Home / Routes / Wetherlam by Birk Fell

Written by Lee McCoy · Route guide updated 18 October 2026: ways off, decision points and grades changed · 171 of 214 Wainwrights with a Strava-matched summit

Severe steepnessLoopPlanned

Wetherlam by Birk Fell

8.22 km

Distance

~2½–3¾ h

Estimated time

~633 m

Ascent

Summits

A loop of about 8.2 km from Low Tilberthwaite, with about 630 m of climbing: on to Birk Fell, steeply up beside Wetherlam Edge to the top of Wetherlam, down the broad ridge to the south, and back to Low Tilberthwaite by the path beside Tilberthwaite Gill.

Start Low Tilberthwaite car park

Getting here Parking: Tilberthwaite (paid), 0.0 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 505 stops at Monk Coniston, at Hall; from there it is 3.5 km and 256 m of ascent to this start. And the same back: about 15.2 km in all, with the walk. Parking & buses ↓

Hardest part Severe steepness: Steepest sustained climb about 39% around the 2.6 km mark. Hands for a few steps: the climb beside Wetherlam Edge, from Birk Fell Hawse to the top (km 2.3–3.1).

Before you choose

The climb from Birk Fell Hawse to the top of Wetherlam is steep and on rock: about 39% sustained near 2.6 km, on paths OpenStreetMap maps with a rock surface, beside the crags it names Wetherlam Edge.
OpenStreetMap marks the path between about 4.6 and 5.2 km, on the steep descent to a ford, as very hard to see on the ground, and the path between about 1.5 and 1.8 km as hard to see.
Old mine workings are mapped beside the line, among them the Borlase Upper Copper Mine about 30 m from it near 1.8 km, the Wetherlam Copper Mine about 35 m near 6.65 km and the Tilberthwaite Tunnel adit about 13 m near 7.75 km. Keep to the paths and away from any opening.
About 1.3 km of the line, in three pieces, follows paths that OpenStreetMap does not record as public rights of way: below Hawk Rigg (about 1.1 to 1.45 km), just below the top (about 3.1 to 3.35 km) and part of the descent (about 3.9 to 4.6 km). The rest is public footpath and, at the start, Tilberthwaite Road. That is a map-data note, not a ruling on access: check the access land and rights of way maps before relying on this stretch.

Hazard & incident notes: Wetherlam

Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet. A route line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.

Download GPX →Planned route · not yet walked

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.

Last bus back20:07, the 505 · until 1 November
Hardest partHands for a few steps

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.

Route map

OpenTopoMap

Elevation profile, shaded by steepness

1 Birk Fell Man - Birk Fell2 Wetherlam

Easy 47%Moderate 40%Hard 8%Severe 5%

752 m

High point

152 m

Start height

Heights on this chart and its high point are read from the track itself (a terrain model sampled along the line, or a GPS recording), so a top can differ from its listed height, usually reading lower.

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).

The elevation profile is under the map; the stage notes follow.

