Raven Crag

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Summited February 2025

Home › Fells › Raven Crag

461 mWainwright — Central Fells+9 bonus Birketts within 3 km

Raven Crag at 461m (1,512ft) is the dramatic cliff above Thirlmere, its great crag face one of the most impressive roadside crags in Lakeland. The walkers' path reaches the top above the main face quickly from the road.

Summit conditions on Raven Crag

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 7°C, gusts to 52 mph, 11.2 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.

Against our lines, Tuesday 27 October: wind, cold and cloud from the Met Office UKV 2 km model (daylight hours, as in the verdict above); rain from the summit line’s forecast (the whole day). A tile is large when this top is past its line.

Wind on the top

Past the line

47 mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour

The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 45 mph times our exposure factor of 1.05. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 52 mph, before any exposure factor.

The line Our line: 25 mph, where our wind Scale begins its 25–35 band: “balance affected; buffeting on exposed ground”. MWIS (opens in new tab) describes what wind does to a walker across a range rather than at a line: from about 20–25 mph it starts to affect your balance.

Estimated: it is not calibrated against summit readings, and the two forecasts can disagree by more than a band.

Rain, and the becks

Past the line

11.2 mm of rain over the whole day, midnight to midnight

The same figure as the summit line above and the 7-day forecast.

The line Our line: 6 mm in the day, where our scorer counts a day as soaking. We read rainfall, never river levels: becks in spate.

Open-Meteo’s forecast. It says nothing about rain already in the ground.

Also checked cold: feels like 4 °C, no ice or snow forecast; cloud: a clear-top reading of 36 out of 100, over our in-cloud line of 20. Under a line is not the same as fine: it means only that these figures are under the lines we use.

Not in these tiles Lightning, river levels, snow or ice already lying, and the ground under your feet. A tile cannot see them, so an empty space here never means they are absent.

Snow figures with a second opinion: Powered by Met Office data

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

Wainwrights are scored for walking conditions each morning from the Met Office’s UK forecast model, read for each summit through Open-Meteo; the forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Routes up Raven Crag

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

Raven Crag from Thirlmere Walked in part

5.79 km · ~314 m ascent · ~1½–2¼ h · loop · 1 summit

Easy effort Hard: steepness

Park: Dam Triangle, Thirlmere (paid) · Bus: 555, 1.2 km walk from Stanah, at Dam road end

The short climb to the crag above Thirlmere: 5.8 km and 314 m, with a first stage averaging 20% and a steepest pull of about 25%.

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 →

Is Raven Crag a hard walk?

Short but steep. From the foot of Thirlmere it's only about a mile to the top, but the forest path gains its height quickly and the final section is stepped. At 461 m (1,512 ft) it's one of the quickest Wainwright summits to reach — and the crag-top viewpoint straight down the length of Thirlmere is among the best short-walk rewards in the district.

How we check →

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 461 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast

Tue 27 Oct

12° / 7°

52 mph

11.2 mm (100%)

Wed 28 Oct

10° / 7°

36 mph

8.7 mm (100%)

Thu 29 Oct

10° / 8°

28 mph

0.1 mm (33%)

Fri 30 Oct

10° / 7°

29 mph

0.0 mm (23%)

Sat 31 Oct

11° / 1°

8 mph

0.3 mm (18%)

Sun 1 Nov

9° / 1°

8 mph

0.0 mm (10%)

Mon 2 Nov

8° / 1°

14 mph

0.0 mm (0%)

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)

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

Parking & buses for Raven Crag

Parking

Where do you park for Raven Crag?

The car park by Thirlmere dam, at the lake's northern end (reached by the minor road down the western shore) — the path starts almost opposite. It's small and popular; on summer evenings, when the viewpoint is at its best, arrive with a fallback in mind.

Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.

Dam Triangle, Thirlmere (paid) — at the start of Raven Crag from Thirlmere

On Dam Road at the north end of Thirlmere: the 'Raven Crag from Thirlmere' route starts here. Paid car park. The National Park's car-parks directory (read 12 September 2026) lists it as 'Dam Triangle', pay and display, and OSM names it 'Dam triangle car park' (way/485343809).

Directions Something changed here?

Roadside parking for Raven Crag (free) — 0.5 km from summit (straight line)

Approx 4 spaces. 0.5 km from Raven Crag. Added from the 5 August 2026 OSM candidate review.

Directions Something changed here?

Raven Crag (layby) — 0.5 km from summit (straight line)

On the west-shore road below Raven Crag. The 'Raven Crag from Thirlmere' route starts 0.5 km to the north, at the car park on Dam Road.

Directions Something changed here?

