Castle Crag- Easy route

A simple “there and back” route to visit the summit of Castle Crag in Borrowdale. The area described by Alfred Wainwright in his sixth Pictorial Guide- The North Western Fells.

On Location: 19th September 2010

Parking: Limited parking in Grange village or Pay and Display at the National Trust car park at The Bowder Stone.

Castle Crag. With an elevation of only 290m this fell is unique that it is the only fell in the Wainwright Pictorial Guides to be under 1000′. Consequently it is a popular fell for those wanting a simple walk. This route describes the way taken from the village of Grange and is a route where the outward and inward journeys are the same.

Make sure that you are prepared for days out on the hills. Follow the advice from Mountain Rescue

The camera that I was using at this time was a compact Samsung WB500.

A note on the sketches. The sketches shown in this blog are all from the Wainwrights in Colour project and book. You will see that Andy interprets the reference photographs to enhance the colours etc where he feels that it is needed. That’s what all artists do. Wainwright himself often used artistic license in his pen and ink drawings, including often compressing the scenes (generally in width) to fit the shape of the Pictorial Guides. As a size comparison, Andy’s original sketches were scaled twice the width and height of the illustrations in the Pictorial Guide.

Route map: click on the arrow to play the route. Route files in various formats such as GPS are available to download by clicking in the Plotaroute.com link at the bottom right.

I was over in Borrowdale to deliver a painting. The weather was poor, misty with periods of heavy rain. I didn’t think that I was going to get a walk in but the dogs in the back of the car needed a bit of fresh air. Driving back through the dale I could see that the top of Castle Crag was reasonably clear so I opted for that location for a short walk.

The atmospheric view of Castle Crag from the Borrowdale road.

I was able to find a parking space in the small village of Grange. Fortunately, probably due to the weather, there were very few other people around. We headed south out of village and walked along the lane past Holmcrag Wood.

Some of the fields were holding a lot of water, it had been raining hard but the ducks didn’t seem to mind.

Soon the lane comes to the bank of the River Derwent as it flows north through the valley.

On our right was the flooded disused Dalt Wood quarry. Now being reclaimed by nature.

Recent tree felling had been taking place in the woods that cloak the fell.

It is a well made and popular path that gently rises alongside Broadslack Gill. Here Castle Crag will be up to your left.

We take the obvious path on the left, over the stile and carry on up the slopes of the hill.

The path zig-zags up through the scree of the old slate quarry. Down below you can see the path that we left a short time ago.

A wet and misty view back down to Rosthwaite. Not a great day for a show.

At the site of the old quarry floor it has become a bit of pastime for people to prop slabs of stone up into the vertical. Not unlike a graveyard of headstones.

The path skirts up and around the depths of the quarry with the summit ahead.

Affixed to rock platform at the very summit of the fell is a memorial tablet. Put in place on the 11th June 1921 it was primarily a memorial to John, the son of Sir William Hamer, who was killed in France during the first world war at the age of 20. Underneath John’s name are those of another ten Borrowdale men who also died in the conflict. Now, every year on Remembrance Sunday a short service is held at this location in memory of all those who have died in service to the country.

Above the memorial is the summit shelter.

Sadly, what once was a reasonable circular shelter made from local slate has now fallen into disrepair.

Whenever I was over in the Lake District for whatever reason I had to made the most of my time, gathering references for The Wainwrights in Colour. Even on poor days such as this I would try and tick off another sketch location. Today I had my North Western Pictorial Guide with me and I was seeking out the single view depicted in the High Spy chapter. It was on page 12, Goat Crag from Castle Crag.

As I descended the fell I contoured around the slopes of the fell away from the regular path.

It was loose slate made slippery by the rain. With a bit of searching I was able to find the two trees, line them up with the background and take the shot. Of course the trees have increased in height but their form, including the bottom left branch indicated that these were the correct trees.

Sketch: Goat Crag from Castle Crag (High Spy 12). Despite the pouring rain I was able to get enough detail to produce the watercolour sketch and add a bit of warmth in to the scene.

We headed back down towards Broadslack Gill. The past hours of heavy rain were forming new streams down the hillside.

Up to our right were the upper crag of the fell where we had just visited.

Heading back to Grange, there were glimpses of Derwentwater through the trees.

Raindrops fell from the trees as we headed through the wood back to the village.

Back at the riverside all we had to do was cross the side stream and return to the car via the lane.

It may not have been a long walk but at least the dogs got a bit of a leg stretch. This can be a very popular location. Today, we saw no one. For me the bonus was obtaining that reference for the High Spy set- I had previously found all the scenes for the Castle Crag chapter. Now all I had to do was head home and continue to complete the paintings for the project.

Even though it’s only a short route, I hope that you have enjoyed reading about my Lakeland adventures.

Thanks for reading.