The walk, stage by stage

1
Low Tilberthwaite car park → Birk Fell Man - Birk Fell (2.0 km, 369 m)
Climb of about 369 m over 2.0 km (around 18% average).
From the car park, cross the bridge on Yewdale Beck and go north-west up Tilberthwaite Road, a lane with no pavement mapped, over a stile at about 0.1 km. A track and then a public footpath lead on, over a stile at about 0.5 km, and the footpath climbs steeply north and north-north-west, across Blake Rigg Gill near 1.0 km. At about 1.1 km the line turns west on paths below Hawk Rigg, then a public footpath climbs west and west-north-west on to Birk Fell; OpenStreetMap marks the path between about 1.5 and 1.8 km as hard to see on the ground. The Borlase Upper Copper Mine is mapped about 30 m from the line near 1.8 km. The top, Birk Fell Man, is at about 2.0 km.
Waypoints
Low Tilberthwaite car park, Tilberthwaite Road, Blake Rigg Gill, Birk Fell, Birk Fell Man (528 m).
If you need to get off
Back the way you came: about 2 km to the car park.
2
Birk Fell Man - Birk Fell → Wetherlam (1.0 km, 252 m)
Climb of about 252 m over 1.0 km (around 25% average).
From Birk Fell Man follow the ridge west-south-west to Birk Fell Hawse at about 2.3 km. From the hawse the path climbs steeply south-west on paths OpenStreetMap maps with a rock surface, beside the crags it names Wetherlam Edge, about 40 m from the line near 2.5 km. This is the steepest climbing of the walk, about 39% sustained near 2.6 km. The gradient eases near 2.9 km, and the top of Wetherlam, with its cairn, is at about 3.05 km.
Waypoints
Birk Fell Man, Birk Fell Hawse, Wetherlam Edge, Wetherlam (763 m).
Easy to get wrong
The climb from Birk Fell Hawse is the steep part of the walk: about 240 m of height in about 0.75 km, on rock.
If you need to get off
Before the climb from Birk Fell Hawse (about 2.3 km), the way off is back over Birk Fell. From the top, going back means coming down the steep rock beside Wetherlam Edge; the line on, down the broad south ridge, is easier ground, though the path is hard to see lower down and there is a ford.
Wetherlam → Finish (5.2 km, 12 m)
Descent of about 603 m over 5.2 km.
From the top the line heads south-south-east down the broad ridge, a public footpath for part of the way, past Hen Crag, mapped 13 m from the line near 3.4 km, and Red Gill Head Moss near 4.15 km. At about 4.6 km it turns east-south-east and descends steeply on a path OpenStreetMap marks as very hard to see on the ground, to a stream crossing it maps as a ford at about 5.2 km. A public footpath then runs north-east and north for about 2 km, over Crook Beck near 6.1 km and past the Wetherlam Copper Mine, mapped about 35 m from the line near 6.65 km. At about 7.0 km the line turns east, crosses Yewdale Beck on a footbridge at about 7.2 km and follows the path down beside Tilberthwaite Gill, past the waterfall, through a kissing gate at about 7.65 km, over a second footbridge at about 7.75 km and down stone steps to the car park.
Waypoints
Wetherlam, Hen Crag, Red Gill Head Moss, the ford, Crook Beck, Wetherlam Copper Mine, Tilberthwaite Gill, Low Tilberthwaite car park (finish).
Decision point
Several ridges leave the top; the line goes down the broad ridge to the south-south-east.
Easy to get wrong
Several ridges leave the broad top of Wetherlam: check the way off the top against the map.
If you need to get off
From the top, the line on, down the broad south ridge, is the way down: going back means coming down the steep rock beside Wetherlam Edge. The path is hard to see lower down and there is a ford.

Download GPX

GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked

Summits bagged (2)

1Birk Fell Man - Birk Fell528 mSouthern · Birkett, Synge
2Wetherlam763 mSouthern · Wainwright, Birkett, Fellranger, Synge, Nuttall, HuMP, Hewitt

In the order you walk them — the same numbers the elevation profile, the stage notes and the pacing table use.

More about this walk

The start is the National Trust car park at Low Tilberthwaite, the start of The Tilberthwaite Birketts too; the last kilometre or so comes down the same path beside Tilberthwaite Gill.

Conditions and timing

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

Getting there and back

Parking

Tilberthwaite (paid) — 0.0 km from the start (straight line)

Quarry car park for Wetherlam and the Tilberthwaite fells. It runs a long way along the road with no single entrance: use the marked parking without blocking the road or gateways. The National Trust's own free car park is across the gill, by the farm track. Fees: pay by app only (no cash), RingGo location 37331 (LDNPA, checked Aug 2026).

Directions Something changed here?

Tilberthwaite (NT, free) — 0.1 km from the start (straight line)

The National Trust's car park at Low Tilberthwaite, by the farm track, across the gill from the National Park's paid car park; for Wetherlam and the Tilberthwaite fells. Free (National Trust).

Directions Something changed here?

Hodge Close (free) — 1.2 km from the start (straight line)

At Hodge Close Quarry, Little Langdale (OSM way/445437475). The 'Holme Fell and Black Fell' route passes about 130 m away; the nearest route start is the Three Shires Inn, Little Langdale ('Slater Bridge & Cathedral Cave'), 2.3 km on foot. Free (OSM-tagged). Compacted surface (OSM-tagged). The National Trust lists it as a private car park (read 18 Oct 2026).

Directions Something changed here?

2 more places to park near the start

Holme Fell, south (layby) — 1.4 km from the start (straight line)

On the lane by Yewdale Beck at Shepherd's Bridge, north of Coniston (OSM way/500441192). The Tarn Hows route starts, in the National Trust car park, are 1.7 km on foot and about 160 m up. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Holme Fell, east (layby) — 1.7 km from the start (straight line)

Beside the A593 at Yew Tree Tarn (OSM way/553755254). The Tarn Hows route starts, in the National Trust car park, are about 0.9 km away in a straight line. Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Positions are approximate.

Vehicles are left at their owner’s risk: we list places people park and cannot vouch for any of them. Take valuables with you and leave nothing on show.

Every option near this start, on the parking map →

If the parking is full

There is no real plan B here. Every place we know beside this route serves the same walks and sits close together, so expect them to fill on the same mornings. Worth starting early, or having a different walk in mind before you set off.

