Allen Crags

Overview

Allen Crags is a fell in the Borrowdale area in the Lake District. The summit is a broad plateau, with several cairns, but the highest one is obvious. On a clear day, the views all around are magnificent.

The summit forms the southern high point of a long, wide, undulating ridge. Just over 2km away to the north, the high point on the other end is Glaramara (783m).

Southwest of Allan Crags, about 300m from the summit, a saddle at 725m marks the end of the ridge. This gives the mountain a prominence of 60m.

A further 300m to the southwest lies the important mountain pass of Esk Hause (759m), the lowest point on the ridge between Great End (907m) to the west and Esk Pike (885m) to the southeast, and the gateway between Borrowdale and the Eskdale valley further south.

At 785m, by elevation it is the 42th of the 214 Wainwrights.

The nearest trailhead is Seathwaite Farm to the north. Other convenient trailheads are Wasdale Head to the west, and the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel in the Great Langdale valley to the east.

A visit to Allan Crags is often combined with other fells, especially with Glaramara.



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Getting There

Borrowdale

By Car

From Keswick, the largest village in the north of the Lake District, take road B5289, past Rosthwaite to Seatoller. Turn left to Seathwaite. If you use a route planner, note that there is another, larger Seathwaite in the southwestern part of the Lake District; make sure you go to the right one, very close to Seatoller. Alternatively, you can park in Seatoller or Rosthwaite.

By Public Transport

From Keswick, bus 78 serves Rosthwaite and Seatoller. From Seatoller it's 2km to Seathwaite, from Rosthwaite 4km. Unfortunately, the first bus doesn't go very early and the last one isn't very late, so if you plan to do more than Glaramara and Allan Crags, you'll have to be fast or spend more than a day in the area.

 

Great Langdale

By Car

From Ambleside, one of the main villages in the east of the Lake District, follow the A953 to Skelwith Bridge, then the B5343 to Great Langdale and Old Dungeon Ghyll.

By Public Transport

Bus 516 from Ambleside services Old Dungeon Ghyll. Coming from further afield, there is a train station at Windermere, and several bus lines between Windermere and Ambleside.

Wasdale Head

By Car

The Wasdale Head trailhead lies east of Scafell Pike, at the end of the small local road past Wast Water.

By Public Transport

Public transport in this area is limited. The Wasdale Taxi Bus operates line 13 to Wasdale Head, but infrequently.

Routes

 There are two popular routes to the summit (and several others).

• Starting at Seathwaite Farm (130m), along the Hind Gill to Glaramara. Follow the wide, undulating ridge to the south. You probably need your hands to get up to Glaramara, after that it's only a strenuous hike.


• From the 725m saddle 300m southwest of the summit, walk up the short trail. Obviously, the key is how to get to this saddle, and there are many routes for that.
  
  
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    Sign post at Seathwaite Farm

    
    

    
    Stockley Bridge
    The nearest trailhead is Seathwaite Farm. From there, follow the public bridleway to Styhead, a good path to the south along the Grains Gill. Cross Stockley Bridge and continue on the other side of the stream. Higher up, above the confluence of Grains Gill and Ruddy Gill, the path turns slightly to the southwest, and follows the latter.
    At around 630m, just past Sprinkling Tarn, you reach a junction. If you want to go to Wasdale, go to the right, for Allen Crags, go left. After 600m and almost 100m higher, you'll reach the fore mentioned saddle.
  
  
  • From Great Langdale (110m), start out west along the Cumbria Way for about 3km. The trail gradually turns to the northwest. At around 180m, turn west once more, towards Rossett Pike. Soon it gets steeper. Continue past Rossett Pike, keeping it to your right, and past Angle Tarn to the saddle.
  
  
  • From Wasdale (70m), start out on the path to Styhead Pass (±475m) to the northeast. From there, go east for a few hundred meters, then south east, pass Sprinkling Tarn and then to the saddle.
  
  

Red Tape

Although the Lake District is a National Park, there is no red tape.

When to Go

The ridge is wide, and if you have poor orientation skills and visibility is poor you can get lost. On a good day, there will be a few other hikers. With snow cover or in poor weather, it's a different matter. And this area sees a lot of precipitation!

View Detailed 10 Day Weather Forecast for Keswick, webcams, weather maps & more at Weather-Forecast.com

Accommodation

The Lake District gets a lot of visitors and there are many places to stay, in all price ranges. There are camp sites at each of the trailheads. Officially, camping wild is not allowed in England, but unofficially, in uninhabited areas it is. Don't camp too close to the trails and stay well away from houses and cultivated lands and you're fine.

There is a hotel at Old Dungeon Ghyll.

360° Summit Panorama

360° summit panorama

External Links

Keswick Tourist Associaton links to Allen Crags

Images

View Allen Crags Image Gallery - 20 Images