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.
Summit conditions on Armboth Fell (Birkett)
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 6°C, gusts to 56 mph, 12.4 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.
The forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →
Routes up Armboth Fell (Birkett)
Choose the way up before the car park: these two routes start from two places, and the last two rows give the parking and bus at each route’s own start. Full maps further down.
| Compared | Walla Crag, Bleaberry Fell, High Seat, High Tove and Armboth Fell | Standing Crag, High Tove, Armboth |
|---|---|---|
| Starts from | Ashness Gate Car Park | Dob Gill, Thirlmere |
| Distance and climb | 17.02 km, 812 m of climb | 14.26 km, 601 m of climb |
| Time, fast to steady | ~4¾–6½ h | ~3¾–5¼ h |
| Scrambling | Not mentioned in the route’s notes | Not mentioned in the route’s notes |
| Exposure | Easy | Moderate |
| Navigation | Moderate | Hard |
| Steepest stretch | Descent of about 26% at 11.7 km (Hard) | Descent of about 24% at 9.5 km (Moderate) |
| After the summit | Over High Tove | Over Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top) |
| Walked or planned | Walked by Lee, August 2025 | Not yet personally walked |
| Car park at the start | Walla Crag car park (free) | Dob Gill, Thirlmere (closed); nearest: Steel End, Thirlmere (paid), about 1.3 km on foot |
| Bus to the start | 78 at the start | 555, 1.7 km walk from Thirlmere, at Armboth turn |
Times run from fast to steady pace (Naismith’s rule). Scrambling quotes each route’s own notes; “not mentioned” means they do not say, not that the ground has none. Each route’s page has its map, stages and GPX.
Distance, climb and the steepest stretch are measured from each route’s GPX track; the other grades are set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap, and each route page says which. How we check →
How hard is Armboth Fell (Birkett)?
The shortest way up we hold is Standing Crag, High Tove, Armboth — 14.26 km, 601 m of ascent, ~3¾–5¼ h. On our scale its hardest axes are distance and navigation — Hard.
All axes: length: Hard · navigation: Hard · steepness: Moderate · terrain: Moderate · exposure: Moderate.
These are the route page’s grades, set by the rules on how we grade: length and steepness measured from its GPX track, the others set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap. The route page says which. How we check →
Conditions and 7-day summit forecast
Modelled for the 479 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 27 October 2026, 08:13 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for Armboth Fell (Birkett)
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
3 more places to park near Armboth Fell (Birkett)
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.
Buses
The 78 stops at Ashness, opposite Derwentwater Youth Hostel, a 240 m walk and 38 m of ascent from the start of Walla Crag, Bleaberry Fell, High Seat, High Tove and Armboth Fell — a route we rate Hard overall (hardest: distance and steepness). As timetabled from 27 October to 1 November. Towards Keswick (78): Tuesday to Sunday 20:19. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Hazards on Armboth Fell (Birkett)
Notes from the Walla Crag, Bleaberry Fell, High Seat, High Tove and Armboth Fell route
If you need to get off (the leg from High Seat): You are in the most remote section of the central watershed. Decide before you leave High Seat: on via Armboth Fell and High Tove and down to Watendlath, the route's own way off, or back the way you came over Bleaberry Fell. In cloud, work out where you are with the map and compass before you choose. If you cannot move safely, call 999 or 112 and ask for the Police, then Mountain Rescue.
Quoted from the route page: the note for the leg that reaches Armboth Fell (Birkett).
We have not written a hazard card for this fell yet, and that is not a sign that it is low-hazard. Read the warnings on the route pages that climb it, check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected. The National Park Authority’s What to pack page, AdventureSmart’s hill walking kit list and Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s safety page are linked from our what to carry guide.
If you need Mountain Rescue
Dial 999 or 112 and ask for the Police, then Mountain Rescue.
Before you call, have ready: where you are (a grid reference if you can – the OS Locate app shows yours on your phone), what has happened, how many of you there are, and your mobile number.
Then stay where you are until the rescue team contacts you.
If you cannot make a voice call because of a hearing or speech impairment, emergency SMS works only if you have registered first: text “register” to 999.
From Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s guidance on calling them out (opens in new tab) (read 26 October 2026).
Map, GPX and nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.
Birketts within 3 km of Armboth Fell (Birkett)
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
Routes over Armboth Fell (Birkett)
Download GPX Not yet personally walked
Download GPX Walked by Lee, August 2025
Route guide: Walla Crag, Bleaberry Fell, High Seat, High Tove and Armboth Fell →
Every line here is a guide, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate for yourself and carry a map and compass. How to use this guide.
On the hill: terrain and water on Armboth Fell (Birkett)
The path beneath your boots
On the Pewits between High Tove and High Seat, 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 does that best when it stays wet and undisturbed.
Fix the Fells built and maintains this path. How a fell path is made → · Give back (opens in new tab)
Path-repair data © Fix the Fells (National Trust / Lake District National Park). Source (opens in new tab).
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Standing Crag, High Tove, Armboth route:
On the Walla Crag, Bleaberry Fell, High Seat, High Tove and Armboth Fell route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
About Armboth Fell (Birkett)
My Strava hikes over Armboth Fell (Birkett)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Some Central Fells on my Todd (opens in new tab) — 17.2 km · 806 m ascent · 4h 04m moving · 24 August 2025
Data from Strava.
Classifications & hill data
Is Armboth Fell (Birkett) a Wainwright?
Armboth Fell (Birkett) is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.
Selected lists
This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.
Lists, height and summit position from the Database of British and Irish Hills; the feet are converted from its metres and the grid reference from that position. How we check →
Places to stay near this fell
From Ashness Bridge: 8 places in Keswick