The Langdale Pikes

Just as autumn seemed to have arrived, summer sunshine and warmth has returned for one last hurrah and I’m fortunate to be in Great Langdale to enjoy it. The Langdale Pikes are an iconic group of hills whose relative accessibility, moderate height and interesting routes have made them emblematic of all that is attractive about the English Lake District. From the moment their shapely and unique outline is glimpsed across Windermere on the road to Ambleside you know you have entered into the heart of Lakeland with its mountains, lakes and rivers. It’s time to relax, breathe out, and for a while leave your workaday stresses behind and allow your heart to be stirred in anticipation of adventures that lie ahead. And today, in the sunshine, I’m walking the Langdale Pikes.

The start of the path up Stickle Ghyll

Not surprisingly the National Trust car park at New Dungeon Ghyll is filling up quickly when I arrive. The Langdale Pikes, like Helvellyn, Helm Crag and Cat Bells are crossover hills, hills that are not solely the preserve of the ‘hillwalker’ but attract that other type of visitor to the Lakes, ‘the tourist’ often accompanied by lots of other tourists on a big coach. As such the Langdale Pikes are not hills for quiet solitude and peaceful contemplation, thankfully there are plenty of others for that.

The path up Stickle Ghyll

There is no gentle start and the car park leads straight onto the steep path up Stickle Ghyll where you will be climbing upwards for an hour or so. Ghyll scrambling has become a popular activity in recent years and Stickle Ghyll is perfect for it. Heading up I pass several groups on the lower reaches including a Primary School party whose joyful screeches I hear long before they come into view.

Waterfalls in the lower reaches
The footbridge

At the footbridge, there are options to take a path either side of the Ghyll. I take the path to the right of the stream knowing I’m coming back in a few weeks and can walk the other path. The right hand path does seem the most popular, maybe because the presence of a bridge naturally invites people to cross it. And from here the right hand route certainly looks the best way to go with a nicely laid stone path leading from it.

Heading up
Heading up

The path continues upwards, following the Ghyll and passing waterfalls which grow in length and impressiveness. Several rock steps need to be clambered over but eventually an impasse is reached. On the map there is a path all the way up on this side of the Ghyll but on the ground the rock steps have turned into rock buttresses and most people, including me decide to cross the Ghyll. As mentioned in a previous post I’m not a great fan of river crossings but there are many solid and dry rock steps to walk on.

Harrison Stickle and Pavey Ark across Stickle Tarn

Soon afterwards the uphill ends for a while at least when the little blue oasis of Stickle Tarn is reached. This delightful expanse of water is set in its own glacier carved bowl surrounded by the towering crags of Pavey Ark and Harrison Stickle. Today it’s almost flat calm, giving it a serenity it doesn’t always possess and making it good for a picture or two.

Pavey Ark, Jacks Rake bottom right to top left

I sit on its bank, have something to eat and drink and gaze out over the water to my first hill of the day, Pavey Ark. I can see the diagonal groove of Jacks Rake going up it’s near vertical face bottom right to top left and remember a day, thirty plus years ago when three of us scrambled up that route to the top and then spent a liquid evening in the bar of the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel. Today I’ll be taking the less adventurous path up its east flank.

The path up Pavey Ark

Suitably nourished, by food and views I walk around Stickle Tarn and make my way up the rocky, scrambly path that leads to the top of Pavey Ark. It’s positively warm now with hardly any wind so I’m thankful for the clouds that prevent a full on assault from the sun. Looking across to the eastern fells I see the tops on the Helvellyn ridge have a stubborn cloud bank laid across them like a white blanket and spare a thought for the poor souls who have laboured up to stare into the whiteness.

Pavey Ark looking to Harrison Stckle

My next summit however, Harrison Stickle stands out clear rugged and proud against a backdrop of blue skies with only the small matter of a col separating us. The path drops off Pavey Ark, skirts around the contour of the col and then rises up to reach the summit.

Walking around the head of the col

Harrison Stickle is only 2,415ft (736m) high but that is enough to make it the highest of the Langdale Pikes. The views are quite superb, Stickle Tarn is far below and the almost vertical face of Pavey Ark looks impressive, it’s hard to believe from this angle that it can be scrambled up by walkers rather than by roped up climbers.

