Dove Crag
Dove Crag at 792m (2,598ft) takes its name from the impressive cliff on its eastern face above Dovedale — a favourite with rock climbers and a dramatic feature visible from the valley below.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 792 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 10° to 7°C, gusts to 28 mph, 1.0 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 11 Sep 2026, 08:30 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 792 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Dove Crag at a glance
Dove Crag
Field notes
I've been up here twice, and there's good reason: it's a beautiful fell with lots of space to sit and wonder at this amazing place. There are plenty of rocks to perch on if the weather is inclement. Take your time with this one if possible.Routes up Dove Crag
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Dove Crag a Wainwright?
Dove Crag is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list and the Fellranger list.
Where do you park for Dove Crag?
We hold no car park within 2.5 km of the summit, so there is no short walk-in to recommend here. 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 Dove Crag?
The shortest way up we hold is Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag — 11.9 km, 765 m of ascent, about 3.6 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.
All axes: steepness: Severe · navigation: Moderate · exposure: Moderate · length: Moderate · terrain: Moderate.
My hikes over Dove Crag (Strava)
2 logged hikes pass over this summit:
- 4 Wainwrights, 3 Kids and a while load of "how far is the car?" (opens in new tab) — 16.0 km · 873 m ascent · 4h 41m moving · 25 Jun 2023
- Bit of a hike in the Lake District (opens in new tab) — 23.0 km · 1488 m ascent · 6h 13m moving · 3 Apr 2023
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Dove Crag
Best parking to hike Dove 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.
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 Dove Crag by bus
The 508 stops at Hartsop, opposite Cow Bridge, 30 m from the start of Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag. The last bus is 19:51 towards Windermere (508) and 15:14 towards Hartsop (509), 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.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Hazards on Dove 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.
Navigating Dove Crag in cloud
Care neededA broad, gently-sloping top with little to steer by — easy to lose your bearings and hard to relocate in mist. Take care in poor visibility — carry map and compass, and know how to use them.
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 Dove Crag 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: High Hartsop Dodd car park (free), about 2.7 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Dove 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 Dove Crag
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
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 Dove Crag
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Fairfield Horseshoe route:
On the Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag route:
On the Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
The view from Dove Crag
The 360° skyline from Dove 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 Dove Crag, by direction
- North: St Sunday Crag (3 km), Stybarrow Dodd (9 km), Great Dodd (11 km)
- East: Thornthwaite Crag (6 km), High Street (7 km), Rampsgill Head (7 km), Kidsty Pike (8 km), High Raise (8 km), Harter Fell (9 km)
- South-west: Crinkle Crags (14 km), Crinkle Crags (14 km), Crinkle Crags (14 km), Crinkle Crags (14 km), Crinkle Crags South Top (14 km), Great Carrs (14 km), Swirl How (14 km), Brim Fell (16 km), The Old Man of Coniston (16 km)
- West: Shelter Crags (14 km), Bowfell (14 km), Great End (15 km), Ill Crag (15 km), Broad Crag (16 km), Green Gable (16 km), Scafell Pike (16 km), Great Gable (16 km), Scafell (17 km), Pillar (20 km), Pillar Rock (20 km), Black Crag (21 km), Red Pike (21 km), High Stile (21 km), High Stile (21 km), Scoat Fell (22 km), Steeple (22 km)
- North-west: Fairfield (2 km), Helvellyn (6 km), Catstye Cam (6 km), White Side (7 km), Raise (8 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (174 km, Wales), Carnedd Llewelyn (162 km, Wales), Aran Fawddwy (195 km, Wales), Moel Siabod (170 km, Wales), The Cheviot (122 km, England), Arenig Fawr (182 km, Wales), Yr Eifl (194 km, Wales), Craig Cwm Silyn (181 km, Wales).
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 Dove Crag
Dove Crag catches the sun before the valley does. On not one of the sixteen dates modelled does this summit wait for first light — the eastern horizon falls away rather than standing over you, and at midsummer the light reaches it 4 minutes before almanac sunrise.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:33 BST ±5.0 min | 04:37 | -4 min |
| Equinox | 06:14 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:15 | -1 min |
| Midwinter | 08:29 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:32 | -3 min |
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean 0.05°).
Last light — when the sun leaves Dove Crag
Dove Crag loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls on 1 July, when last light is 22 minutes before almanac sunset — 21:29 against 21:51. The sun goes down to the north-west from here (309.7°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 2.06°.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:31 BST ±5.0 min | 21:52 | -21 min |
| Equinox | 18:27 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:26 | +1 min |
| Midwinter | 15:50 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:49 | +1 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 Dove Crag. 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 Dove Crag
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales.
- Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) Wales
- Carnedd Llewelyn Wales
- Ingleborough Yorkshire Dales
- Whernside Yorkshire Dales
- Great Dun Fell North Pennines
- Cross Fell North Pennines
- Morecambe Bay bay/estuary
All 80 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Little Hart Crag (Little Hart Crag - West Top), Hartsop Above How (Gill Crag - Hartsop Above How), Great Rigg, High Hartsop Dodd, Fairfield, Middle Dodd, Red Screes, Heron Pike (Rydal), Nab Scar, Hartsop Dodd, Birks, Arnison Crag, Brock Crags (Wainwright), Gray Crag, Thornthwaite Crag, Angletarn Pikes (Angletarn Pikes North Top), Loughrigg Fell, Silver How, Froswick, The Knott (High Street), Rest Dodd, High Street, Ill Bell, Place Fell, Tarn Crag (Easedale), Rampsgill Head, Yoke, Kidsty Pike, The Nab, Blea Rigg, High Raise (High Street), Beda Fell (Beda Head), Sergeant Man, Pavey Ark, Lingmoor Fell (Brown How), Kentmere Pike, Black Fell, Harrison Stickle, Thunacar Knott, Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa - Steel Knotts), Loft Crag, Wether Hill, Hallin Fell, Loadpot Hill, Holme Fell, Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit), Pike of Blisco, Wetherlam, Glaramara, Cold Pike, Arthur's Pike, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Allen Crags, Esk Pike, Great Carrs, Swirl How, Little Mell Fell, Great End, Base Brown, Great Mell Fell, Brim Fell, Dale Head, Grey Knotts, Green Gable, Brandreth, Scafell Pike, The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man), Great Gable, Hindscarth, Scafell, Robinson, Harter Fell (Eskdale), High Crag (Buttermere), Pillar, Red Pike (Wasdale), High Stile, Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell), Steeple, Red Pike (Buttermere)
How Dove 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.
Places to stay near this fell
From Rydal: 6 places in Ambleside · From Ambleside or Grasmere: 3 places
Frequently asked questions about Dove Crag
Where is Dove Crag?
An Eastern Fells Wainwright of 792 m (2,598 ft) on the Fairfield Horseshoe ridge, between Hart Crag and High Pike. The fell takes its name from the great crag on its eastern face above Dovedale — the walkers' summit is easy ground well back from it.
Can you climb Dove Crag from Sykeside?
Yes — the Dovedale approach from Sykeside (Brotherswater) is the connoisseur's way up: quieter and more dramatic than the Ambleside ridge, climbing beneath the crag itself before gaining the ridge. Our walked Hartsop round (July 2026) crosses Dove Crag from this side; the classic alternative is taking it on the Fairfield Horseshoe.
Is the Priest's Hole cave on Dove Crag?
Yes — the Priest's Hole is a small natural cave high on the face of the crag itself, famous from books and film as a wild overnight spot. Be clear-eyed about what it is: a ledge on a mountain crag, reached by a steep, loose and exposed scrambly path that is hard to find in mist and hazardous in the wet or dark — people have needed rescuing here. It is not a visitor attraction and not part of any walking route on this site.
If you want the fell, take the ridge or the Dovedale path. If you're set on the cave, treat it as a mountaineering objective: dry conditions, daylight in hand, and the judgement to turn back.
How long does Dove Crag take?
From Sykeside via Dovedale, about 4–5 hours for a round — our walked Hartsop circuit is 11.9 km over six summits. On the full Fairfield Horseshoe it's one summit among eight in a 6–7 hour day.
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 Dove Crag
- Arnison Crag
- Birkhouse Moor
- Birks
- Catstye Cam
- Clough Head
- Dollywaggon Pike
- Fairfield
- Glenridding Dodd
- Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit)
- Great Dodd
- Great Mell Fell
- Great Rigg
- Hart Crag
- Hart Side
- Hartsop Above How (Gill Crag)
- Helvellyn
- Heron Pike (Rydal)
- High Hartsop Dodd
- High Pike (Scandale)
- Little Hart Crag (West Top)
- Little Mell Fell
- Low Pike
- Middle Dodd
- Nab Scar
- Nethermost Pike
- Raise
- Red Screes
- Seat Sandal
- Sheffield Pike
- St Sunday Crag
- Stone Arthur
- Stybarrow Dodd
- Watson's Dodd
- White Side