hikes.guideLake District

Combe Head

Short entry: no route or hazard notes for this fell yet.

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

Combe Head (735 m / 2,412 ft) is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), in the Southern Fells. It also features on the Synge, Nuttall lists.

Summit conditions on Combe Head

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 10° to 5°C, gusts to 63 mph, 10.1 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

The forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Parking & buses

Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale (farm field, paid)
2.0 km from summit (straight line)
Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale (free verge)
2.0 km from summit (straight line)

Parking & buses ↓

Routes near Combe Head

No route guide for this fell yet. The nearest route starts we publish, in a straight line from the summit:

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 735 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast
Tue 27 Oct
10° / 5°
63 mph
10.1 mm (100%)
Wed 28 Oct
8° / 5°
46 mph
16.6 mm (100%)
Thu 29 Oct
8° / 6°
26 mph
0.3 mm (67%)
Fri 30 Oct
7° / 5°
25 mph
0.0 mm (12%)
Sat 31 Oct
6° / 3°
6 mph
0.0 mm (8%)
Sun 1 Nov
7° / 2°
14 mph
0.6 mm (2%)
Mon 2 Nov
5° / -1°
9 mph
0.0 mm (0%)

Taken 27 October 2026, 20:59 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Parking & buses for Combe Head

Parking

Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale (farm field, paid) — 2.0 km from summit (straight line)
The farm’s own field, signed off the lane — £5 all day, £10 overnight, no booking needed (the farm’s own page, read 21 September 2026; its notice is still headed 2025). A different place from the free verge on the same lane, and the reason not to race for a verge space. The farm opened it to ease the parking problems in the busy period.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale (free verge) — 2.0 km from summit (straight line)
Free verge parking on the Seathwaite lane — the honeypot start for the Scafells, Great Gable and Glaramara. It fills early; the farm’s own field just down the lane takes the pressure off, and the lane needs to stay clear for residents, farm traffic and emergency vehicles.
Typically full before 09:00 on fine weekends, Apr-Oct — Lee McCoy, local observation, 9 August 2026.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
If it is full: Honister Pass (paid, slate mine) (1.8 km); Seatoller (NT, paid) (2.0 km); Rosthwaite (NT, paid) (3.8 km)
Public toilets (opens in new tab) (~188 m straight line) — Free
Thornythwaite Fell (layby) — 2.0 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Allen Crags, High House Tarn Top (High House - Allen Crags), Red Beck Top (Glaramara South Top) (Lincomb Head - Glaramara) and Looking Steads (Glaramara) — the 'Allan Crags & Glaramara' route starts 135 m away. Also serves 'Scafell Pike via the Corridor Route'. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
2 more places to park near Combe Head
Thornythwaite Fell, north-west (layby) — 2.0 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Allen Crags, High House Tarn Top (High House - Allen Crags), Red Beck Top (Glaramara South Top) (Lincomb Head - Glaramara) and Looking Steads (Glaramara) — the 'Allan Crags & Glaramara' route starts 255 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Seatoller, south-east field car park (paid) — 2.5 km from summit (straight line)
A paid field by the River Derwent, 0.5 km south-east of Seatoller; operator not identified. The 'Seathwaite, Green Gable, Base Brown' route starts 78 m away. Paid parking (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?

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

We don’t know yet. The path network around this start isn’t mapped well enough for us to measure a walk from the nearest stop. That’s a gap in our data, not a sign that no bus comes here.

Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat

Hazards on Combe Head

We have not written a hazard card for this fell yet, and that is not a sign that it is low-hazard. 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 & nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).

Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.

Birketts within 3 km of Combe Head

These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.

0.9 km SSWLooking Steads (Glaramara)775 m · Southern
1.0 km NNWThornythwaite Fell574 m · Southern
1.1 km NERosthwaite Fell (Rosthwaite Cam)612 m · Southern
2.5 km WSWSeathwaite Fell (Great Slack)631 m · Southern
2.9 km SSEBlack Crags (Mickleden)588 m · Southern

On the hill: terrain and water on Combe Head

Terrain & access

A near-path top (about 735 m): a mapped path comes within about 177 m of the summit. We have not checked a way from it to the top: the figures here are measured along a straight line on a terrain model, not a route. That line climbs about 37 m. 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 v18.4 (CC BY 4.0); Copernicus GLO-30. CRoW access layer: © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 144 fells.

About Combe Head

Its nearest tops are Glaramara (0.6 km SW), Dovenest Top (Dovenest Crag) (Stonethwaite Fell) (0.8 km ENE) and Looking Steads (Glaramara) (0.9 km SSW). We hold no route over it. It's a worthwhile objective for anyone working through the Birkett list.

Classifications & hill data

Is Combe Head a Wainwright?

Combe Head is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list and the Hewitt list.

Selected lists

735 m
Height
2,412 ft
In feet
NY 2495 1094
Grid ref

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 →

Other fells near Combe Head