Looking back to Pavey Ark, clouds on the Helvellyn ridge
Looking back to Pavey Ark, clouds on the Helvellyn ridge

In the opposite direction, Pike of Stickle (Pike o’ Stickle if you prefer) and Loft Crag rise up across the flat ground of Harrison Combe and beyond them, across the chasm of Mickleden lie the higher tops of Crinkle Crags and Bowfell.

The summit of Harrison Stickle

The walk across the Combe is a relaxed one in the sunshine and the closer I get to Pike of Stickle the more it resembles a giant molehill, thrust up from its surroundings and perched on the edge of a precipitous drop into the valley.

Loft Crag and Pike of Stickle across Harrison Combe
Approaching Pike of Stickle, Bowfell rising behind
The final approach

After a short hands on scramble the summit is reached and I park myself on a lovely grass ledge to admire the views. It really is the most perfect little top and its position right on the edge of the long drop down into Mickleden gives it an exposed, airy feeling with glorious views down Great Langdale and across the valley to the big mountains of the Scafells.

The summit of Pike of Stickle looking to Harrison Stickle and Loft Crag

The walk to Loft Crag, the final summit of the Langdale Pikes is short and roughly follows the ridge line. The top gives a grand view of the crags of Harrison Stickle and lovely retrospective views back to Pike of Stickle, Bowfell and Crinkle Crags. After lazing a bit on the summit I take one last look around me at the vista and leave the high ground behind.

The summit of Loft Crag, looking back to Pike of Stickle
Loft Crag, looking to Harrison Stickle

A small ravine takes me onto the Thorn Crag path, indicated by a big cairn and there follows a long and slightly knee jarring descent all the way down to the valley floor with ever decreasing views of Great Langdale.

The cairn marking the start of the Thorn Crag path
Looking up Dungeon Ghyll

Back at the start I find myself a bench outside Lanty Slee’s and get myself an ice cold beer. Sitting in the late summer sunshine looking up at the hills whose company I have just had the pleasure of enjoying, I contemplate life, health and my good fortune to be here on such a day.

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Mountain days are not always this good and hillwalkers take the rough with the smooth, but there is no doubt today has been a very satisfying day in the mountains of Lakeland.

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33 Replies to “The Langdale Pikes”

  1. It’s a long time since I walked the Langdales and the pictures (as usual) are excellent – thanks Jim!

  2. Love the unrivalled views stretching across the picture-perfect landscape of the National Park, Jim. I am glad to see you had wonderful weather for the hike. Thanks for stopping by, and have a good day 🙂 Aiva xx

  3. Did the Langdale Pikes back in 2012 and really need to revisit, we stayed at Skelwith Bridge back in May and found parking at Sticklebarn to be easier during the week, but that seems to be the case with everywhere in the Lakes

    1. Thanks Steve. Oh definitely easier in the week, I’m a bit stuck getting away in the week as much as I would like at the moment hence some overlap onto the weekends but looking forward to some quieter months ahead hopefully. It had been a few years since I was in the Langdales but they really are the perfect little round. 😀

  4. I used to love scrambling and gorge walking when the kids were younger. I draw the line at jumping off rocks into narrow stretches of water now! A perfect day for hiking and the water is so wonderfully still. 🙂

  5. Looks and sounds like a pretty well perfect day out, Jim. What is it about a bridge that makes us always want to cross it? Was it the right choice, do you think? I certainly enjoyed it.

    1. Thank you Jo, yes it was one of those special days that come around once in a while. I have actually walked up the other side of the Ghyll now but not written the post up yet. I’ll keep you in suspense! 😀

  6. What a stunning day you had there – there was a bit of nice weather towards the end of October wasn’t there? I think it was to try to make up for the awful and very late summer. Lovely photos.

    We started hillwalking around the age of 5 with my parents and I can remember it all. I actually liked around half of it too. Some days I didn’t feel like it though but still had to go!

  7. Oh… and forgot to ask – I rarely go to Langdale, especially on a nice day, as I always worry I won’t get parked. What time was the parking filling up as you arrived?

    1. I think it was about 9.30am so pretty late, but it was a Sunday. I went earlier two weeks later (post out tomorrow) and it wasn’t so bad. I think in the week it wouldn’t be a problem and if you’re a National Trust member it’s free

  8. What a glorious day Jim! We also feel so fortunate at the end of a great hiking day.
    The weather is still being amazing here in Canada, so we enjoy our time outdoor as much as we can!

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