The valley consists of two dales which join at Elterwater and are separated by Lingmoor Fell, otherwise known as Great Langdale and Little Langdale.
     Here will be found some of the most inviting hills and crags. Starting with Chapel Stile (the valley's village at the foot) the long ridge of Blea Rigg is to the north, and Lingmoor to the south. These are followed by the very distinctive Langdale Pikes...Harrison Stickle at 2,403 feet and Pike o'Stickle at 2,323 feet. (Stickle incidentally means pointed), and is easily recognisable from so many viewpoints in the Lake District.
     The two Langdale valleys, because of their isolation and importance as part of a clandestine route from the coast had, at one time, a great popularity with the smugglers of some two centuries ago. Pack horses would have brought the spirits over the mountains and down the lonely valleys.
     Close to Little Langdale Tarn is an old farmhouse which was notorious locally as a smugglers hideout, while lower down the valley is Greenbank Farm, the home of the famous contrabandist and moon-shiner, Lanty Slee. An Irishman, he became a great Lake District character and his appearances in the Ambleside courtroom were apparently hilarious as he kept his native wit well exercised. Lanty had many illicit stills hidden in obscure locations about the fells...the secret of their positions dying with him in 1878.
     A story attached to him is the one that relates to the day an excise officer called to search his home. He was detained for some time by a lady who sat elegantly in her crinoline, receiving him in a little room over the porch. It was all very friendly, and she finally rose to say 'goodbye' the keg she just happened to be sitting on 'happended' to be completely empty...The menfolk of the house had drilled a hole through the floor and keg, and every drop of the contents had been drained away.
     Little Langdale lies south of the Great Langdale valley, and is connected to it by a rugged moorland road which surmounts the pass linking the two valleys and runs by the Blea Tarn. This was the 'little lowly valley' of Wordsworths 'Solitary'...the philosphic hermit who chose to live in isolation in this valley. His home was a farmhouse (Bleatarn House) situated close to the tarn. For the view described by Wordsworth you will have to climb the crags above the summit of the pass.
     Although the Langdale Pikes may fail to top several other peaks in the vicinity, the steepness of their flanks, and the arrogant rock castles of their summits, give them a challenging individuality unmatched elswehere. This is a paradise for climbers and scramblers. The sheer sides of the Pikes are renowned for the quality of the climbing they provide, and there are ascents on the Langdales which range from easy to hard...very severe. Gimmer Crag is undoubtedly the most popular climbing ground, it is situated to the west of Dungeon Ghyll, opposite Harrison Stickle. Its Kipling Groove is considered to be amongst the hardest climbs in the district.
     Budding archaeologists will be interested to learn that it was here on the scree slopes below Langdale Pikes that Neolithic man found that he could shape the rock fragments into stone axes. In fact these axes were shaped roughly on the terraces beneath the crag of Pike o'Stickle, as well as at the head of the steep scree that falls towards the windy trough of Mickleden. The site was only discovered in 1947, and the ledges here are littered with roughly-shaped axes and broken cast offs.
     Little Langdale was possibly the one time home of a Scandinavian settlement. Directly behind Fell Foot Farm is a flat topped, almost rectangular mound, and on the steep sides will be seen a short flight of grassy steps. W G Collingwood called it a 'thing' (theign) mount...netter known as a meeting place of Viking Councils, and was possibly the seat of government for both of the Langdales.