Capple Howe
Capple Howe at 445m (1,460ft) is a Birkett top on the moorland above Kentmere in the Far Eastern Fells, its grassy summit giving views across the Kentmere valley and towards the High Street ridge.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 445 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 14° to 10°C, gusts to 21 mph, 1.4 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 11 Sep 2026, 08:30 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 445 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Capple Howe at a glance
Routes up Capple Howe
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Capple Howe a Wainwright?
Capple Howe is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and the Synge list.
Where do you park for Capple Howe?
The nearest car park we hold is Sour Howes (layby), about 1.8 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Sour Howes, west (layby), 1.8 km out. We only look within 2.5 km, measured straight-line: over longer distances a road may cross a pass and the drive bears no relation to the line.
How hard is Capple Howe?
The shortest way up we hold is Capple Howe & Sallows — 8.7 km, 480 m of ascent, about 2.5 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is navigation — Hard.
All axes: navigation: Hard · steepness: Hard · exposure: Moderate · length: Moderate · terrain: Moderate.
Parking & buses for Capple Howe
Best parking to hike Capple Howe
Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).
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.
Vehicles are left entirely at their owner’s risk. We list places people park; we cannot vouch for any of them. Judge it on the day: take valuables with you, leave nothing on show, and if a spot feels wrong when you get there, park somewhere else.
Getting to Capple Howe by bus
The 508 stops at Troutbeck Jesus Church (near), 40 m from the start of Capple Howe & Sallows. The last bus is 17:18, towards Penrith, every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 30 August 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.
Hazards on Capple Howe
No hazard card for this fell. The usual open-fell rules apply: check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Sour Howes (layby), about 1.8 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Capple Howe (within 3 km)
No bonus Birketts within 3 km — every Birkett near here is already a Wainwright summit, so just enjoy the walk.
Routes over Capple Howe
🥾 Walked in part — Lee walked this ground in April 2025; km 2.1–2.9, km 4.7–7.1 of this line are from the map.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
On the hill: terrain and water on Capple Howe
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Capple Howe & Sallows route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
Places to stay near this fell
From Troutbeck: 1 place in Ambleside
Other fells near Capple Howe
- Angletarn Pikes (Angletarn Pikes North Top)
- Arthur's Pike
- Baystones (Wansfell)
- Beda Fell (Beda Head)
- Bonscale Pike
- Branstree
- Brock Crags (Wainwright)
- Froswick
- Gray Crag
- Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell)
- Hallin Fell
- Harter Fell (Mardale)
- Hartsop Dodd
- High Raise (High Street)
- High Street
- Ill Bell
- Kentmere Pike
- Kidsty Pike
- Loadpot Hill
- Mardale Ill Bell
- Place Fell
- Rampsgill Head
- Rest Dodd
- Sallows
- Selside Pike
- Shipman Knotts
- Sour Howes
- Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa)
- Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor)
- Tarn Crag (Sleddale)
- The Knott (High Street)
- The Nab
- Thornthwaite Crag
- Troutbeck Tongue
- Wether Hill
- Yoke