Ard Crags
Ard Crags at 581m (1,906ft) is a craggy ridge summit above the head of the Newlands valley, its rocky west face giving the fell its name.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 581 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Sat 12 Sep): 14° to 8°C, gusts to 48 mph, 20.2 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 18:50 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 581 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Ard Crags at a glance
Ard Crags
Routes up Ard Crags
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Ard Crags a Wainwright?
Ard Crags is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Fellranger list and the HuMP list.
Where do you park for Ard Crags?
The nearest car park we hold is Ard Crags (layby), about 0.8 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Knott Rigg (layby), 1.3 km out. 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.
How hard is Ard Crags?
The shortest way up we hold is Honister to Keswick: over the Newlands fells — 19.6 km, 1035 m of ascent, about 5.6 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.
All axes: steepness: Severe · exposure: Hard · length: Hard · terrain: Moderate · navigation: Moderate.
Parking & buses for Ard Crags
Best parking to hike Ard Crags
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.
Getting to Ard Crags by bus
The 77 stops at Braithwaite, at Croft Terrace, 30 m from the start of Ard Crags & Knott Rigg. Last bus: Monday to Friday 22:27 towards Workington (X5) and 17:37 towards Keswick (77) and 16:37 towards Cockermouth (77); Saturday 00:22 (+1) (after midnight) towards Workington (X5) and 17:37 towards Keswick (77) and 16:37 towards Cockermouth (77); Sunday 20:17 towards Workington (X5) and 17:37 towards Keswick (77) and 16:37 towards Cockermouth (77). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 12 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.
Hazards on Ard Crags
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.
Don’t drink from Yewthwaite Gill
On the way up you cross Yewthwaite Gill, which runs below the old Yewthwaite lead mine. The Environment Agency records it carrying dissolved lead above the level that is safe to drink. This is not the usual hill-water risk: a squeeze or hollow-fibre filter (LifeStraw, Sawyer and the like) removes none of these dissolved metals, and boiling only concentrates them. Carry your own water for this walk and don’t refill from the beck. Coledale Beck and Newlands Beck on the same round is mine-polluted too, though below the level that would harm a person.
What’s actually in this beck — we mapped every mine-fed one →
Metal-mine water data © Environment Agency (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Navigating Ard Crags in cloud
StraightforwardA rough, rocky summit ringed by crags, with no single obvious way off in poor visibility. 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 Ard Crags compares with all 214 — the Clag Index: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Ard Crags (layby), about 0.8 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Ard Crags (within 3 km)
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.
Routes over Ard Crags
✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
✎️ Because it finishes in a different valley from where it starts, this one suits a car–free day: the seasonal Honister Rambler (the 77 / 77A) sets you down at Honister Hause and you walk back into Keswick for the bus home. From Penrith it’s the X4 / X5 to Keswick, then the Rambler up to Honister. Check the last bus before you set off — the walk’s long tail down the Newlands valley eats time when legs are tired.
✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
On the hill: terrain and water on Ard Crags
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Ard Crags & Knott Rigg route:
On the Honister to Keswick: over the Newlands fells route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
The view from Ard Crags
The 360° skyline from Ard Crags
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.
What you can see from Ard Crags, by direction
- North-east: Skiddaw Little Man (10 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (10 km), Skiddaw South Top (10 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (10 km), Skiddaw (11 km), Knowe Crags (13 km), Gategill Fell Top (13 km), Blencathra (14 km), Atkinson Pike (14 km)
- East: Watson's Dodd (13 km), White Side (14 km), Great Dodd (14 km), Stybarrow Dodd (14 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (14 km), Raise (14 km), Helvellyn (14 km), Catstye Cam (15 km), Nethermost Pike (15 km)
- South-east: High Raise (13 km), Harrison Stickle (14 km), High Crag (15 km), Dollywaggon Pike (16 km), Seat Sandal (16 km), Cofa Pike (17 km), Fairfield (17 km), Great Rigg (18 km)
- South: Robinson (3 km), Dale Head (5 km), Green Gable (9 km), Great Gable (10 km), Broad Crag (12 km), Ill Crag (12 km), Scafell Pike (13 km)
- South-west: High Stile (6 km), Red Pike (6 km), High Stile (6 km), Pillar (8 km), Scoat Fell (10 km)
- West: Crag Hill (2 km)
- North-west: Sail (1 km)
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.
Sunrise and sunset on Ard Crags
Ard Crags sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (at midsummer) first light is only 11 minutes after almanac sunrise, so the published sunrise time is a fair guide here.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:48 BST ±5.0 min | 04:37 | +11 min |
| Equinox | 06:22 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:16 | +6 min |
| Midwinter | 08:40 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:34 | +6 min |
The northern horizon stands at about 4.01° from here.
Last light — when the sun leaves Ard Crags
Ard Crags loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls at midsummer, when last light is 87 minutes before almanac sunset — 20:26 against 21:53. The sun goes down to the west-north-west from here (297.7°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 9.7°.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 20:26 BST ±5.0 min | 21:53 | -87 min |
| Equinox | 17:55 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:27 | -32 min |
| Midwinter | 15:36 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:49 | -13 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 Ard Crags. 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.
What you can see from Ard Crags
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.- Cross Fell North Pennines
All 54 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Scar Crags, Sail, Knott Rigg, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Causey Pike, Wandope, Whiteless Pike, Robinson, Hindscarth, Maiden Moor, Cat Bells (Catbells), High Spy, Dale Head, Red Pike (Buttermere), High Stile, High Crag (Buttermere), Walla Crag, Starling Dodd, Brandreth, Bleaberry Fell, High Seat, Pillar, Latrigg, Great Borne, Green Gable, Great Gable, Steeple, Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell), Skiddaw Little Man, High Rigg (Naddle Fell), Skiddaw, Crag Fell, Scafell Pike, High Raise (High White Stones), Watson's Dodd, Clough Head, White Side, Great Dodd, Stybarrow Dodd, Raise, Thunacar Knott, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Pike of Stickle, Pavey Ark, Helvellyn, Harrison Stickle, Loft Crag, Catstye Cam, Nethermost Pike, Dollywaggon Pike, Seat Sandal, Fairfield, Great Rigg, Great Mell Fell
How Ard Crags’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.
Places to stay near this fell
From Whinlatter: 9 places in Keswick
Frequently asked questions about Ard Crags
Is Ard Crags an easy walk?
The ridge is a delight and genuinely straightforward — a narrow grassy crest above Newlands with heather on its flanks, no rock to negotiate, and views out of proportion to the effort. Walked with Knott Rigg it is one of the best short rounds in the district.
Our mapped routes over it are much bigger days: 19.7 km with 687 m of ascent, or the Honister crossing at 19.6 km and 1035 m, which we rate Hard. The short version from Rigg Beck is a fraction of either and is one we have not yet measured.
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)
Other fells near Ard Crags
- Barf
- Barrow
- Broom Fell
- Castle Crag
- Cat Bells (Catbells)
- Causey Pike
- Crag Hill (Eel Crag)
- Dale Head
- Grasmoor
- Graystones (Graystones North Top)
- Grisedale Pike
- High Spy
- Hindscarth
- Hopegill Head
- Knott Rigg
- Ling Fell
- Lord's Seat
- Maiden Moor
- Outerside
- Rannerdale Knotts
- Robinson
- Sail
- Sale Fell
- Scar Crags
- Wandope
- Whinlatter (Brown How)
- Whiteless Pike
- Whiteside (Whiteside West Top)