Crinkle Crags and Bowfell

Summary: Crinkle Crags and Bowfell are the rugged mountains you see at the head of Great Langdale, which alongside their other shapely neighbours, the Langdale Pikes, make the classic, much photographed and painted view that is seen from Windermere.

On this walk we will guide you over both Crinkle Crags and Bowfell for an excellent, long day out in Lake District fells, an especially rewarding walk for those who like rough, rocky terrain. Along the tops there are lots of rocky outcrops, boulders and the ‘bad step’, a gully blocked by chockstones.  To get up it involves  a short scramble using hands and feet.  For those who don’t feel so adventurous this rocky step is avoidable!  

All the time there are superb views over to the Scafell range and to the pointed peak of Bowfell, our final summit of the day.  Near the start we pass Hell Gill with its beautiful waterfall, Whorneyside Force.  Then we head on up to the reedy Red Tarn, before turning up a broad path to Crinkle Crags.  Our route takes us over the five ‘crinkles’ to the Three Tarns before ascending a rocky path up the mighty Bowfell.  Then we descend via Ore Gap and Rossett Gill back down to the long, glaciated ‘U’ shaped valley of Mickleden.