the reservoir and towards the Helvellyn range. Part of the fell country above the Wythburn valley, the approach to Helvellyn from the A591. A quiet summit above the well-used Wythburn path.

Routes up Wythburn Fell

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

Classifications & hill data
Birkett
Synge
508 m
Height
1,667 ft
In feet
NY 3118 1253
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Wythburn Church, Thirlmere (paid), about 1.6 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Wythburn 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.

1.7 km WNWStanding Crag611 m · Central
2.2 km NNWBrown Rigg462 m · Central
2.3 km WColdbarrow Fell - High Saddle675 m · Central
2.5 km WNWLow Saddle656 m · Central

Routes over Wythburn Fell

23.11 km · ~1047 m ascent · loop · ~6–8.5 h

⬇️ Download GPX

⚠️ Warnings: Access: The summit of Fisher Crag lies outside mapped CRoW open-access land. That records no statutory right of access — it is not a statement that access is forbidden, and permissive access is not recorded in that layer. This line is computed rather than walked, so treat the access as unchecked and look for the courteous way through — how we work this out.

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.

Terrain & access

A pathless top (about 508 m) — the nearest mapped path is about 349 m away, the open ground you’d cross to the summit. The summit is not on CRoW open access land — there may be no public right to the top, so check access before you go.

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 Wythburn Fell

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

Wythburn Church, Thirlmere (paid) — 1.6 km from summit (straight line)
Direct forest path up Helvellyn's south ridge (Comb Crags).
Directions (opens in new tab)
Steel End, Thirlmere (paid) — 1.9 km from summit (straight line)
South end of Thirlmere for the Wythburn valley and Armboth fells.
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.

Water & shelter on the way up

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

Buses to Wythburn Fell 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.

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

Maps & guidebooks for Wythburn Fell

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