2 more places to park near Raven Crag

High Bridge End, St John's in the Vale (lane, free) — 1.4 km from summit (straight line)

Walking base for Brown Crag, White Side, Raise and Stybarrow Dodd — the 'Brown Crag and Raise' route starts 212 m away. Also serves 'Three Dodds and Calfhow Pike'. Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Castle Rock (layby) — 1.4 km from summit (straight line)

Walking base for Brown Crag, White Side, Raise and Stybarrow Dodd — the 'Brown Crag and Raise' route starts 213 m away. Also serves 'Three Dodds and Calfhow Pike'. Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Positions are approximate.

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 555 stops at Stanah, at Dam road end. From there it is 1.2 km and 93 m of ascent to the start of Raven Crag from Thirlmere — a route we rate Hard overall (hardest: steepness) — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 8.2 km in all, with the walk. Last bus: Monday to Friday 21:05 towards Keswick (555); Saturday 21:05 towards Keswick (555); Sunday 18:56 towards Keswick (555). 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.

Stagecoach 555

Kendal – Staveley – Windermere – Ambleside – Rydal – Grasmere – Thirlmere (Wythburn & Swirls) – Keswick

Catch it from: Windermere · Ambleside

Year-round, roughly hourly. The backbone bus of the A591 — ideal for Helvellyn (Wythburn/Swirls), Fairfield, the Central fells and anything around Grasmere/Rydal. From Penrith, take the X4/X5 to Keswick and change.

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 Raven Crag

Notes from the Raven Crag from Thirlmere route

If you need to get off (the leg from Dam Triangle Car Park): Turn around and carefully descend the steep steps directly back to the car park.

Quoted from the route page: the note for the leg that reaches Raven 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.

Navigating in cloud

Not graded by the model

Our terrain model finds nothing to grade on this summit, so it gives no cloud grade here — that is not a sign of easy navigation. Read this fell’s hazard notes and the route pages before a day in cloud. 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 Raven Crag compares with all 214: the Clag Index (experimental).

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

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).

Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.

Birketts within 3 km of Raven Crag

These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.

0.4 km WNWCastle Crag (Shoulthwaite)404 m · Central

0.6 km NNWThe Benn (Sippling Crag)446 m · Central

1.0 km EGreat How (Thirlmere)333 m · Central

1.9 km NEWren Crag311 m · Central

2.0 km ENECastle Rock339 m · Eastern

2.5 km SFisher Crag421 m · Central

2.7 km ESEBrown Crag610 m · Eastern

2.7 km NHigh Rigg (High Rigg South Top)343 m · Central

2.9 km SSWArmboth Fell (Birkett)479 m · Central

Routes over Raven Crag

Raven Crag from Thirlmere

5.79 km · ~314 m ascent · loop · ~1½–2¼ h

Easy effort Hard: steepness

Summits: Raven Crag

Download GPX Walked in part, February 2025 · km 3.6–5.5 from the map

Route guide: Raven Crag from Thirlmere →

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.

About Raven Crag

The views from the top across Thirlmere to the Helvellyn range are excellent. A short, steep outing from the car park by the Thirlmere dam.

My Strava hikes over Raven Crag

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Why do you fall over more on easy hikes? (opens in new tab) — 11.8 km · 543 m ascent · 2h 45m moving · 7 February 2025

Data from Strava.

Classifications & hill data

Is Raven Crag a Wainwright?

Raven Crag is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.

Selected lists

461 m

Height

1,512 ft

In feet

NY 3033 1875

Grid ref

This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.

The summit is also a Birkett.

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 →

The view from Raven Crag

The 360° skyline from Raven 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.

drag to pan · arrow keys

The skyline as a list, by direction

North: Knowe Crags (8 km), Lonscale Fell (9 km), Gategill Fell Top (9 km), Lonscale Pike (9 km), Blencathra (9 km), Jenkin Hill (9 km), Doddick Fell (9 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (10 km), Skiddaw Little Man (10 km), Skiddaw North Top (11 km), Great Calva (12 km), Knott (14 km)
North-east: Great Dodd (4 km), Clough Head (5 km)
East: Watson's Dodd (3 km), Stybarrow Dodd (4 km), Raise (4 km)
South-east: White Side (4 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (5 km), Seat Sandal (8 km)
South: Shelter Crags (14 km), Crinkle Crags (15 km), Crinkle Crags (15 km), Crinkle Crags (15 km), Crinkle Crags (15 km), Crinkle Crags South Top (15 km)
South-west: Glaramara (10 km), Looking Steads (10 km), Great Gable (12 km), Great End (13 km), Esk Pike (13 km), Bowfell (14 km), Ill Crag (14 km), Lingmell (14 km), Scafell Pike (14 km)
North-west: Carl Side (10 km), Skiddaw South Top (11 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (11 km), Long Side (11 km), Skiddaw (11 km)

Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills v18.4 (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.

Sunrise and sunset on Raven Crag

Raven Crag waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls on 1 December, when the sun is up for 51 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 09:02 against an almanac sunrise of 08:11. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the south-east from here (139.0°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 4.86°.

