Codale Head
Codale Head at 732m (2,402ft) is a top on the high moorland 0.3 km north-east of Sergeant Man and 0.9 km east-south-east of High Raise, its broad top giving views across the Central Fells plateau. A Birkett top on the high ground above Codale Tarn.
Summit conditions on Codale Head
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 10° to 4°C, gusts to 62 mph, 14.3 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 Codale Head
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Six tops on the rough ground west of Grasmere — Tarn Crag, Codale Head, Sergeant Man, Blea Rigg, Swinescar Pike and Silver How — in 15.4 km with 863 m of climbing.
Distance and climb are measured from the route’s GPX track, and the time from them by Naismith’s rule; the route page says what each grade rests on. How we check →
How hard is Codale Head?
The shortest way up we hold is West of Grasmere — 15.44 km, 863 m of ascent, ~4½–6¼ h. On our scale its hardest axis is distance — Hard.
All axes: length: Hard · steepness: Moderate · terrain: Moderate · navigation: 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 732 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 Codale Head
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
3 more places to park near Codale Head
Positions are approximate.
Of the pay-and-display machine tickets sold at New Dungeon Ghyll from 17 August 2024 to 31 March 2026, 33% were bought before 10am (our count of FOI/2026.500 ticket data). Contains public sector information provided by the Lake District National Park Authority and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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 555, 559, 599 and X8 stop at Grasmere, opposite Heaton Cooper Studio, a 320 m walk from the start of West of Grasmere — a route we rate Hard overall (hardest: distance). As timetabled from 27 October to 1 November. Towards Kendal (555): Tuesday to Saturday 23:02; Sunday 20:02 to Windermere, 19:32 to Kendal. Towards Bowness on Windermere (599): Tuesday to Sunday 19:15 to Bowness on Windermere, 17:25 to Bowness on Windermere Braithwaite Fold Car Park. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 24 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 Codale Head
Notes from the West of Grasmere route
If you need to get off (the leg from Tarn Crag): Retreat to Tarn Crag; dropping directly off the flanks here into the remote valleys below is steep and trackless.
Quoted from the route page: the note for the leg that reaches Codale Head.
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 Codale Head
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
Routes over Codale Head
Download GPX Walked by Lee, March 2025
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 Codale Head
Water & shelter on the way up
On the West of Grasmere route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
About Codale Head
My Strava hikes over Codale Head
2 logged hikes pass over this summit:
- Sunrise Summit Stroll with Chris (opens in new tab) — 17.6 km · 850 m ascent · 4h 59m moving · 23 March 2025
- 8 Wainwrights today - had some catching up to do! (opens in new tab) — 14.5 km · 1013 m ascent · 4h 23m moving · 1 June 2024
Data from Strava.
Classifications & hill data
Is Codale Head a Wainwright?
Codale Head is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Nuttall 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 Grasmere: 10 places