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Langdale
Langdale is one of the Lake District's most popular walking regions, a dead-end valley in amongst some of the area's highest and rockiest peaks.
Langdale from Crinkle Crags
The Langdale fells from Wetherlam
The end of the valley is surrounded by high peaks - Pike o'Blisco, Crinkle Crags, Bow Fell, Esk Pike and the Langdale Pikes. And at a push, you could walk to England's highest mountain, Scafell Pike.
The peaks around Langdale - Crinkle Crags, The Band, Bow Fell, Esk Pike, Rossett Pike
Langdale Pikes
Langdale Pikes from Pike o'Blisco
The Langdale Pikes are one of the "classic" walks of the Lake District, starting with a scramble alongside a ghyll up to a small tarn. From there you can take a path around onto the side of the Pikes, or scramble up the cliffs of Pavey Ark, giving a scary but safe journey!
From there you can carry on scrambling across the other 3 Pikes, then down the valley below the cliffs back to the pub. One of the scree slopes into the valley used to be the source of rock for a local axe factory - the shape and size of the rocks were perfect for the axe-heads.
Crinkle Crags
Above the end of the valley are the Crinkle Crags - five rocky peaks together on a long ridge from Bow Fell. They get their name from the characteristic view of the serrated egde from the valley.
Crinkle Crags and Bow Fell from Pike o'Blisco
From the valley, the drops between each crinkle don't look very far, but their traverse again involves a lot of scrambling. From the summit of the crags, the views on a clear day can be excellent in all directions - the Scafell range to the west, and to the east, the whole Langdale valley and out to the Eastern Fells.
The Scafell range from Crinkle Crags
The Crinkle Crags walk is often extended to include other high peaks, such as Pike o'Blisco on the south and Bow Fell and Esk Pike on the north.
Pubs
No popular walking region like this would be complete without a pub - Langdale has two.
At the end of the valley is the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, which welcomes walkers with muddy boots and all - they've even got a bar specifically for walkers. And a huge fire for when it's been freezing all day!
About half a mile up the road is the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel which also welcomes walkers, but isn't as busy since it isn't directly at the end of a walk in the valley - it's quite a long walk along tarmac to get to it.
Maps
Langdale is covered by these maps, available from any book shop:
- OS Outdoor Leisure (scale 1:25,000) 6 : South West Lakes
- OS Landranger (scale 1:50,000) 90 : Penrith & Keswick
