Wainwrights Baggers

Book 4 · The Southern Fells

Crinkle Crags

A 859 m Wainwright in The Southern Fells, with one desk-checked ascent from the lay-by at Wrynose Pass: 4.3 km and 520 m of climbing.

Explore Crinkle Crags in 3D

Is Crinkle Crags a Wainwright?

Yes. Crinkle Crags is one of the 214 Wainwrights: number 7 of 30 in Book 4, The Southern Fells, of Alfred Wainwright’s Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.

Climbing Crinkle Crags from the lay-by at Wrynose Pass

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Cold PikePike of BliscoP1 km
The route in green, from the car park (P) to the summit (triangle), with the bus stop (B) where it falls on the map and nearby Wainwrights as dots. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

This route climbs Crinkle Crags from a free lay-by at Wrynose Pass, which already sits at about 390 m. The Swirl How route starts from the same parking. The nearest bus stop with a current service is the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, about 3.4 km away in a straight line and not on this route, served by the 516.

The line is 4.3 km long and gains about 520 m. It begins on a footpath graded mountain hiking by OpenStreetMap, with a short section of rock steps at about 0.2 km. The climb is then steady. The route crosses Roughcrags Gill at about 0.7 km, reaches about 600 m at 1.4 km, and passes Cold Pike at about 2 km and 685 m.

Beyond Cold Pike the line drops to about 650 m around 2.4 km before climbing again, graded mountain hiking between about 3.1 km and 3.5 km. It passes South Top at about 3.8 km and 810 m, runs nearly level for 200 m, then rises to the summit. The top on the map is Long Top, with a cairn at 859 m. The final 30 m are rock on the map and graded mountain hiking.

About 1.4 km of the line follows public footpaths, and almost all of it, 4.3 km, crosses open access land. Crinkle Crags is 859 m high, 17th of the 214 Wainwrights by height, and belongs to the Southern Fells in Book 4.

The GPX file is the same line, from the lay-by to Long Top. Return the same way, or plan a longer walk with a map before you set out.

Download the GPXFree. The route is © OpenStreetMap contributors and the file is released under the Open Database Licence: you may copy, share and adapt it.

Where Crinkle Crags stands

1 · Eastern2 · Far Eastern3 · Central4 · Southern5 · Northern6 · North Western7 · WesternCrinkle Crags
Crinkle Crags among all 214 Wainwright summits, each in its true position.

Nearest Wainwrights

Straight-line distances between summits.

All the fells in The Southern FellsAll 214 Wainwrights

Map and route data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.

Heights along the route from OS Terrain 50. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (NaPTAN, Bus Open Data Service, Lake District National Park Authority rights of way).

Access land © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Heights, grid references and summit positions come from The Database of British and Irish Hills v18.3, used under CC BY 4.0.