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314 m · Outlying Fell — South Lakeland · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Outlying Fell — South LakelandAlso a Birkett

Carron Crag

Carron Crag at 314m (1,030ft) is a Birkett top in the Grizedale Forest above the Furness Fells, its summit now partially cleared of conifers and giving views across Esthwaite Water and south to Morecambe Bay.

314 m
Height
+0
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX → Parking & buses →
314 mOutlying Fell — South Lakeland✓ summit is also a Birkett+0 bonus Birketts within 3 km

Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast

Modelled guidance for the 314 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 15° to 10°C, gusts to 18 mph, 1.8 mm of rain forecast.

Fri 11 Sep
🌦️
15° / 10°
💨 18 mph
🌧 1.8 mm (94%)
Sat 12 Sep
🌧️
17° / 10°
💨 37 mph
🌧 28.4 mm (100%)
Sun 13 Sep
☁️
15° / 9°
💨 12 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (33%)
Mon 14 Sep
🌧️
16° / 8°
💨 29 mph
🌧 15.5 mm (89%)
Tue 15 Sep
🌦️
15° / 10°
💨 34 mph
🌧 5.8 mm (78%)
Wed 16 Sep
🌦️
12° / 10°
💨 29 mph
🌧 2.8 mm (57%)
Thu 17 Sep
🌦️
13° / 10°
💨 36 mph
🌧 6.4 mm (79%)

Forecast snapshot from 11 Sep 2026, 08:30 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 314 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.

Carron Crag at a glance

Carron Crag

Carron Crag, a Lake District fell
Photo: P Smith, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Carron Crag at 314m (1,030ft) is a Birkett top in the Grizedale Forest above the Furness Fells, its summit now partially cleared of conifers and giving views across Esthwaite Water and south to Morecambe Bay. Part of the forest fell country between Windermere and Coniston Water. A popular walk from the Grizedale Forest visitor centre.

Routes up Carron Crag

Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.

Classifications & hill data

Outlying Fell
South Lakeland
Birkett
Synge
314 m
Height
1,030 ft
In feet
SD 3252 9434
Grid ref

The short answers

Is Carron Crag a Wainwright?

Carron Crag is one of Wainwright's Outlying Fells, not one of the 214 in the Pictorial Guides. It is also on the Birkett list and the Synge list.

Where do you park for Carron Crag?

The nearest car park we hold is Grizedale Forest (disabled), about 1.1 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Carron Crag car park (paid), 1.1 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 Carron Crag?

The shortest way up we hold is Carron Crag from Grizedale — 11 km, 388 m of ascent, about 2.8 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is navigation — Hard.

All axes: navigation: Hard · terrain: Moderate · length: Moderate · steepness: Moderate · exposure: Easy.

Parking & buses for Carron Crag

Best parking to hike Carron Crag

Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).

Grizedale Forest (disabled) — 1.1 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Carron Crag — the 'Carron Crag from Grizedale' route starts 201 m away. Fee not verified — check signage on arrival. No camping or overnight stays in any Grizedale Forest car park (Forestry England, checked Aug 2026).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Carron Crag car park (paid) — 1.1 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Carron Crag (1.1 km). Paid parking (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Grizedale Forest Visitor Centre (paid) — 1.1 km from summit (straight line)
Forest centre car park in Grizedale, for Carron Crag and the forest trails. Fees: First 20 min free; first hour £2.90; then £0.70 per 15 min; all-day max £14. ANPR pay-on-exit; card at machine, cash at visitor centre, or Park with Ease online within 48h (Forestry England, checked Aug 2026). Open daily (closed only in severe weather) (Forestry England, checked Aug 2026). Free for Forestry England members (checked Aug 2026).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Carron Crag, east car park 2 — 1.2 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Carron Crag — the 'Carron Crag from Grizedale' route starts 82 m away. Grass surface (OSM-tagged). Fee not verified — check signage on arrival.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Bogle Crag car park, Grizedale (FE, paid) — 1.6 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Carron Crag (1.6 km). Fees: First 20 min free; first hour £2.20; then £0.55 per 15 min; all-day max £14. ANPR pay-on-exit (Forestry England, checked Aug 2026). Free for Forestry England members (checked Aug 2026).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?

