506 m · Wainwright — Western Fells · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.
Hen Comb at 509m (1,670ft) is a distinctively shaped ridge above Loweswater, its narrow summit giving fine views of Loweswater and Crummock Water.
Modelled guidance for the 506 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 12° to 9°C, gusts to 25 mph, 2.5 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 506 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Hen Comb is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Fellranger list and the HuMP list.
We hold no car park within 2.5 km of the summit, so there is no short walk-in to recommend here. 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.
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.
The 77 stops at Lanthwaite Green Farm (opp). From there it is 3.2 km and 121 m of ascent to the start of Blake Fell, Gavel Fell, Hen Comb — a walk in before the walk. Seasonal: the 77 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day, and it is not daily before then — a bus on 31 of the 56 days from 7 September. We don’t know when it returns. Confirmed with the operator, 29 August 2026. The last bus is 18:03 towards Keswick (77), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 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.
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.
A broad, gently-sloping top with little to steer by — easy to lose your bearings and hard to relocate in mist. Navigation here is relatively straightforward even in cloud — but carry map and compass and know how to use them; a low score never means “safe”.
In winter — snow, whiteout, cornices, buried features — every top demands full winter navigation skills whatever its band, and a broad, gentle summit can be the worst place of all. See walking in bad weather and the navigation guide.
How Hen Comb compares with all 214 — the Clag Index: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.
Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Maggie's Bridge, Loweswater (NT, paid), about 2.9 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
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.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
A computed 360° skyline — every visible named top labelled by distance and bearing, from the terrain model in perfect clarity, not photographed. Drag to pan; reveal the far four-nations horizon.
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Slieve Donard (172 km, Ireland), Broad Law (105 km, Scotland), Snaefell (79 km, Isle of Man), South Barrule (97 km, Isle of Man), Slieve Croob (172 km, Ireland), Green Lowther (97 km, Scotland), White Coomb (97 km, Scotland), Queensberry (83 km, Scotland).
Computed from terrain in perfect clarity, not photographed · distances are straight-line.
Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.
Hen Comb waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls on 1 August, when the sun is up for 34 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 05:59 against an almanac sunrise of 05:25. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the east-north-east from here (63.4°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 3.92°.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:56 BST ±5.0 min | 04:38 | +18 min |
| Equinox | 06:21 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:16 | +5 min |
| Midwinter | 09:05 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:34 | +31 min |
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.05°).
The evening here runs close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its earliest evening of the modelled year (at midwinter) last light is only 12 minutes before almanac sunset, so the published sunset time is a fair guide on Hen Comb.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:55 BST ±5.0 min | 21:54 | +1 min |
| Equinox | 18:30 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:27 | +3 min |
| Midwinter | 15:38 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:50 | -12 min |
Computed, not photographed. First light is the first minute the sun’s upper limb clears this summit’s own skyline and last light the last minute it is still clear of it, both solved against the 360° horizon profile behind The View from Hen Comb. Almanac sunrise and sunset are the flat-horizon convention. Every time carries a ± band from the 30 m elevation model — it smooths arêtes and cornices, so nothing here claims better than five minutes. These are daylight figures, not a descent plan: the light goes on fading for a good while after the sun leaves, and going down in it is a decision about your own ground and party, not about this table.
On the clearest days the view reaches across to Scotland and the Isle of Man.
Gavel Fell, Mellbreak (Mellbreak South Top), Great Borne, Starling Dodd, Blake Fell, Red Pike (Buttermere), Low Fell, Grasmoor, Whiteless Pike, Whiteside (Whiteside West Top), Wandope, Fellbarrow - Mosser Fell, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Knott Rigg, Hopegill Head, Robinson, Caw Fell, Pillar, Haycock, Fleetwith Pike, Dale Head, Graystones (Graystones North Top), Grey Knotts, Maiden Moor, Broom Fell, Scafell Pike, Glaramara, Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot, Sergeant's Crag, High Raise (High White Stones), Binsey, Watson's Dodd, White Side, Raise, Great Dodd, Stybarrow Dodd
How Hen Comb’s view compares with all 214 — the View Report: every Wainwright ranked by what you can see from the top.
Sightlines from a bare-earth terrain model (forests and buildings not included), corrected for the Earth’s curvature and average atmospheric refraction. “Distant” sightlines and any over 100 km depend on exceptionally clear air. Modelled from Copernicus GLO-30 open elevation data — a guide to the view, not a guarantee of any single one.
about 0.9 km from the start, in a straight line
Foulsyke was a 16th-century manor house; the three cottages are its former barn and stables, and you reach the courtyard through an arched carriage entrance dated 1797.
What each place says about itself, quoted from their own site. We have not stayed at any of them, and there are no prices, no booking and no affiliate links. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).
The fell is a simple grassy dome and the climb is short. Getting to the foot of it is the part people underestimate: it stands alone across the boggy floor of Mosedale, and that crossing is wet, pathless in places, and slower than the distance suggests.
Our round with Blake Fell and Gavel Fell is 14.0 km with 732 m of ascent, navigation graded hard. Take it after dry weather and it is a pleasant quiet fell; take it after rain and you will remember the valley rather than the summit.
Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-08-30 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)