Bannerdale Crags

Seen from Mungrisdale, the fell is a curving line of crags almost a mile long that falls as much as 600 feet into the valley of Bannerdale Beck. From the other side you would hardly notice it: the summit is smooth grass, one step on the ridge that runs north from Blencathra's Atkinson Pike.

Mungrisdale village is the usual base. There is no big car park, but the Recreation Rooms and the lay-by near the telephone box both take cars, with an honesty box. From the village a track goes west up the Glenderamackin. Where Bannerdale Beck joins, you can climb the spur that runs up to the summit from the valley. It is a gentle scramble, and the best line on the fell. The easier choice carries on up the valley and climbs the broad col between Bannerdale Crags and Bowscale Fell, so the two fells go together naturally. From Scales, on the A66, you cross Mousthwaite Comb to the Glenderamackin and come up White Horse Bent at the southern end.

The Skiddaw Slate here breaks down into grass and scree. Paths along the tops are grassy and can be wet, and the valley path from Mungrisdale turns into a stream after heavy rain.

A small cairn of flat stones marks the top, and a second pile nearby is the remains of a shepherd's shelter. You look across to Blencathra, and on a clear day you see as far south as the Coniston fells.

Mines

The ruins in Bannerdale belong to a lead mine, busiest in the second half of the 1800s, on east to west veins of galena and blende. There was also a trial for graphite, without much luck.