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11.86 km · ~478 m ascent · ~3–4.5 h · loop · 5 summits

Home / Routes / Green Crag & Great Whinscale — the wild Birker Fell round
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Green Crag & Great Whinscale — the wild Birker Fell round

11.86 km
Distance
~3–4.5 h
Typical time
~478 m
Ascent
5
Summits
Download GPX →Maps & guidebooks

Key facts

Distance 11.86 km
Ascent ~478 m
Descent ~480 m
Time ~3–4.5 h
Best season Best after a dry spell and in clear weather — Birker Moor is rough, boggy and pathless in places, and easy to misread in low cloud.
Type Loop
A wild, trackless round over the knobbly tops of Birker Fell, in the empty south-western corner of the Lakes that most walkers never reach. From the Birker Fell road it crosses open, boggy moor past Devoke Water — the Lake District's largest tarn — to a cluster of five rocky little summits: Great Whinscale, Crook Crag, then Green Crag, the Wainwright and high point of the day, before Broad Crag and Great Crag on Birker Fell. Under 12 km but genuinely rough underfoot, with proper solitude and a big view over the Duddon, Eskdale and out to the sea.

✎️ Park on the verge at the Devoke Water turning on the Birker Fell road between Ulpha and Eskdale — a narrow, remote fell road, so come prepared and don't rely on a phone signal. It's a long walk in across open moor to the first top.

✎️ 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.

🧭 The automated detail on this page — distance, climb, pacing and a first-pass difficulty read — is live. Hand-written field notes are being added.

Difficulty profile

LengthModerate11.86 km round.
SteepnessHardSteepest sustained pull about 25% around the 4.3 km mark.
TerrainModerateMostly good mountain path. desk assessment — not field-verified
NavigationModerateClear line, hard to stray. desk assessment — not field-verified
ExposureNot assessedExposure (drops, scrambling, how bad a slip would be) can’t be judged from gradient data alone, so we don’t guess. A rating appears once the route is editorially assessed or walked.

Five independent axes, not one score. “Desk” ratings come from maps and guidebooks, not yet walked — treat them as a guide, not a survey.

Conditions on this route

We score every Lakeland Wainwright each morning on cloud, wind, rain and underfoot, and this route crosses 1 of them. The worst summit governs the verdict — a route is only as kind as its roughest top.

Modelled guidance — not a substitute for the mountain forecast or your own judgement. See how every fell ranks today →

☀️ Daylight & turnaround

Daylight is short from October to February — check today’s sunrise and sunset before you set off, and carry a head-torch and spare batteries. On short days, decide your turn-back time before you start.

Why this matters: 78% of Mountain Rescue call-outs come after midday — the day runs out on the way home, not on the way up. See also walking in bad weather and today’s conditions.

OpenTopoMap
Elevation profile
Elevation profile Rises from about 57 m to 463 m over 11.9 km, with the summits marked in order. 463 m 57 m 0 km 11.9 km 12345

1 Great Whinscale2 Crook Crag3 Green Crag4 Broad Crag - Birker Fell5 Birker Fell - Great Crag

~478 m
Total ascent
463 m
High point
238 m
Start height

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right).

This walk covers about 11.86 km with around 478 m of ascent, taking in 5 summits. The map above shows the line; the elevation profile and stage notes are below.

Access & barriers

Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route? A quick read from the gates and stiles mapped along the way.

Dog
Mostly gates
Buggy
Not buggy-able
Knees
Gentle descent
  • Dog: A stile of unmapped type — a dog may need lifting over.
  • Buggy: Stiles or rough going on the route.
  • Knees: No sustained steep descent — kind on the knees.

On the line: 10 gates · 1 stile (type unmapped)

These are mapped barriers, from OpenStreetMap — coverage in the Lakes is good but not guaranteed complete. Spotted a stile or gate we’ve missed? Tell us and we’ll fix it. Barrier data as of 2026-07-09. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).

Pacing

SummitCumulativeAscentTime (fast–steady)
Great Whinscale6.4 km378 m1:55–2:33
Crook Crag6.8 km394 m2:01–2:41
Green Crag7.4 km433 m2:12–2:55
Broad Crag - Birker Fell8.6 km441 m2:27–3:16
Birker Fell - Great Crag9.4 km441 m2:37–3:29
Finish11.9 km478 m3:10–4:13

Naismith-based estimate — a fast/steady range. Your pace will vary.

The walk, stage by stage

Start → Great Whinscale (6.4 km, 378 m)

Climb of about 378 m over 6.4 km (around 6% average).

Great Whinscale → Crook Crag (0.4 km, 16 m)

Undulating section of about 0.4 km.

Crook Crag → Green Crag (0.5 km, 40 m)

Undulating section of about 0.5 km.

Green Crag → Broad Crag - Birker Fell (1.3 km, 8 m)

Descent of about 121 m over 1.3 km.

Broad Crag - Birker Fell → Birker Fell - Great Crag (0.8 km, 0 m)

Descent of about 43 m over 0.8 km.

Birker Fell - Great Crag → Finish (2.4 km, 37 m)

Descent of about 67 m over 2.4 km.

Stage-by-stage field notes coming soon.

Summits bagged (5)

🅿️ Getting there & parking

Devoke Water turning, Birker Fell road (verge) — 0.0 km from the start (straight line)
Rough free parking by the bridleway to Devoke Water for the Birker Fell group.
Directions
Dalegarth Station, Eskdale (paid) — 2.9 km from the start (straight line)
Pay & display at the La'al Ratty terminus — Eskdale fells, Harter Fell, Green Crag.
Directions

Positions are approximate. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.

💧 No mapped drinking water or shelter on this route — that doesn’t mean there is none, and never drink untreated from a beck. (Facilities data © OpenStreetMap contributors.)

🚌 Buses

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 or Traveline before travelling.

⚠️ Safety & conditions

Check live conditions in the “From the fells” panel, on MWIS and the Met Office mountain forecast before you set off.

Make it easier or harder

Short version: turn back at about 6.5 km (drop to Start) — roughly half the distance.

⬇️ Download

Download GPX

GPX track for your GPS or phone.

📚 Maps & guidebooks for Green Crag & Great Whinscale — the wild Birker Fell round

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