Castle Crag
Castle Crag at 290m (951ft) is the lowest of all the Wainwright fells, yet one of the most dramatic — a rocky prow standing sentinel in the narrowest part of the Borrowdale gorge between Grange and Rosthwaite.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 290 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 18° to 16°C, gusts to 34 mph, 2.8 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 290 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
About the walk
Castle Crag
- How long
- ~2–2.5 h
- Height
- 290 m (951 ft)
Routes up Castle Crag
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Rosthwaite (NT, paid), about 1.2 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Castle Crag (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 Castle Crag
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass.
The View from Castle Crag
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 Castle Crag, by direction
- North: Skiddaw Lesser Man (12 km), Jenkin Hill (12 km), Lonscale Fell (12 km), Skiddaw Little Man (12 km), Lonscale Pike (12 km), Carl Side (12 km), Long Side (12 km), Skiddaw South Top (13 km), Ullock Pike (13 km)
- North-east: High Seat (4 km), Bleaberry Fell (5 km), Knowe Crags (13 km), Gategill Fell Top (13 km), Blencathra (14 km), Doddick Fell (14 km), Mungrisdale Common (15 km)
- East: Watendlath Fell (4 km), Bell Crags (5 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (9 km), Helvellyn (9 km), Nethermost Pike (10 km), High Crag (10 km), Dollywaggon Pike (10 km)
- South-east: Eagle Crag (5 km), Low Saddle (5 km), Coldbarrow Fell (5 km), Low White Stones (7 km), High Raise (7 km)
- South: Dovenest Top (5 km), Combe Head (5 km), Glaramara (6 km), Allen Crags (8 km), Great End (8 km), Esk Pike (8 km), Broad Crag (9 km), Scafell Pike (9 km)
- South-west: Base Brown (5 km), Green Gable (6 km), Great Gable (7 km), Scafell (10 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.
Castle Crag is one of our picked Lake District viewpoints — what you can see from it, when the light is best, and where to park.
What you can see from Castle Crag
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.All 33 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Grange Fell (Brund Fell), Great Crag (Stonethwaite), Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot, Cat Bells (Catbells), High Seat, Eagle Crag, Base Brown, Bleaberry Fell, Sergeant's Crag, Glaramara, Ullscarf, Walla Crag, Seathwaite Fell (Wainwright summit), Green Gable, Great Gable, High Raise (High White Stones), Allen Crags, Great End, Esk Pike, Latrigg, Scafell Pike, Helvellyn, Nethermost Pike, Dollywaggon Pike, Scafell, Dodd (Skiddaw), Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Little Man, Carl Side, Long Side, Ullock Pike, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Mungrisdale Common
How Castle Crag’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.
Best parking to hike Castle Crag
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.
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Castle Crag, Brund Fell & Great Crag route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
Buses to Castle Crag from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
My hikes over Castle Crag (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Least favourite hike, should forget the Birketts and their dodgy tracks (opens in new tab) — 13.6 km · 790 m ascent · 4h 09m moving · 30 Aug 2025
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Navigating Castle Crag in cloud
StraightforwardA broad, gently-sloping top with little to steer by — easy to lose your bearings and hard to relocate in mist. 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 Castle Crag compares with all 214 — the Clag Index: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.
Frequently asked questions about Castle Crag
Is Castle Crag a hard walk?
No — it's short and manageable for most walkers, though the finish has character: the final climb zig-zags up old slate spoil, steep and loose enough to want boots and a bit of care, especially coming down in the wet.
At 290 m (951 ft) it's the smallest fell in Wainwright's 214, and the reward-per-step from the summit — Derwentwater one way, the Jaws of Borrowdale the other — is out of all proportion.
How long does the Castle Crag walk take?
About 1.5–2 hours as a short round from Grange or Rosthwaite. Our walked circuit takes in Castle Crag with Brund Fell and Great Crag for a fuller Borrowdale day of about 14 km.
Where do you park for Castle Crag?
Grange (roadside and small paid options — fills early in summer) or Rosthwaite (National Trust car park). Borrowdale's 78 bus stops at both, and arriving by bus beats circling for a space on a fine weekend.
What did Wainwright think of Castle Crag?
He made it the only fell under 1,000 ft to get its own chapter — a measure of how highly he rated it. He wrote of it with unusual warmth as a small fell of exceptional character, guarding the Jaws of Borrowdale. (As ever, read his own words in the North Western Fells volume — they're better than any summary.)
The summit also carries a war memorial to the men of Borrowdale, and the top is riddled with old slate workings — keep children close around the quarry edges.
Is this the same Castle Crag as the ones at Haweswater and Thirlmere?
No — Lakeland has several Castle Crags. This is the famous Borrowdale one. The others with pages here are Castle Crag (Mardale), the hillfort spur above Haweswater, and Castle Crag (Shoulthwaite) near Thirlmere — both fine, much quieter objectives.
Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-07-20 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)
Other fells near Castle Crag
- Ard Crags
- Barf
- Barrow
- Broom Fell
- 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 - Whinlatter)
- Whiteless Pike
- Whiteside (Whiteside West Top)
Maps & guidebooks for Castle Crag
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