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 Carron Crag by bus

The 505 stops at Hawkshead, at Tourist Information Centre. From there it is 4.8 km and 222 m of ascent to the start of Carron Crag from Grizedale — a walk in before the walk. The last bus is 20:43 towards Kendal (505) and 19:55 towards Coniston (505) and 19:03 towards Ambleside (505), 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.

Stagecoach 505 “Coniston Rambler”
Windermere – Ambleside – Skelwith Bridge – Hawkshead – Coniston
Catch it from: Windermere · Ambleside
Daily in season (reduced winter service). Best access for the Coniston fells (Old Man, Wetherlam group).

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Hazards on Carron Crag

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.

Map & nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.

Nearest parking: Grizedale Forest (disabled), about 1.1 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Carron Crag (within 3 km)

No bonus Birketts within 3 km — every Birkett near here is already a Wainwright summit, so just enjoy the walk.

Routes over Carron Crag

10.99 km · ~388 m ascent · loop · ~2.5–3.5 h
Summits: Carron Crag

⬇️ Download GPX

Full route guide ↗

✎️ 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 Carron Crag

Water & shelter on the way up

💧 Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is usually a tap or public supply, but never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock or a carcass upstream and leave you seriously ill. Run it through a filter or purifier (a LifeStraw, Sawyer Squeeze or HydraPak) or bring it to a rolling boil first.

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.

Places to stay near this fell

Bank Ground Farm (opens in new tab) guest house

about 3.6 km from the start, in a straight line

The only address in the radius that answers a walking family's whole evening in its own words: 'High chairs, cots and stair gates are available on request' means nobody has to pack a cot for Carron Crag, and food is on site rather than a drive away. It is also the only EV answer here - 'We have 2 x 7KW type 2 EV chargers onsite for guests and patrons to use. Please bring your own charge cable.' Two honest catches for a walker: breakfast is 'served at 9am', which is late if you want to be in Grizedale early, and the dog rule is split - dogs are welcome on the farm and there are kennels, but 'no pets are allowed inside the cottages and farmhouses'. Six en-suite B&B rooms in the farmhouse plus cottages sleeping two to sixteen, so a big group books one address.

Worth knowing: “Pets are more than welcome on the farm, we have purpose built five star accommodation so that you can bring the whole family along, however with the exception of assistant dogs, no pets are allowed inside the cottages and farmhouses.”

Arthur Ransome set Swallows and Amazons at this farm, and the 1970s film was shot here; the family now runs it as a working farm with its own cafe, restaurant and farm shop.

  • Dogs “Pets are more than welcome on the farm, we have purpose built five star accommodation so that you can bring the whole family along, however with the exception of assistant dogs, no pets are allowed inside the cottages and farmhouses.”
  • Family rooms “The traditional farm buildings have been converted into cottages of different sizes, sleeping two to sixteen.”
  • Evening meal “Let our fab chefs prepare you lovely meals, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner.”
  • Children “High chairs, cots and stair gates are available on request.”

Low Parkamoor Cottage (opens in new tab) guest house

about 3.3 km from the start, in a straight line

Nothing else in this radius is remotely like it, and for the right party it is the reason to walk Carron Crag from this side at all: an off-grid grade II listed farmhouse above Coniston Water, sleeping six, dogs allowed by agreement, keys handed over at the farm rather than a lockbox. It is also the row that most needs its warnings attached - no running water, no lights upstairs, limited mobile signal, and their own line 'you must bring food, at least for the start of your stay as the nearest shop is roughly 5 miles away.' Arrivals are from 3pm and departures before 11am, and access is on foot unless you book the 4x4 lift.

An off-grid grade II listed farmhouse 200 metres above the east shore of Coniston Water with no mains services, no running water and no lights upstairs - solar-fed LEDs downstairs, an indoor hand pump, two wood burners, and a compost toilet outside. You cannot drive to it: the farm runs a 4x4 drop-off for up to four people, otherwise you walk in.

  • Dogs “Dogs are allowed by agreement, but owners are asked to keep them under close control.”
  • Family rooms “It sleeps a maximum of 6 people. There are two double room and a twin room.”

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).

Other fells near Carron Crag