Meet time: 9.15am
Start time: 9.30am
Estimated finish time: 3.45pm to 4pm
Distance: 8.9 to 9 miles (14.32 to 14.48 kilometers).
Ascent: About 3400 feet (1036 meters).
Ramblers walk grading: A (Strenuous).
Start point: Old Dungeon Ghyll car park
Postcode: LA22 9JY
Car parking: Old Dungeon Ghyll car park, the New Dungeon Ghyll car parks are about 10 minutes’ walk away. Highly recommend arriving at Old Dungeon Ghyll before 9am to get a space in the car park.
It is the responsibility of each walker to make sure they understand where to park. If you are not sure where the car parking/meeting point is, you must contact the walk leader at the latest the day before the walk. You should not rely on mobile phones or postcodes. There is often no mobile reception near walk meeting points and postcodes are for the nearest place nearby but should only serve as a guideline. Please allow plenty of time to find a parking space so that walks can start promptly.
Description: Leaving Old Dungeon Ghyll, we briefly go along the road before following a track and then a path to enter the small valley of Oxendale which has Crinkle Crags looming over. Past the farm buildings of Stool End, we go over the footbridge and this is where the ascent begins, and it is a steep one as we follow the path to Red Tarn. When the path levels out and comes to a crossroads of paths we go right taking the route to Crinkle Crags, along the way we follow a trod to the first Wainwright of the walk: Cold Pike (701 meters) which has great views of Wrynose Pass and the Coniston Fells.
We leave Cold Pike and more or less keep the height by following a trod through a grassy plateau to pick up again the path to Crinkle Crags. It’s at the top of Crinkle Crags where the views become really mighty looking at the Great Langdale Valley, Eskdale and Dunnerdale, while there are dozens of mountains and Wainwrights to be seen all around. There are at least four tops to Crinkle Crags and the highest one (and the second one to be reached), coming in at 859 meters, is the Wainwright. Very close to the summit is a lower summit that offers the best view of the two Scafells! If the weather is clear then Crinkle Crags is an astonishing mountain!
Leaving the summit of Crinkle Crags is rocky and hard-going, and great care is needed. We slowly descend to Three Tarns, the mountain pass between Crinkle Crags and Bow Fell, as Bow Fell looms over. There is an option to descend, by taking the path right and heading east into the Great Langdale Valley along The Band, while others go to Bow Fell and then return to Three Tarns.
The ascent to Bow Fell is the final one and it is steep and rocky before giving way to a boulder field at the top. The summit of Bow Fell (902 meters) is the one of the mightiest in the Lake District and most of the mountains of the Lake District can be seen from here. Because of its steep conical top then there are full panoramic views. But it’s a narrow summit so it can get crowded!
We leave Bow Fell and return to Three Tarns before taking what is the quickest and gentlest descent back into the Great Langdale Valley: following a gentler grassy ridge called The Band. It’s not as steep or as rocky as other descents and this will be a small mercy for tired legs. The Band comes to an end at Stool End farm. From there it’s a quick and flat walk back to Old Dungeon Ghyll and back to the pub!
Cold Pike is a rather obscure Wainwright thus ideal for those bagging the Wainwrights, while Crinkle Crags and Bow Fell are probably right at the top of the best high places and high mountains of the Lakes.
Please contact Miles on 07842 783319 by 10pm on Friday 28 March if you are coming on this walk (text or phone, WhatsApp, or message on Facebook (Miles Saunders-Priem)).
Please check the weather and bring appropriate clothing (waterproofs and spare warm clothing), footwear and enough food and water. The leader reserves the right to turn away any walker not suitably equipped. The leader may cancel the walk or modify the route dependent on conditions.
Car sharing may be possible – please contact the walk leader to arrange.
New members: please note the walk leader may ask for more information about your walking experience. This is to ensure you have the fitness required to complete the walk that is planned safely.
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