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

Birkett — Southern (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

Combe Head

Combe Head (735 m / 2,411 ft) is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), one of the lesser-known Southern tops.

735 m
Height
+8
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

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735 mBirkett — Southern (not a Wainwright summit)+8 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 735 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 14° to 12°C, gusts to 40 mph, 10.3 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌧️
14° / 12°
💨 40 mph
🌧 10.3 mm (99%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
13° / 10°
💨 33 mph
🌧 11.6 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
12° / 4°
💨 28 mph
🌧 1.3 mm (87%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
14° / 1°
💨 24 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (86%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
14° / 3°
💨 15 mph
🌧 3.6 mm (82%)
Sun 2 Aug
🌫️
15° / 5°
💨 19 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (35%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
14° / 5°
💨 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 735 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

Combe Head

Combe Head (735 m / 2,411 ft) is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), one of the lesser-known Southern tops. It rises the wild upper Borrowdale. The name comes from head (Old English heafod, the head or top of a valley). It also features on the Synge, Nuttall lists. Its nearest tops are Glaramara (0.6 km SW); Dovenest Top (Dovenest Crag) (Stonethwaite Fell) (0.8 km NE); Looking Steads (Glaramara) (0.9 km SW) — it's usually taken in on a round of these neighbours. It's a worthwhile objective for anyone working through the Birkett list, or as a short extension to a bigger day on the higher neighbouring fells.

Classifications & hill data
Birkett
Synge
Nuttall
735 m
Height
2,411 ft
In feet
NY 2495 1094
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale (free verge), about 1.9 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Combe Head (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.

0.8 km ENEDovenest Top (Dovenest Crag) (Stonethwaite Fell)633 m · Southern
0.9 km SSWLooking Steads (Glaramara)774 m · Southern
1.0 km NNWThornythwaite Fell574 m · Southern
1.1 km NERosthwaite Fell (Rosthwaite Cam)612 m · Southern
1.4 km SSWRed Beck Top (Glaramara South Top) (Lincomb Head - Glaramara)720 m · Southern
1.9 km SSWHigh House Tarn Top (High House - Allen Crags)683 m · Southern
2.5 km WSWSeathwaite Fell (Great Slack - Seathwaite Fell)631 m · Southern
2.9 km SSEBlack Crags (Mickleden)588 m · Southern

Terrain & access

A near-path top (about 735 m): a mapped path comes within about 177 m of the summit, with a last stretch of open ground (about 37 m of ascent, up to ~19°). The summit is on CRoW open access land.

Computed from open data, not walked — pathless ground needs confident navigation, and mapped paths, barriers and access boundaries can be incomplete. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass); Natural England CRoW Access Land; DoBIH; Copernicus GLO-30. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 145 fells.

Best parking to hike Combe Head

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

Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale (free verge) — 1.9 km from summit (straight line)
Free verge parking on the Seathwaite lane — the honeypot start for the Scafells, Great Gable and Glaramara. Arrive very early.
Directions
🚺 Public toilets (1002m) — Free
Seatoller (NT, paid) — 3.0 km from summit (straight line)
Pay & display at the foot of Honister. Bus terminus for Borrowdale.
Directions
🚺 Rosthwaite Village (1669m) — Free · Accessible🚺 Public toilets (1903m) — Free☕ Honisters Yew Tree Coffee House

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.

Buses to Combe Head 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 77 / 77A “Honister Rambler”
Keswick – Portinscale – Hawse End (Catbells) – Grange – Seatoller – Honister Pass – Buttermere – Lorton – Whinlatter – Keswick (circular)
Catch it from: Keswick (connect via 555 from Windermere/Ambleside or X4/X5 from Penrith)
Seasonal (roughly Easter–October). Brilliant for the North Western fells: Catbells, Dale Head from Honister, the Buttermere fells and Whinlatter.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Other fells near Combe Head

Maps & guidebooks for Combe Head

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