Wainwrights Baggers

Book 6 · The North Western Fells

Dale Head

A 754 m Wainwright in The North Western Fells, with one desk-checked ascent from the National Trust car park, Rosthwaite: 4.2 km and 700 m of climbing.

Explore Dale Head in 3D

Is Dale Head a Wainwright?

Yes. Dale Head is one of the 214 Wainwrights: number 8 of 29 in Book 6, The North Western Fells, of Alfred Wainwright’s Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.

Climbing Dale Head from the National Trust car park, Rosthwaite

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Castle CragHigh SpyBP1 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.

Dale Head is climbed here from the National Trust's car park in Rosthwaite, a paid car park with room for about 20 cars, at about 90 m. Buses 77 and 78 stop at the General Store, about 80 m away. High Spy and Castle Crag share the car park, and the High Spy route follows this line for its first 3 km, well past Tongue Gill.

The walk is 4.2 km long with about 700 m of ascent. Its first kilometre is flat, on a lane and then a track that crosses the River Derwent at about 0.8 km. A path graded hiking by OpenStreetMap lifts the line to about 200 m by 1.5 km, and after a short mountain hiking section and Lavery Gill it reaches Tongue Gill at 2.4 km.

Between 2 km and 3 km the path climbs from about 230 m to 500 m. The next 600 m stay close to 500 m, crossing Newlands Beck at about 3.4 km and passing Dalehead Tarn just after.

The final climb rises from about 510 m at 3.6 km to the summit cairn at 754 m. Its last few metres of path are graded mountain hiking.

About 2.9 km of the line follows public footpaths and bridleways, and 2.7 km crosses open access land. About 590 m are on neither in the data, mostly the path between 0.9 km and 1.4 km.

Dale Head is 754 m high, 63rd of the 214 Wainwrights by height, and belongs to the North Western Fells in Book 6.

The GPX runs from the car park to the summit only. Come back the same way, or work out a longer round 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 Dale Head stands

1 · Eastern2 · Far Eastern3 · Central4 · Southern5 · Northern6 · North Western7 · WesternDale Head
Dale Head among all 214 Wainwright summits, each in its true position.

Nearest Wainwrights

Straight-line distances between summits.

All the fells in The North Western 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.