Walla Crag and Bleaberry Fell from Keswick
Start Keswick town centre
Getting here Parking: Keswick, Central Car Park (paid), 0.1 km from the start (straight line). Bus: the 509, 555, X4 and X5 stop at Keswick Park Hotel (opposite), a 250 m walk from this start. Getting there ↓ · Route map ↓
Hardest part Hard steepness: Steepest sustained climb about 32% around the 3.4 km mark.
Before you choose
- Walla Crag’s summit edge is unfenced and drops steeply to Derwentwater. It is a viewpoint, not a scramble — stay back from the edge.
- The col between the two fells holds water. Expect bog, and boots rather than trainers.
Conditions on this route
We score every Lakeland Wainwright each morning on cloud, wind, rain and underfoot, and this route crosses 2 of them. The worst summit governs the verdict — a route is only as kind as its roughest top.
Modelled guidance — not a substitute for the mountain forecast or your own judgement. See how every fell ranks today →
Daylight & turnaround
Daylight is short from October to February — check today’s sunrise and sunset before you set off, and carry a head-torch and spare batteries. On short days, decide your turn-back time before you start.
See also walking in bad weather and today’s conditions.
Route map
1 Walla Crag2 Bleaberry Fell
Easy 80%Moderate 13%Hard 7%Severe
Heights on this chart and its high point are read from the track itself (a terrain model sampled along the line, or a GPS recording), so a top can differ from its listed height, usually reading lower.
Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
The elevation profile is under the map; the stage notes follow.
The walk, stage by stage
- 1
Start → Walla Crag (4.1 km, 357 m)
Starting from Keswick town centre, the route typically heads south toward Springs Road, leading you into the beautiful, ancient woodland of Springs Wood. The path climbs steadily alongside the tumbling waters of Brockle Beck. Exiting the woods, the path opens up onto the fellside. You will approach a prominent drystone wall; keep this wall on your left as it guides you on a gentle incline directly up to the rocky viewpoint of Walla Crag.
WaypointsKeswick (Moot Hall/Centre), Springs Wood, Brockle Beck, the drystone wall, Walla Crag summit.
Decision pointThe drystone wall running up the fellside is a perfect, clear "handrail" that leads you straight to the summit.
Easy to get wrongThe climb through the woods is continuous but gentle. Tree roots and wet stones near the beck can be slippery. The sudden sheer drop off the western edge of Walla Crag is unguarded, so take care near the edge.
If you need to get offSimply turn around and follow the wall or the woodland path straight back down into Keswick.
- 2
Walla Crag → Bleaberry Fell (2.4 km, 267 m)
Leave Walla Crag heading South along the broad ridge. You must cross the wide, heather-clad depression of Castlerigg Fell before the gradient kicks up again for the final ascent. The path climbs directly up the northern shoulder of Bleaberry Fell, winding through thick heather to reach the summit, which is marked by a stone shelter.
WaypointsCastlerigg Fell (the saddle), Bleaberry Fell summit shelter.
Decision pointDerwentwater remains a massive visual reference on your right (West). The path is generally clear as a dark peaty scar through the heather.
Easy to get wrongThe Central Fells are notorious for holding water, and the depression between Walla Crag and Bleaberry Fell is a prime example. After wet weather, this section is a deep, peaty bog. The final climb up Bleaberry Fell is steep and can feel like a slog through the heather.
If you need to get offIf the bogs are impassable or the weather turns, retreat North back to Walla Crag. Do not attempt to drop directly West off the steep, pathless crags toward the lake.
Bleaberry Fell → Finish (6.0 km, 33 m)
From the summit of Bleaberry Fell, you will retrace your steps slightly north before picking up a descent path that branches left (West), dropping steeply off the fellside toward the iconic Ashness Bridge. Once at the bridge, the route levels out. You will follow the narrow road briefly down to the lakeshore at Barrow Bay. From here, pick up the flat, scenic Derwentwater lakeshore paths (or the trails through Great Wood) heading North, carrying you all the way back into Keswick.
