Humphrey Head from Kents Bank station
Start Kents Bank station
Getting here Train: this walk starts at Kents Bank station. Parking: Grange-over-Sands car park 2, 1.7 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 530 and X6 stop at Grange-over-Sands, at Rail Station; from there it is 3.2 km and 98 m of ascent to this start. And the same back: about 11.7 km in all, with the walk. Parking & buses ↓
Hardest part Moderate navigation: No large featureless ground on the map; carry a map and compass for cloud. Moderate – estimated from the map, not checked on the ground
Before you choose
- About 1.4 km of the line each way, between the station and Pigeon Cote Lane, follows the Embankment Path and other footpaths that OpenStreetMap does not record as public rights of way; on the headland, from about 1.7 km to the top, the paths are mapped as permissive. The rest is a public bridleway (Pigeon Cote Lane), a few metres of byway at the station and Holy Well Lane. That is a map-data note, not a ruling on access: check the access land and rights of way maps before relying on this stretch. Morecambe Bay Partnership publishes a longer walk from the same station, ‘Humphrey Head from Kents Bank Station’ (9.2 km), inland by Jack Hill.
- Cumbria Wildlife Trust, which manages the headland as a nature reserve, warns of ‘sheer cliffs on the western side of the nature reserve’; OpenStreetMap maps crags about 15 m from the path near 2.0 km. The Trust asks for dogs on a lead on the reserve, where cattle graze at times. The saltmarsh circuit round the point is not this line: the Trust says to check tide times before trying it.
Daylight & turnaround
Daylight is short from October to February — check today’s sunrise and sunset before you set off, and carry a head-torch and spare batteries. On short days, decide your turn-back time before you start.
See also walking in bad weather and today’s conditions.
Route map
1 Humphrey Head
Easy 100%ModerateHardSevere
Heights on this chart and its high point are read from the track itself (a terrain model sampled along the line, or a GPS recording), so a top can differ from its listed height, usually reading lower.
Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
The elevation profile is under the map; the stage notes follow.
The walk, stage by stage
- 1
Kents Bank station → Humphrey Head (2.5 km, 47 m)
From Kents Bank station, follow the Embankment Path south-south-west for about 0.45 km. Footpaths continue past Kirkhead End, through a stile at about 1.2 km and a kissing gate at about 1.4 km, to Pigeon Cote Lane, a public bridleway. The lane leads west-south-west to Holy Well Lane at about 1.7 km, where a gate and an information board mark the edge of Humphrey Head Nature Reserve. Grass paths, mapped as permissive, climb south-south-east up the headland, through a gate at about 2.3 km; mapped crags lie about 15 m from the path near 2.0 km. The top of Humphrey Head is at about 2.5 km.
WaypointsKents Bank station, the Embankment Path, Kirkhead End, Pigeon Cote Lane, Holy Well Lane, the nature reserve gate, the top of Humphrey Head (53 m).
If you need to get offThe way off is back the way you came, never more than about 2.7 km to the station.
Humphrey Head → Finish (2.8 km, 7 m)
From the top, go on about 150 m to the trig point at about 2.7 km, where the line turns back. Retrace the grass paths north-north-west down the headland to Holy Well Lane at about 3.65 km. Pigeon Cote Lane and the footpaths past Kirkhead End lead back the way you came. The Embankment Path brings the line north-north-east back to the station.
WaypointsThe trig point on Humphrey Head, Holy Well Lane, Pigeon Cote Lane, the Embankment Path, Kents Bank station (finish).
Decision pointOn the way back, leave the headland by the same gate on to Holy Well Lane and keep to Pigeon Cote Lane; the line does not go down on to the shore.
If you need to get offThe return is the line itself, about 2.8 km from the top to the station.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
Summits bagged (1)
- 1Humphrey Head53 m
More about this walk
Kents Bank station, on the Furness line, is at the start. The line goes out and back on the same paths, turning at the trig point on the top.
Conditions and timing
Check live conditions in the “From the fells” panel, on MWIS (opens in new tab) and the Met Office mountain forecast (opens in new tab) before you set off.
Getting there and back
Train: this walk starts at Kents Bank station. Northern lists the station as unstaffed, with no car park and no toilets; one platform is reached by a foot crossing over the line, and Northern says “Care must be taken when using the crossing.” (Northern’s station page, read 17 October 2026.)
Parking
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
The 530 and X6 stop at Grange-over-Sands, at Rail Station. From there it is 3.2 km and 98 m of ascent to this start — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 11.7 km in all, with the walk. As timetabled from 24 October to 1 November. Towards Clogger Beck (530): Monday to Friday 16:36 only. Towards Cartmel (530): Monday to Friday 15:16 only. Towards Ulverston (X6): Monday to Saturday 23:38; Sunday 18:59 to Ulverston St Mary's. Towards Kendal (X6): Monday to Saturday 22:41; Sunday 16:43. 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 travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival Kents Bank station, on the Furness line, is at the start. 21 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap contributors, Cumbria extract of 24 July 2026, checked 16 October 2026)
- Limitation A stile and gates, then grass paths on the headland: not a pushchair route. (OpenStreetMap contributors, via Overpass, 16 October 2026, checked 16 October 2026)
Water, shelter & getting away
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors — an absent marker does not mean the facility isn’t there.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Planning detail
How each grade on this page is set, and the timings stage by stage.
Difficulty profile
Moderate overall — hardest: Navigation (estimated from the map, not checked on the ground); terrain not assessed; exposure not assessed on the ground
Five independent axes, not one score. None of them was set on the ground: they are computed from the recorded track and the map, which measures the line rather than surveying the ground.
How we grade: each axis is Easy, Moderate, Hard or Severe, and a route between two bands takes the higher one. Length: under 8 km, 8–14 km, 14–20 km, over 20 km. Steepness, the steepest 500 m of the track: under 15%, 15–25%, 25–35%, over 35%. Terrain, navigation and exposure are judged rather than measured, and each note says why. How we grade.
Pacing
| Summit | Cumulative | Ascent | Time (fast–steady) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Humphrey Head | 2.5 km | 47 m | 0:35–0:47 |
| Finish | 5.3 km | 54 m | 1:09–1:32 |
A fast–steady range from Naismith’s rule, deliberately on the slow side. Breaks, weather, rough ground and the slowest person in your party all add to it. How we time walks.
Access & barriers
Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route?
- Buggy: Stiles or rough going on the route.
- Knees: No sustained steep descent in the track’s height model (steepest 250 m about 6%). Steps, wet rock and the surface underfoot are not assessed; your own knees still matter.
With a dog
Hardest for a dog here: stiles and gates. The steepest stretch is a sustained descent of about 5% around the 3.2 km mark.
- Stiles and gates: A stile of unmapped type at 1.2 km — a dog may need lifting over. (OpenStreetMap, mapped as of 2026-10-16)
- Drops and exposed ground: Not assessed on the ground; the map suggests Moderate. 2 mapped crag feature(s) near the line — check the airy sections.
- Rock and scrambling: Ground underfoot: Not assessed.
- Ways off early: None recorded for this route.
- Livestock, shade and water: Not recorded for this route yet. We never call a stream safe for a dog to drink, so carry enough for both of you. The lead rules, and what to do around cattle, are on dogs on the fells.
On the line: 2 gates · 1 kissing gate · 1 stile (type unmapped)
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 2026-10-16. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).