The Old Dungeon Gyll

The Old Dungeon Gyll Hotel in Great Langdale is named after the beck that dashes down the crags from the Langdale Pikes. Nestling below the Langdale Pikes, the group of peaks on the northern side of the dale. From below, they appear as a sharp rocky ridge, though they are only precipitous on their southern side. The Pikes themselves include (from west to east) Pike of Stickle, Loft Crag, Harrison Stickle and Pavey Ark.

Langdale is known to archaeologists as the source of a particular type of Neolithic polished stone axe head, created on the slopes of the Pike of Stickle and traded all over prehistoric Great Britain and Europe. It also supplied stone for some Bronze Age items, such as stone wrist-guards. Neolithic cup and ring marks are found on the Langdale Boulders at Copt Howe.

After a long day out on the fells the Walkers Bar was a welcome retreat from the gusting winds and intermittent rain that had acompanied us all day. Exhilerating you might have called it :)