Midsummer. The filled shape is the skyline as seen from the summit; the line is the sun’s path. Where they meet is first light — everything left of that point is the wait.

Times for 2026, in Lakeland clock time (GMT in winter, BST in summer) — and model outputs rather than observations.
	First light	Almanac sunrise	Difference
Midsummer	05:07 BST ±5.0 min	04:36	+31 min
Equinox	06:50 GMT ±5.0 min	06:15	+35 min
Midwinter	09:19 GMT ±5.0 min	08:33	+46 min

The northern horizon stands at about 1.29° from here.

Last light — when the sun leaves Raven Crag

Raven Crag loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls on 1 September, when last light is 33 minutes before almanac sunset — 19:32 against 20:05. The sun goes down to the west from here (278.7°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 4.19°.

The evening of the same three days. A negative difference means a ridge takes the sun before the valley loses it.
	Last light	Almanac sunset	Difference
Midsummer	21:30 BST ±5.0 min	21:53	-23 min
Equinox	17:57 GMT ±5.0 min	18:26	-29 min
Midwinter	15:35 GMT ±5.0 min	15:49	-14 min

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.

Raven 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 Raven Crag

On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.

37Wainwrights in view+2 marginal

56 kmFurthest sightlineCriffel

—Sea in viewnone from here

On the clearest days the view reaches across to Scotland.

Far horizons

Criffel ScotlandNW · 56 km distant

All 37 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)

High Seat, Bleaberry Fell, High Tove, Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top), Watson's Dodd, High Rigg (Naddle Fell), White Side, Stybarrow Dodd, Raise, Great Dodd, Clough Head, Latrigg, Ullscarf, Steel Fell (Dead Pike - Steel Fell), Sergeant's Crag, Seat Sandal, Lonscale Fell, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Skiddaw Little Man, Glaramara, Dodd (Skiddaw), Carl Side, Long Side, Skiddaw, Ullock Pike, Souther Fell, Rossett Pike, Great Gable, Great Calva, Great End, Esk Pike, Bowfell, Lingmell, Knott, Loughrigg Fell, Scafell Pike, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle)

How the view from Raven Crag compares with all 214 — the View Report: every Wainwright ranked by what you can see from the top.

How the skyline, light and sightlines are computed

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 Raven 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.

Sightlines from the Copernicus GLO-30 elevation model, which is a surface model: each 30 m cell holds the top of whatever stands there, trees and buildings included, rather than bare ground. 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 Legburthwaite: 3 places in Keswick

Frequently asked questions about Raven Crag

Is Raven Crag a hard walk? Answered above.

Where do you park for Raven Crag? Answered above: Parking for Raven Crag.

How long does Raven Crag take, and is it good for children and dogs?

About 1½–2¼ hours up and down. It's a good adventurous short walk for children who manage steps and steady climbing — but the summit is the top of a genuine crag: keep children and dogs well back from the viewpoint edge. The forest sections are enclosed and dog-friendly; leads at the top.

Is Raven Crag busy?

It can be, in a small-scale way: the walk is short, the car park is small, and the viewpoint ledge holds only a handful of people, so sunny evenings and weekend middays see queues for the view. Early morning is the quiet time — and midweek it's often deserted. Pairing it with High Rigg or Castle Crag (Shoulthwaite) next door makes a fuller, quieter outing. How busy a fell feels tracks how many people are looking for it in the first place.

Is this the Raven Crag people scramble and climb on?

Lakeland has several Raven Crags. This is the Thirlmere one; the walkers' path reaches the top from behind, through the forest, and never touches the crag face. The scramble is Raven Crag, Yewdale (near Coniston), and the famous rock climbs (Corvus, and the Langdale routes) are on other Raven Crags again — climbers' ground, not part of this walk.

Questions from Google’s “People also ask”. · Last updated 2026-07-27 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)

Raven Crag

Summit conditions on Raven Crag

Wind on the top

Rain, and the becks

Routes up Raven Crag

Is Raven Crag a hard walk?

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Parking & buses for Raven Crag

Parking

Where do you park for Raven Crag?

Buses

Hazards on Raven Crag

Notes from the Raven Crag from Thirlmere route

Navigating in cloud

If you need Mountain Rescue

Map, GPX and nearby Birketts

Birketts within 3 km of Raven Crag

Routes over Raven Crag

About Raven Crag

My Strava hikes over Raven Crag

Classifications & hill data

Is Raven Crag a Wainwright?

Selected lists

The view from Raven Crag

The 360° skyline from Raven Crag

Sunrise and sunset on Raven Crag

Last light — when the sun leaves Raven Crag

What you can see from Raven Crag

Places to stay near this fell

Frequently asked questions about Raven Crag

Other fells near Raven Crag