High Tove and Armboth Fell | 3 Miles
High Tove and Armboth Fell sit in the boggy heart of the Central Fells above Thirlmere, and they’re about as far from the honeypot Wainwrights as you can get. Wainwright himself wasn’t exactly generous about either of them – in fact he all but told people not to bother. But there’s something appealing about a walk that so few others choose to do, and the views out towards Helvellyn and the Dodds are reward enough for the wet ground underfoot. This 3 mile route starts from Armboth car park, climbs up to High Tove, continues on to Armboth Fell, then retraces its steps back down.
Walk Overview
- Start/finish: Armboth car park, Thirlmere
- Facilities: There are public toilets in Armboth car park – these aren’t always open though, and were closed on our visit.
- Terrain: Rough, boggy moorland underfoot for much of the route, with no clear path in places
- Good for: Walkers wanting a quieter, less-trodden route with genuine wilderness character, rather than a crowd-pleasing summit
Route Highlights
A quieter corner of Lakeland – Both fells sit well off the beaten track, so if you’re after solitude rather than queuing for a summit photo, this is about as peaceful as the Central Fells get.
Wainwright’s verdict on High Tove (515m) – Wainwright wasn’t shy about his opinion of this one, writing that “it’s hard to imagine that anybody feels any affection at all for High Tove, apart perhaps from the sheep.” Even he had to admit, though, that despite the wet going underfoot, it earns its place as “a viewpoint, if nothing else”.
Armboth Fell, the “centre” of Lakeland Wainwright described Armboth Fell (475m) as having “as good a claim as any to be the most centrally situated fell in Lakeland”. He also had a warning for anyone tempted to climb it purely to tick it off, noting that “walkers of a contrary turn of mind” would likely want to climb it precisely because he’d advised against it.
Views towards Helvellyn and the Dodds Despite the underfoot conditions, the payoff comes in the views, with Helvellyn’s ridge and the Dodds visible across Thirlmere on a clear day.
A walk with character, not just scenery Between Wainwright’s grumbling and the genuinely wild, untamed moorland, this route has a personality all its own, less about ticking off a dramatic summit, more about the experience of walking somewhere few others do.
Our walk starts in the Armboth car park. We left the car park and turned right, then crossed the road to pick up the path that runs up the hillside.
It’s relatively easy to follow the path here, with there being some small rocky sections as the route winds its way up the hillside next to the forestry plantation.
We crossed a small stream and then the path forks – we took the right hand fork, which got boggier and boggier, climbing steadily up to the summit of High Tove. This is marked by a large cairn and has some great views over the surrounding fells.
From High Tove we set off south-east over to the rocky outcrop of Armboth Fell. On a clear day it’s easy to navigate your way over to it, although the ground is very wet (almost as bad as Mungrisdale Common – IYKYK).
The summit of Armboth Fell isn’t marked, although there is a tiny cairn which someone has placed there. It’ll no doubt grow larger as time goes by.
After we’d enjoyed the views from Armboth Fell we set off north and soon met the path we came up on. We followed this back down the hillside to the car (when it promptly started raining!) and then drove around Thirlmere for a drink in the Kings Head Inn to get out of the rain.
This was a great walk to tick off another couple of Wainwrights, and despite Wainwright himself not being overly enthusiastic about them, I’m really glad we did them.
Walk Map (Opens in OS Maps): High Tove and Armboth Fell
Parking: Armboth Car Park, Western Lakeshore, Thirlmere W3W:///headlines.page.interrupt. Pay and display – cash only. If you want to pay by card you can drive down to Dob Gill car park (W3W:///closes.backyards.acclaim) and get a ticket from the machine there, hidden away behind a log pile as of August 2026, however the car park itself is closed to cars. You can then drive back and park in Armboth.
Dogs: Allowed, on leads near livestock though. The route crosses Open Access Land so from 1 March to 31 July dogs need to be on a short lead.
Facilities: There are public toilets in the car park however these were out of order when we visited in August 2026.
Walk Time: 2-3 hours
Difficulty: ▲▲
Distance: 3.36 miles (5.4km)
Trig Points Bagged: None
Wainwrights Bagged: Armboth Fell, High Tove
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