Tilberthwaite (paid) — at the start
Tilberthwaite (NT, free) — at the start

We never say whether anywhere has spaces today. Walks to the line are measured along mapped paths (OpenStreetMap), not in a straight line. How we choose these places.

No signal when you get there? RoutePark keeps this list on your phone: choose this walk’s GPX at home, keep it, and it opens offline.

Buses

The 505 stops at Monk Coniston, at Hall. From there it is 3.5 km and 256 m of ascent to this start — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 15.2 km in all, with the walk. As timetabled from 24 October to 1 November. Towards Coniston (505): 20:07, every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 12 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

Stagecoach 505 “Coniston Rambler”

Windermere – Ambleside – Skelwith Bridge – Hawkshead – Coniston

Catch it from: Windermere · Ambleside

Daily in season (reduced winter service). Best access for the Coniston fells (Old Man, Wetherlam group).

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.

Toilets and refreshments

The essentials

Arrival The National Trust car park at Low Tilberthwaite is at the start. 1 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap contributors, Cumbria extract of 24 July 2026, checked 17 October 2026)
Limitation Stiles, a steep rocky climb on to Wetherlam and stone steps at the finish: not a pushchair route. (OpenStreetMap contributors, via Overpass, 17 October 2026, checked 17 October 2026)

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.)

Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat

Planning detail

How each grade on this page is set, and the timings stage by stage.

Difficulty profile

Severe overall — hardest: Steepness; terrain not assessed; exposure not assessed on the ground

LengthModerate8.22 km round.

SteepnessSevereSteepest sustained climb about 39% around the 2.6 km mark.

TerrainNot assessedThe map holds no grading for what is underfoot on this line, so we don’t guess. A rating appears once the ground is assessed.

NavigationHardCare needed in cloud — 35 path junctions near the line. Hard – estimated from the map, not checked on the ground

ExposureNot assessedNot assessed on the ground; the map suggests Hard. 20 mapped crag feature(s) near the line — check the airy sections. Exposure (drops, scrambling, how bad a slip would be) needs the ground, so a map estimate is not given a grade here and does not count towards the overall grade.

HandsHands for a few stepsThe climb beside Wetherlam Edge, from Birk Fell Hawse to the top (km 2.3–3.1). our judgement from the map and the route’s record; not walked yet

Five independent axes, not one score. None of them was set on the ground: they are computed from the recorded track and the map, which measures the line rather than surveying the ground.

How we grade: each axis is Easy, Moderate, Hard or Severe, and a route between two bands takes the higher one. Length: under 8 km, 8–14 km, 14–20 km, over 20 km. Steepness, the steepest 500 m of the track: under 15%, 15–25%, 25–35%, over 35%. Terrain, navigation and exposure are judged rather than measured, and each note says why. How we grade.

Pacing

Summit	Cumulative	Ascent	Time (fast–steady)
1Birk Fell Man - Birk Fell	2.0 km	369 m	1:01–1:21
2Wetherlam	3.0 km	621 m	1:39–2:11
Finish	8.2 km	633 m	2:42–3:35

A fast–steady range from Naismith’s rule, deliberately on the slow side. Breaks, weather, rough ground and the slowest person in your party all add to it. How we time walks.

Access & barriers

Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route?

Dog

Stiles on the line

Buggy

Not buggy-able

Knees

Steep in places

Buggy: Stiles or rough going on the route.
Knees: A sustained ~30% descent over 250 m around the 4.7 km mark — a little jarring on tired knees.

With a dog

Hardest for a dog here: drops and exposed ground (estimated from the map). The steepest stretch is a sustained climb of about 39% around the 2.6 km mark.

Drops and exposed ground: Not assessed on the ground; the map suggests Hard. 20 mapped crag feature(s) near the line — check the airy sections.
Stiles and gates: Stiles of unmapped type at 0.1 and 0.5 km — a dog may need lifting over. (OpenStreetMap, mapped as of 2026-10-17)
Rock and scrambling: Hands for a few steps: the climb beside Wetherlam Edge, from Birk Fell Hawse to the top (km 2.3–3.1). Ground underfoot: Not assessed.
Ways off early: None recorded for this route.
Livestock, shade and water: Not recorded for this route yet. We never call a stream safe for a dog to drink, so carry enough for both of you. The lead rules, and what to do around cattle, are on dogs on the fells.

On the line: 1 kissing gate · 2 stiles (type unmapped)

Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 2026-10-17. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).

Walks from places nearby

Walks from Tom Gill waterfalls (Glen Mary) — 1.9 km from this start
Walks from Tarn Hows — 2.6 km from this start

Straight-line distance from this walk’s start. Those lists hold the routes we have mapped and every Wainwright and Outlying fell within about 5 km of the town, ranked nearest first.

All routes →