Walla Crag
Walla Crag at 379m (1,244ft) is the great rocky escarpment above Derwent Water, its summit giving one of the finest aerial views of the lake in the whole district.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 379 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Sat 12 Sep): 16° to 9°C, gusts to 38 mph, 16.8 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 15:36 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 379 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Walla Crag at a glance
Walla Crag
Routes up Walla Crag
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Walla Crag a Wainwright?
Walla Crag is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.
Where do you park for Walla Crag?
The nearest car park we hold is Great Wood, Keswick (NT, paid), about 0.5 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Walla Crag car park (free), 1.2 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 Walla Crag?
The shortest way up we hold is Walla Crag and Bleaberry Fell from Keswick — 12.5 km, 655 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 Walla Crag (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Some Central Fells on my Todd (opens in new tab) — 17.2 km · 806 m ascent · 4h 04m moving · 24 Aug 2025
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Walla Crag
Best parking to hike Walla 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 Walla Crag by bus
The 509 stops at Keswick Park Hotel (opp), 250 m from the start of Walla Crag and Bleaberry Fell from Keswick — a route we rate Moderate. Last bus: Monday to Friday 21:16 towards Keswick (555); Saturday 21:16 towards Keswick (555); Sunday 19:07 towards Keswick (555). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 8 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 Walla Crag
Hazard & Incident Information for Walla Crag
A short, hugely popular fell above Keswick with a superb edge overlooking Derwentwater — and there lies the catch: the summit has a steep, unfenced crag drop, right where families and casual walkers gather for the view. The old gully of Lady's Rake breaches the crag but is no route, and the Cat Gill path is steep and slippery in places. A wall set back from the edge is the safe handrail in mist. Keswick Mountain Rescue Team covers this ground.
- The unfenced crag edge: The summit edge is a steep, unfenced drop to Derwentwater — easy to get too close for a photo, and dangerous with children, dogs or in wind. Keep back from the lip; if you'd rather stay away from it, keep left of the wall, which is a reliable handrail in mist.
- Lady's Rake: Lady's Rake, the one breach in the crag face, is a precarious gully and is not a recommended ascent or descent — don't be tempted into it.
- Cat Gill path: The path beside Cat Gill is steep and rocky, with a bare-rock section that can be slippery — much easier to go up than down. Take care, especially when wet, and keep clear of the gill edges.
Most common causes: Falls from the unfenced crag edge, especially among casual visitors, children or in wind · Mishaps from straying into Lady's Rake · Slips on the steep, slippery Cat Gill path, particularly descending · Winter ice on the edge and the rocky path
Local Mountain Rescue: Keswick Mountain Rescue Team (opens in new tab) · Reviewed 14 Jun 2026
Safety: Hazard guidance compiled from published Mountain Rescue reports and well-documented accident history - editorial background, not a live feed of callouts. Always check current conditions, carry proper navigation equipment, and seek qualified instruction before heading onto the fells. In an emergency, call 999, ask for Police, then Mountain Rescue.
Navigating Walla Crag in cloud
SevereA broad, gently-sloping top with little to steer by — easy to lose your bearings and hard to relocate in mist. A serious place to be caught in cloud: carry map and compass (or GPS) and know how to use them, or save it for a clear day.
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 Walla 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: Great Wood, Keswick (NT, paid), about 0.5 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Walla 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 Walla Crag
✎️ 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.
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 Walla Crag
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Walla Crag and Bleaberry Fell from Keswick route:
💧 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.
The view from Walla Crag
The 360° skyline from Walla 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 Walla Crag, by direction
- North: Skiddaw Lesser Man (6 km), Skiddaw Little Man (7 km), Carl Side (7 km), Skiddaw South Top (8 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (8 km)
- North-east: Knowe Crags (7 km), Blencathra (8 km)
- East: Watson's Dodd (6 km), Little Dodd (6 km), Great Dodd (7 km), Stybarrow Dodd (7 km)
- South-east: Raise (8 km), White Side (8 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (8 km)
- South: Glaramara (11 km), Allen Crags (13 km), Great End (14 km), Esk Pike (14 km), Bowfell (15 km), Shelter Crags (16 km), Crinkle Crags (16 km), Crinkle Crags (16 km), Crinkle Crags (16 km), Crinkle Crags (17 km), Crinkle Crags South Top (17 km)
- South-west: Dale Head (8 km), Great Gable (13 km), Red Pike (13 km), Pillar (14 km), Lingmell (15 km), Broad Crag (15 km), Scafell Pike (15 km), Scafell (16 km)
- West: Grisedale Pike (8 km), Sail (8 km), Crag Hill (8 km), Eel Crag (9 km), Wandope (9 km), Sand Hill (9 km), Hopegill Head (9 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Cairnsmore of Carsphairn (103 km, Scotland), Colt Hill (97 km, Scotland), Blackcraig Hill (106 km, Scotland), Bogrie Hill (81 km, Scotland), Wauk Hill (82 km, Scotland), Bishop Forest Hill (72 km, Scotland), Cairnkinna Hill (94 km, Scotland), Killyleoch Hill (73 km, Scotland).
