Castle Crag

Wainwright 11 for my little ones

I get told quite regularly that this Wainwright is ‘very easy’ and ‘very child friendly’ so, naturally, I had to see for myself! However, I certainly wouldn’t say this was a ‘very easy’ Wainwright walk! While the distance isn’t too far, the terrain is steep in parts and the slate climb to the top can make it a little bit hairy for some!

That being said, the children LOVED the steep climb. They had actually complained for much of the walk until they reached the rocky, slate climb. I’m quickly realising my children really enjoy the climbs that push, and challenge, them! Fantastic for my anxiety levels.

Castle Crag is found in the stunning village of Rosthwaite, there is a National Trust Car Park at the start of the walk – postcode CA12 5XB. The route itself is approximately 3-3.5 miles, you can see from our Strava map that we completed a loop. If I were to take the children here again I would take the right hand side path up, then back down again, and not complete the loop. There is more to see on this side and the children much preferred this half of the walk.

One of the highlights of this walk are the stepping stones that you come across before you begin your ascent. As you walk towards the start of the climb you wander along a beautiful stream with stunning bridges, paddling areas and, of course, the stepping stones (see photo 3). Luckily we saved walking along these until the end of the walk otherwise we would have had a long walk with wet feet! The water levels were higher than normal and my husband had to get in the water to help us all across.

At the end of the walk we stopped and ate at the Flock Inn Tearoom – a beautiful little cafe, the food was truly fantastic, and the views incredible! Any walk that includes a scary ascent, water to paddle in, and food/ice cream at the end is a huge success for my children.

hiking household