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479 m · Birkett — Central (not a Wainwright summit) · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Armboth Fell - a small rocky outcrop on open grassy moorland, with rolling fells low on the horizon beyond
Birkett — Central (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

Armboth Fell (Birkett)

Armboth Fell at 479m (1,572ft) rises above Thirlmere reservoir in the Central Fells, its sprawling, marshy summit giving modest but pleasant views over the conifer plantations and across to the Helvellyn range.

479 m
Height
+9
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

Home › Fells › Armboth Fell (Birkett)

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Last reviewed

479 mBirkett — Central (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 479 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 479 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

About the walk

Key information

Armboth Fell (Birkett)

Armboth Fell - a small rocky outcrop on open grassy moorland, with rolling fells low on the horizon beyond
© Lee McCoy

Armboth Fell at 479m (1,572ft) rises above Thirlmere reservoir in the Central Fells, its sprawling, marshy summit giving modest but pleasant views over the conifer plantations and across to the Helvellyn range. The Birkett top sits slightly apart from the Wainwright summit and is reached via the same open moorland. The reservoir far below is a striking feature; the fell is best approached from the Legburthwaite side.

Routes up Armboth Fell (Birkett)

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

Standing Crag, High Tove, Armboth
14.3 km · ~3.8 hr
Walla Crag, Bleaberry Fell, High Seat, High Tove and Armboth Fell
17 km · ~4.7 hr
Classifications & hill data
Birkett
Fellranger
Synge
479 m
Height
1,572 ft
In feet
NY 2967 1597
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Swirls, Thirlmere (paid), about 2.1 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Armboth Fell (Birkett) (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.

0.9 km ENEFisher Crag421 m · Central
0.9 km WSWMiddle Crag484 m · Central
1.0 km SWShivery Knott491 m · Central
1.3 km SWWatendlath Fell (Long Moss)515 m · Central
1.6 km SSEBrown Rigg462 m · Central
1.7 km SBell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)559 m · Central
2.7 km SStanding Crag611 m · Central
2.8 km SSWLow Saddle656 m · Central
2.9 km NCastle Crag (Shoulthwalte)404 m · Eastern

Routes over Armboth Fell (Birkett)

Standing Crag, High Tove, ArmbothLive
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.

Walla Crag, Bleaberry Fell, High Seat, High Tove and Armboth FellRevised
17.02 km · ~792 m ascent · loop · ~4.5–6.5 h
Summits: Walla CragBleaberry FellHigh SeatArmboth Fell (Birkett)High Tove

⬇️ Download GPX

Full route guide ↗

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

The path beneath your boots

On the Pewits between High Tove and High Seat — Wainwright reckoned Armboth Fell the very centre of the Lake District — Fix the Fells laid the first upland flagged path in the Lakes in 2021, an £84,000 partnership project that set stone flags across the blanket bog and re-profiled dried-out peat hags to bring the sponge-like bog back to life.

Notice underfoot: the stone flags carrying you over the bog — keep to them; the peat either side stores carbon and holds back floodwater, and it only does that when it stays wet and undisturbed.

Fix the Fells built and maintains this path. How a fell path is made → · Give back

Path-repair data © Fix the Fells (National Trust / Lake District National Park). Source.

Best parking to hike Armboth Fell (Birkett)

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

Swirls, Thirlmere (paid) — 2.1 km from summit (straight line)
The standard west-side route up Helvellyn via Browncove Crags.
Directions
🚺 The Swirls Car Park (461m) — Free · Accessible · RADAR key🚺 Armbroth Car Park (1587m) — Free
Watendlath (NT, paid) — 2.3 km from summit (straight line)
End of the narrow Watendlath road — Grange Fell, Great Crag, Armboth fells.
Directions

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 the Standing Crag, High Tove, Armboth route:

🚺 map (29 m)

On the Walla Crag, Bleaberry Fell, High Seat, High Tove and Armboth Fell route:

🛖 map (2 m)🚺 map (18 m)🚌 Barrow Bay jetty (64 m)🚌 Derwentwater Youth Hostel (S bound) (99 m)🚌 Derwentwater Youth Hostel (N bound) (104 m)⛺ Derwentwater Independent Hostel (316 m)

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

Buses to Armboth Fell (Birkett) 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 or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

My hikes over Armboth Fell (Birkett) (Strava)

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

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

Other fells near Armboth Fell (Birkett)

Maps & guidebooks for Armboth Fell (Birkett)

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