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 Walla Crag
Walla Crag waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls at midwinter, when the sun is up for 47 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 09:20 against an almanac sunrise of 08:33. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the south-east from here (141.5°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 4.29°.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:43 BST ±5.0 min | 04:36 | +7 min |
| Equinox | 06:45 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:16 | +29 min |
| Midwinter | 09:20 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:33 | +47 min |
The northern horizon stands at about 2.06° from here.
Last light — when the sun leaves Walla Crag
Walla Crag loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls at midwinter, when last light is 28 minutes before almanac sunset — 15:21 against 15:49. The sun goes down to the south-west from here (222.7°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 2.54°.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:55 BST ±5.0 min | 21:53 | +2 min |
| Equinox | 18:14 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:26 | -12 min |
| Midwinter | 15:21 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:49 | -28 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 Walla 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.
Walla 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 Walla Crag
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Scotland.
- Criffel Scotland
All 59 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Bleaberry Fell, High Rigg (Naddle Fell), Latrigg, Cat Bells (Catbells), Barrow, Maiden Moor, Grange Fell (Brund Fell), Clough Head, Causey Pike, Lonscale Fell, Castle Crag, Watson's Dodd, Skiddaw Little Man, Great Dodd, High Spy, Outerside, Scar Crags, Dodd (Skiddaw), Stybarrow Dodd, Carl Side, Ard Crags, Raise, White Side, Long Side, Hindscarth, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Grisedale Pike, Sail, Dale Head, Ullock Pike, Knott Rigg, Barf, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Mungrisdale Common, Robinson, Wandope, Lord's Seat, Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot, Hopegill Head, Whiteless Pike, Grey Knotts, Base Brown, Glaramara, Brandreth, Sale Fell, Seathwaite Fell (Wainwright summit), Green Gable, Great Gable, Red Pike (Buttermere), Allen Crags, Great End, Pillar, Esk Pike, Starling Dodd, Lingmell, Bowfell, Scafell Pike, Scafell, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle)
How Walla 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 Keswick: 10 places
Frequently asked questions about Walla Crag
Is Walla Crag an easy walk?
Yes, mostly — Walla Crag (379 m / 1,243 ft) is a short, popular fell above Keswick with a sustained but straightforward climb on good paths, and huge views over Derwentwater for modest effort. It's moderate for a newcomer, easy for a regular walker.
The one thing to respect is the summit itself: a steep, unfenced crag edge drops to the lake, so it's not a top to wander about on carelessly.
What is the easiest route up Walla Crag, and how long is it?
The popular short route starts from the National Trust Great Wood car park just outside Keswick — a circuit of about 5.8 km (3.6 miles) with around 340 m of ascent, on good paths through woodland and up to the crag.
Allow roughly 2–2.5 hours. You can also start from Keswick itself, or as part of a longer circuit of Derwentwater.
Is Walla Crag safe for families and children?
It's a popular family walk, but the summit needs care: the crag edge is a steep, unfenced drop to Derwentwater, right where everyone stops for the view. Keep children and dogs close and well back from the edge.
If you'd rather avoid the brink entirely, keep to the left of the summit wall, which makes a good handrail. The Cat Gill path is also steep and can be slippery on the bare-rock section.
Can you take a dog up Walla Crag?
Yes — it's a popular dog walk on good paths. Keep dogs on a lead around the grazing sheep and, importantly, near the unfenced crag edge at the summit, where there's a steep drop to the lake.
Can you get to Walla Crag without a car?
Yes — you can walk straight from Keswick, which adds only a little distance, or hop on the 78 Borrowdale bus from Keswick toward Great Wood/Ashness. It's one of the easiest summits in the area to reach car-free.
Always check current bus times before relying on them, as rural services change.
Why is Walla Crag so popular, and what are the views?
For its size, Walla Crag offers one of the finest viewpoints in the area — a grandstand right above Derwentwater, looking down the lake to Borrowdale and across to Catbells, the Newlands fells and Skiddaw. All for a short walk from Keswick.
That combination of big reward and small effort, plus easy access, is exactly why it's such a favourite.
What should I wear and take up Walla Crag?
Sturdy trainers or walking shoes are fine in dry weather; boots with grip are better when it's wet, especially on the steep Cat Gill path. Take a waterproof and a warm layer — the top is breezier and cooler than Keswick.
Carry water and check the forecast. Keep well back from the crag edge in wind, and take care on the paths when icy in winter.
Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-06-14 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)
Other fells near Walla Crag
- Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)
- Blea Rigg
- Bleaberry Fell
- Calf Crag
- Eagle Crag
- Gibson Knott
- Grange Fell (Brund Fell)
- Great Crag (Stonethwaite)
- Harrison Stickle
- Helm Crag
- High Raise (High White Stones)
- High Rigg (Naddle Fell)
- High Seat
- High Tove
- Loft Crag
- Loughrigg Fell
- Pavey Ark
- Pike of Stickle
- Raven Crag
- Sergeant Man
- Sergeant's Crag
- Silver How
- Steel Fell (Dead Pike)
- Tarn Crag (Easedale)
- Thunacar Knott
- Ullscarf