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

Birkett — Central (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

Coldbarrow Fell - High Saddle

Coldbarrow Fell at 467m (1,532ft) is a broad, heathery plateau above Watendlath on the Armboth Fell system, its open top giving views west to Derwent Water and east to the Helvellyn range.

675 m
Height
+10
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

Home › Fells › Coldbarrow Fell - High Saddle

675 mBirkett — Central (not a Wainwright summit)+10 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 675 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 15° to 13°C, gusts to 35 mph, 9.3 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌧️
15° / 13°
💨 35 mph
🌧 9.3 mm (100%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
14° / 11°
💨 27 mph
🌧 5.0 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
12° / 5°
💨 28 mph
🌧 1.3 mm (78%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
14° / 2°
💨 24 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (78%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
14° / 4°
💨 15 mph
🌧 3.6 mm (54%)
Sun 2 Aug
🌫️
15° / 6°
💨 19 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (24%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
15° / 6°
💨 16 mph
🌧 0.4 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 675 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

Coldbarrow Fell - High Saddle

Coldbarrow Fell at 467m (1,532ft) is a broad, heathery plateau above Watendlath on the Armboth Fell system, its open top giving views west to Derwent Water and east to the Helvellyn range. A Birkett fell on the Central Fells plateau above Borrowdale. The ascent from Watendlath is easy across open moorland. A quiet summit rarely visited.

Routes up Coldbarrow Fell - High Saddle

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

Birketts West of Thirlmere
23.1 km · ~6.4 hr
Classifications & hill data
Birkett
675 m
Height
2,215 ft
In feet
NY 2893 1292
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Stonethwaite (roadside, limited), about 2.8 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Coldbarrow Fell - High Saddle (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.

0.4 km NNWLow Saddle656 m · Central
0.8 km ENEStanding Crag611 m · Central
1.6 km NNEBell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)559 m · Central
1.8 km SSWLining Crag542 m · Central
1.9 km NWatendlath Fell (Long Moss)515 m · Central
2.3 km EWythburn Fell508 m · Central
2.3 km NEBrown Rigg462 m · Central
2.4 km NShivery Knott491 m · Central
2.9 km NMiddle Crag484 m · Central
3.0 km SSWLow White Stones731 m · Central

Routes over Coldbarrow Fell - High Saddle

Birketts West of ThirlmerePlanned
23.11 km · ~1047 m ascent · loop · ~6–8.5 h
Summits: Wythburn FellStanding CragColdbarrow Fell - High SaddleLow SaddleBell Crags (Long Moss) (Blea Tarn Fell)Watendlath Fell (Long Moss)Shivery KnottMiddle CragHigh ToveFisher Crag

⬇️ Download GPX

⚠️ Warnings: Access: The summit of Fisher Crag lies outside mapped CRoW open-access land. That records no statutory right of access — it is not a statement that access is forbidden, and permissive access is not recorded in that layer. This line is computed rather than walked, so treat the access as unchecked and look for the courteous way through — how we work this out.

Full route guide ↗

✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.

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

Best parking to hike Coldbarrow Fell - High Saddle

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

Stonethwaite (roadside, limited) — 2.8 km from summit (straight line)
Small roadside area near the hamlet — Eagle Crag, Sergeant's Crag, Langstrath approaches.
Directions
🚺 Rosthwaite Village (1156m) — Free · Accessible☕ Peathouse Tea & Coffee Shop🍺 The Langstrath Inn
Wythburn Church, Thirlmere (paid) — 3.5 km from summit (straight line)
Direct forest path up Helvellyn's south ridge (Comb Crags).
Directions
🚺 Dob Gill Car Park (931m) — 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 the Birketts West of Thirlmere route:

🚺 map (29 m)

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

Buses to Coldbarrow Fell - High Saddle from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Stagecoach 78 “Borrowdale Rambler”
Keswick – Lodore – Grange – Rosthwaite – Seatoller
Catch it from: Keswick (connect via 555 or X4/X5)
Year-round, frequent in season. Serves all the Borrowdale starts — Glaramara, the Scafells and Great Gable via Seathwaite (alight Seatoller, 20 min walk up the lane).
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.

Other fells near Coldbarrow Fell - High Saddle

Maps & guidebooks for Coldbarrow Fell - High Saddle

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