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475 m · Wainwright — Central Fells · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Wainwright — Central Fells

Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)

Armboth Fell at 479m (1,572ft) is a broad, peaty summit on the central plateau between Thirlmere and Watendlath, giving adequate views across to the Helvellyn range.

475 m
Height
~2.5–3 h
Typical time
+10
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →
475 mWainwright — Central Fellssummit is not a Birkett top+10 bonus Birketts within 3 km Severe in cloud

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

Modelled guidance for the 475 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 32 mph, 4.0 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌦️
16° / 14°
💨 32 mph
🌧 4.0 mm (100%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
16° / 12°
💨 30 mph
🌧 4.6 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
14° / 5°
💨 29 mph
🌧 2.0 mm (78%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
15° / 2°
💨 23 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (78%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
15° / 4°
💨 14 mph
🌧 5.4 mm (54%)
Sun 2 Aug
🌫️
16° / 4°
💨 18 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (24%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
17° / 5°
💨 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 475 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

Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)

Armboth Fell at 479m (1,572ft) is a broad, peaty summit on the central plateau between Thirlmere and Watendlath, giving adequate views across to the Helvellyn range. Wainwright included it as part of the Central Fells, noting its somewhat boggy and uninspiring character — not one of his enthusiasms. The ascent from Thirlmere is short and the summit is most naturally combined with High Tove and Watendlath for a quiet circuit above the reservoir. The Thirlmere views are reasonable on a clear day.

Routes up Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)

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

Classifications & hill data
Wainwright
Central
Synge
475 m
Height
1,558 ft
In feet

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Watendlath (NT, paid), about 2.3 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top) (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.

0.2 km NNEArmboth Fell (Birkett)479 m · Central
0.8 km WSWShivery Knott491 m · Central
0.8 km WMiddle Crag484 m · Central
1.1 km ENEFisher Crag421 m · Central
1.1 km SWWatendlath Fell (Long Moss)515 m · Central
1.5 km SEBrown Rigg462 m · Central
2.4 km SStanding Crag611 m · Central
2.6 km SSWLow Saddle656 m · Central
2.9 km SSWColdbarrow Fell - High Saddle675 m · Central

Routes over Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)

14.26 km · ~545 m ascent · loop · ~3.5–5 h
Summits: Standing CragShivery KnottMiddle CragHigh ToveArmboth Fell (Birkett)Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)

⬇️ Download GPX

Full route guide ↗

A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass.

The View from Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)

A computed 360° skyline — every visible named top labelled by distance and bearing, from the terrain model in perfect clarity, not photographed. Drag to pan; reveal the far four-nations horizon.

drag to pan · arrow keys
Computed 360-degree skyline from Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)34 labelled tops shown (0 distant behind the far-horizon toggle). Theoretical visibility in perfect clarity; computed from terrain, not photographed.eye levelNNEESESSWWNWScafell Pike · 12 kmHelvellyn · 5 kmBowfell · 11 kmGreat Gable · 10 kmPillar · 13 kmNethermost Pike · 5 kmEsk Pike · 10 kmHigh Crag · 5 kmRaise · 5 kmFairfield · 7 kmBlencathra · 12 kmWhite Side · 4 kmGreat Dodd · 7 kmGrasmoor · 13 kmLingmell · 12 kmGrisedale Pike · 12 kmSand Hill · 12 kmDale Head · 7 kmHigh Crag · 12 kmSeat Sandal · 6 kmHindscarth · 8 kmClough Head · 8 kmBrandreth · 9 kmLonscale Fell · 12 kmKnott · 17 kmColdbarrow Fell · 3 kmHeron Pike North Top · 9 kmSteel Fell · 5 kmStanding Crag · 2 kmBrown Crag · 4 kmHigh Seat · 2 kmBell Crags · 2 kmHigh Tove · 1 kmArmboth Fell · 0 kmHelvellyn Lower Man · 4 kmDollywaggon Pike · 6 kmCrag Hill · 11 kmKnowe Crags · 11 kmAllen Crags · 9 kmGrey Knotts · 8 kmGreat Calva · 16 kmScales Fell · 13 kmCalfhow Pike · 6 kmThornythwaite Fell · 6 kmLow Saddle · 3 kmShivery Knott · 1 km
What you can see from Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top), by direction
  • North: Knowe Crags (11 km), Gategill Fell Top (12 km), Blencathra (12 km), Doddick Fell (12 km)
  • North-east: Watson's Dodd (6 km), Little Dodd (6 km), Great Dodd (7 km)
  • East: Helvellyn Lower Man (4 km), White Side (4 km), Helvellyn (5 km), Nethermost Pike (5 km), Raise (5 km)
  • South-east: High Crag (5 km), Dollywaggon Pike (6 km), Seat Sandal (6 km), Fairfield (7 km)
  • South-west: Glaramara (7 km), Looking Steads (8 km), Allen Crags (9 km), Great End (10 km), Great Gable (10 km), Esk Pike (10 km), Bowfell (11 km), Kirk Fell East Top (11 km), Ill Crag (11 km), Kirk Fell (11 km), Lingmell (12 km), Scafell Pike (12 km)
  • West: Dale Head (7 km), Wandope (12 km), High Crag (12 km), Grasmoor (13 km), Pillar (13 km)
  • North-west: Sail (11 km), Crag Hill (11 km), Eel Crag (12 km), Grisedale Pike (12 km), Hobcarton Crag (12 km), Sand Hill (12 km), Hopegill Head (13 km)

Computed from terrain in perfect clarity, not photographed · distances are straight-line.

Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.

What you can see from Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)

On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.
41Wainwrights in view+14 marginal
Sea in viewnone from here
All 41 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)

How Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)’s view compares with all 214 — the View Report: every Wainwright ranked by what you can see from the top.

Sightlines from a bare-earth terrain model (forests and buildings not included), corrected for the Earth’s curvature and average atmospheric refraction. “Distant” sightlines and any over 100 km depend on exceptionally clear air. Modelled from Copernicus GLO-30 open elevation data — a guide to the view, not a guarantee of any single one.

Best parking to hike Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)

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

Watendlath (NT, paid) — 2.3 km from summit (straight line)
End of the narrow Watendlath road — Grange Fell, Great Crag, Armboth fells.
Directions (opens in new tab)
Swirls, Thirlmere (paid) — 2.3 km from summit (straight line)
The standard west-side route up Helvellyn via Browncove Crags.
Directions (opens in new tab)
🚺 The Swirls Car Park (opens in new tab) (461m) — Free · Accessible · RADAR key🚺 Armbroth Car Park (opens in new tab) (1587m) — Free

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 Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top) 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.

My hikes over Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top) (Strava)

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.

Navigating Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top) in cloud

Severe

A broad, gently-sloping top with little to steer by — easy to lose your bearings and hard to relocate in mist. A serious place to be caught in cloud: carry map and compass (or GPS) and know how to use them, or save it for a clear day.

In winter — snow, whiteout, cornices, buried features — every top demands full winter navigation skills whatever its band, and a broad, gentle summit can be the worst place of all. See walking in bad weather and the navigation guide.

How Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top) compares with all 214 — the Clag Index: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.

Maps & guidebooks for Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)

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