Gale Crag
Gale Crag at 512m (1,680ft) is a Birkett top on the ridge of Hartsop above How, 1.0 km east-north-east of its summit and 0.8 km west of Brothers Water, giving views across Brothers Water and towards the eastern fells.
Summit conditions on Gale Crag
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 6°C, gusts to 54 mph, 16.5 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.
The forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →
Routes up Gale Crag
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Six tops from Gale Crag over Hartsop Above How to Hart Crag: 11.9 km and 837 m, about 3¾–5¼ hours.
Distance and climb are measured from the route’s GPX track, and the time from them by Naismith’s rule; the route page says what each grade rests on. How we check →
How hard is Gale Crag?
The shortest way up we hold is Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag — 11.87 km, 837 m of ascent, ~3¾–5¼ h. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.
All axes: steepness: Severe · length: Moderate · terrain: Moderate · navigation: Moderate · exposure: Moderate.
These are the route page’s grades, set by the rules on how we grade: length and steepness measured from its GPX track, the others set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap. The route page says which. How we check →
Conditions and 7-day summit forecast
Modelled for the 512 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 27 October 2026, 08:13 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for Gale Crag
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
2 more places to park near Gale Crag
Positions are approximate.
Of the pay-and-display machine tickets sold at Cow Bridge from 17 August 2024 to 31 March 2026, 34% were bought before 10am (our count of FOI/2026.500 ticket data). Contains public sector information provided by the Lake District National Park Authority and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Vehicles are left at their owner’s risk: we list places people park and cannot vouch for any of them. Take valuables with you and leave nothing on show.
Buses
The 508 and 509 stop at Hartsop, opposite Cow Bridge, a 30 m walk from the start of Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag — a route we rate Severe overall (hardest: steepness). 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; that timetable runs to 1 November 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.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Hazards on Gale Crag
Notes from the Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag route
If you need to get off (the leg from the start): Turn around and carefully retrace your steps down the steep grassy and wooded slopes directly to the valley floor.
Quoted from the route page: the note for the leg that reaches Gale Crag.
We have not written a hazard card for this fell yet, and that is not a sign that it is low-hazard. Read the warnings on the route pages that climb it, check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected. The National Park Authority’s What to pack page, AdventureSmart’s hill walking kit list and Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s safety page are linked from our what to carry guide.
If you need Mountain Rescue
Dial 999 or 112 and ask for the Police, then Mountain Rescue.
Before you call, have ready: where you are (a grid reference if you can – the OS Locate app shows yours on your phone), what has happened, how many of you there are, and your mobile number.
Then stay where you are until the rescue team contacts you.
If you cannot make a voice call because of a hearing or speech impairment, emergency SMS works only if you have registered first: text “register” to 999.
From Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s guidance on calling them out (opens in new tab) (read 26 October 2026).
Map, GPX and nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.
Birketts within 3 km of Gale Crag
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
Routes over Gale Crag
Download GPX Walked by Lee, July 2025
Every line here is a guide, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate for yourself and carry a map and compass. How to use this guide.
On the hill: terrain and water on Gale Crag
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
About Gale Crag
My Strava hikes over Gale Crag
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Completing the Eastern Wainwrights. But seriously hampered by intermittent GPS (opens in new tab) — 15.9 km · 1061 m ascent · 4h 34m moving · 6 July 2025
Data from Strava.
Classifications & hill data
Is Gale Crag a Wainwright?
Gale Crag is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and the Synge list.
Selected lists
This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.
Lists, height and summit position from the Database of British and Irish Hills; the feet are converted from its metres and the grid reference from that position. How we check →
Places to stay near this fell
- Greenbank Farm Bed and Breakfast (opens in new tab) guest houseabout 1.8 km
We have not stayed at any of them. We take no bookings or affiliate fees. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).