WaypointsAshness Bridge, Barrow Bay, Derwentwater Lakeshore, Great Wood, Keswick.
Decision pointAshness Bridge and the road are clear targets below you. Once at the lake level, keeping the water on your left provides a guide back to town.
Easy to get wrongThe initial descent off the heather moorland toward Ashness Bridge is steep and can be very slick on wet grass.
If you need to get offN/A – You are on the descent. If you are injured near Ashness Bridge, the road there has vehicular access, making it a viable pickup point.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
Make it easier or harder
Short version: turn back at about 4.7 km and retrace your outward leg: about 9.4 km in all, against 12.5 km for the whole walk, with about 90 m of climbing on the way back over ground you came down. It is the same ground back, not a separate descent.
Summits bagged (2)
- 1Walla Crag379 m
- 2Bleaberry Fell590 m
In the order you walk them — the same numbers the elevation profile, the stage notes and the pacing table use.
Conditions and timing
Check live conditions in the “From the fells” panel, on MWIS (opens in new tab) and the Met Office mountain forecast (opens in new tab) before you set off.
When the sun reaches the tops
Not sunrise — the moment the sun clears the skyline from that summit, which on a fell with high ground to its east can be a good deal later.
- Walla Crag — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:45, about half an hour later. In late September, about 07:30. It waits longest in late December — about an hour after sunrise.
- Bleaberry Fell — in late March the sun reaches it around 06:30, about a quarter of an hour later. In late September, about 07:15. It waits longest in late December — about a quarter of an hour after sunrise.
How to read these times
The two equinoxes are shown because they fall in the walking season, and late December too wherever a top keeps you waiting then; the clock gap between the equinoxes is British Summer Time, not the hill. Rounded to the nearest quarter hour and meant as a general idea, not a schedule.
Modelled from a 30 m elevation model against each summit’s own skyline — the same figures the fell pages carry, never observed. Cloud is not in it.
Getting there and back
Parking
2 more places to park near the start
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.
If the parking is full
If the first one is full, these overlap least in our model. The 3 below sit in different places or are different kinds of parking, so a busy morning at one does not mean a busy morning at all of them.
- Great Wood, Keswick (NT, paid) — joins the loop at about km 2.6 of 12.5: a 30 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- Keswick, Otley Road (paid) — a 240 m walk to the start
- Walla Crag car park (paid) — joins the loop at about km 11.3 of 12.5: a 100 m walk to the line, and you walk the round from there
- By bus: buses stop at Keswick Park Hotel (opposite), a 250 m walk from the start. This walk starts and ends in Keswick, so there is no bus to catch back to the start; a bus is not affected by a full car park, but check the timetable before you rely on it.
We never say whether anywhere has spaces today. Walks to the line are measured along mapped paths (OpenStreetMap), not in a straight line. How we choose these places.
No signal when you get there? RoutePark keeps this list on your phone: choose this walk’s GPX at home, keep it, and it opens offline.
Buses
The 509, 555, X4 and X5 stop at Keswick Park Hotel (opposite), a 250 m walk from this start. This walk starts and ends in Keswick, so there is no bus to catch back to the start.
The 509 passes this route at 0.0 km (Keswick Bus Station (K) (Stand 1), 280 m off the line). It passes again at 12.5 km. Other services cross it too — 78 at 2.8 km. Seasonal: the 509 does not run from 2 November 2026 to 21 March 2027.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival The walk starts and finishes on foot in Keswick town centre. The Central car park (Cumberland Council) is about 105 m away: up to 2 hours £3.80, 3 hours £6.50, 6 hours £9, 12 hours £11.40. 105 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (Cumberland Council, Central car park, Keswick, checked 11 August 2026)
- Toilets Public toilets are mapped about 80 m from the start, in Keswick town centre. 80 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Refreshments Keswick town centre: 24 cafés and 16 pubs are mapped within 250 m of the start. (OpenStreetMap, as mapped on 13 September 2026, checked 13 September 2026)
- Limitation Walla Crag’s summit edge is unfenced and drops steeply to Derwentwater: stay back from it. The col between the two fells holds water, so expect bog. (our route notes (this route's own warnings), checked 2 October 2026)
Everything mapped near the start
Mapped as nearby on OpenStreetMap, as of 13 September 2026, within 250 m of where this route starts (information boards within 150 m; benches and shelter within 50 m):
Also mapped within reach: 10 benches, an information board, somewhere to eat without a name on the map.
Distances are straight lines from where this route starts, not walking routes. Opening hours are as mapped and change; none of this is checked daily.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (opens in new tab), ODbL.
Water, shelter & getting away
Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is not proof the water is drinkable, so carry your own or use a supply you know is safe. Never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock upstream and leave you seriously ill. Use a treatment method suited to what might be in the water, and follow the device’s own instructions. Boiling and ordinary filters do not make water with dissolved metals or chemicals safe: where that is possible, choose another source.
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors — an absent marker does not mean the facility isn’t there.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Planning detail
How each grade on this page is set, and the timings stage by stage.
Difficulty profile
Hard overall — hardest: Steepness
Five independent axes, not one score. This route has not been walked yet, so none of them was set on the ground: three of the five are our judgement from the map and the route’s record, and the rest are computed from the recorded track and the map, which measures the line rather than surveying the ground.
How we grade: each axis is Easy, Moderate, Hard or Severe, and a route between two bands takes the higher one. Length: under 8 km, 8–14 km, 14–20 km, over 20 km. Steepness, the steepest 500 m of the track: under 15%, 15–25%, 25–35%, over 35%. Terrain, navigation and exposure are judged rather than measured, and each note says why. How we grade.
Pacing
| Summit | Cumulative | Ascent | Time (fast–steady) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Walla Crag | 4.1 km | 357 m | 1:26–1:54 |
| 2Bleaberry Fell | 6.6 km | 625 m | 2:21–3:08 |
| Finish | 12.5 km | 658 m | 3:36–4:47 |
A fast–steady range from Naismith’s rule, deliberately on the slow side. Breaks, weather, rough ground and the slowest person in your party all add to it. How we time walks.
Access & barriers
Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route?
- Buggy: Stiles or rough going on the route.
- Knees: A long, steep ~36% drop over 250 m around the 6.9 km mark — hard on the knees.
With a dog
Hardest for a dog here: stiles and gates. The steepest stretch is a sustained climb of about 32% around the 3.4 km mark.
- Stiles and gates: Stiles of unmapped type at 2.3 and 4.3 km — a dog may need lifting over. (OpenStreetMap, mapped as of 25 September 2026)
- Drops and exposed ground: Moderate – our judgement from the map and the route’s record; not walked yet. Walla Crag’s summit edge is an unfenced drop straight down to Derwentwater. Keep well back, especially with children or a dog. (Editorially assessed from the documented character of the route, not computed from gradient; not yet personally walked.)
- Rock and scrambling: Ground underfoot: Moderate – our judgement from the map and the route’s record; not walked yet. Good paths out of Keswick, but the ground between Walla Crag and Bleaberry Fell is peaty and can be heavy going after rain. (Editorially assessed from the documented character of the route, not computed from gradient; not yet personally walked.)
- Ways off early: No path off the line is recorded, but it passes a bus stop where you could end the walk: the 78 at Ashness, at Calfclose Bay, about 2.8 km. The buses section says which bus and when.
- Livestock, shade and water: Not recorded for this route yet. We never call a stream safe for a dog to drink, so carry enough for both of you. The lead rules, and what to do around cattle, are on dogs on the fells.
On the line: 7 gates · 3 kissing gates · 2 stiles (type unmapped)
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 25 September 2026. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).
Places to stay near this start
From Keswick: 28 places
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Keswick — 0.0 km from this start
- Walks from Portinscale — 1.7 km from this start
Straight-line distance from this walk’s start. Those lists hold the routes we have mapped and every Wainwright and Outlying fell within about 5 km of the town, ranked nearest first.
