Coniston Old Man

For the final day we had run out of easier peaks in the Langdales, so for a change decided to go up one of our favourite walks.  It was a chance for Evie to catch up with Grace for total number of Wainwrights walked (73) and for Poppy to move further ahead of Isabelle - by the end of this walk she was 61, Isabelle in fourth place: still on 55 after missing out on this week.

Difficulty: 6
Walkers: Tim, Caroline, Grace (12), Evie (9), Poppy (6 1/2)
10:35, 0.0km 0h00 0m, Start (56)
12:49, 4.7km 2h13 752m, Coniston Old Man (803, Wainwright, Hewitt)
13:24, 5.6km 2h49 775m, Brim Fell (796, Wainwright)
14:21, 7.8km 3h46 902m, Swirl How (802, Wainwright, Hewitt)
15:27, 9.3km 4h52 1018m, Black Sails (745, Hewitt)
15:50, 10.1km 5h14 1076m, Wetherlam (763, Wainwright, Hewitt)
17:51, 15.3km 7h15 1080m, End (56)

After a comparatively lazy start, compared to the two previous days, we drove to Coniston and parked in the village, knowing we had to pick up more milk and bread after the walk, and then walked up straight from there.  We had a vague plan to head left to Dow Crag and home, but decided that the weather was good enough (and we had enough legs left) to make it all the way around to Wetherlam. 

First the climb up through the slate workings, retelling the story of how many times Isabelle asked to turn back the first time she climbed up here.  This has been the benchmark by which her younger sisters judge this climb...

To Low Water, pit stop before the final climb up.  Looking quite cloudy up there... 

 Brief views down to the valley floor, but mainly the 'typical' conditions.

Beyond the Old Man we went over the pimple that is Brim Fell.  Not much view to speak of.

Finally, on the walk to Swirl How the view improves!  

Turns out the view only improved as we had gone down a bit.  I'm sure the peak is up here somewhere...

The extra peak for this walk was Black Sails, a Hewitt but not a Wainwright, we'd omitted this on previous trips.

And finally to Wetherlam.  From here looking around we could see virtually every walk that we'd done that week.

We used the ridge path back down towards Coniston, really wonderful views of the lake and the rest of the hillsides.

Having reach the main path back we crossed over at Miners Bridge and joined out outward track.

Coniston Old Man & friends

This was a walk we'd planned and were keen to do in good weather - having climbed up the Old Man too many times with no view.  We ended up walking 21.4km in a total time of just under 8 hours.  Here are the peaks:

Difficulty: 8
Walkers: Tim, Caroline

9:45, 0.0km 0h00 0m, Start (55)

11:29, 5.1km 1h43 736m, Coniston Old Man (803)
12:07, 6.9km 2h21 858m, Dow Crag (778)
12:50, 8.7km 3h04 1007m, Brim Fell (796)
13:53, 12.0km 4h07 1158m, Grey Friar (773)
14:22, 13.4km 4h36 1239m, Great Carrs (785)
14:33, 14.0km 4h47 1285m, Swirl How (802)
15:35, 16.0km 5h49 1426m, Wetherlam (763)
17:37, 21.4km 7h51 1433m, End (55)

We parked in Coniston, and wanted to buy lunch - to our (mainly my) disappointment the Duck has stopped making packed lunches.  We ended up buying some food in the petrol station, then going up via the car park at the bottom of Walna Scar road.  Predictably there were quite a few people going up, including many families.  We looked on with a mixture of relief and pity (me) and envy (Caroline) as parents alternated between encouraging and holding back children from bounding off the edge of cliffs.

We continued up to the top, I was relishing being able to climb a lot faster than with Evie, although we were both really glad of the little wind there was to take the edge off the heat.  

The top was fairly busy, but it quickly thinned out as we continued beyond the summit, and the people we met tended to have more expensive walking gear!  The next target was Dow Crag, which turns out had a very small piece of climbing to reach the very top.  Caroline was persuaded to make it up - the view was clearly much better than just slightly lower down!

We retraced our steps, and took the option of going back to Brim Fell. On the way we met a rather confused lady, who wasn't sure where we was - she at least had a postcard sized map, so we helped her understand which route she had taken to the top and which way to go next to find her way back to Coniston.  This is at Brim Fell, looking back towards the Old Man.

Grey Friar with the sharp peak of Dow Crag visible in the middle of the far ridge.

 Great Carrs, looking over the Tilberthwaite Fells to the Little Langdale Tarn just visible.

Swirl How, the cliff edge is Great Carrs.  From here we took the path down to Prison Band, and then onwards and upwards.

Wetherlam was our eventual reward with this great view back over to Lake Windermere in the distance.

We then walked back along the ridge, avoiding going down the lower path down the valley where Grace lost her boot many years before - both times I've gone that way I've not really found a path.  Coming back down the ridge made for better views of the mining scars of the Old Man, and this great view of a very luck sheep.

Grace conquers the Old Man

So two years earlier, when we stayed at Bank Ground (Holly Howe of Swallows and Amazon's fame), I had set off with Isabelle and Grace to walk up the Old Man of Coniston.  Grace was feeling under the weather, but was determined to try - however after an hour or so of walking it was clear that she wasn't able to complete the walk.  We had to return, take Grace back, and then I set off with just Isabelle and did manage to climb to the top.  So this time, Grace was determined...

Difficulty: 6
Walkers: Tim, Isabelle (9), Grace (7)
9:24, 0.0km 0h00 0m, Start (57)
12:00, 4.5km 2h36 738m, Coniston Old Man (803)
12:20, 5.4km 2h55 761m, Brim Fell (796)
13:28, 7.6km 4h03 887m, Swirl How (802)
14:53, 9.5km 5h28 1025m, Wetherlam (763)
16:54, 14.9km 7h29 1056m, End (56)

We parked at the large car park at the bottom of Coniston, then walked up through the town before taking the traditional route up the Old Man.  

Two brave explorers, keen to get started.

Taking a small break and (by the look of things) some extra calories.  Grace knew well that when Isabelle did the walk two years before I'd needed some strong encouragement to get all the way to the top.  She was very determined to complain less than Isabelle had done, and was frequently asking me to compare the two ascents...

Investigating some of the workings on the way to the top.

And made it to the tarn, still fairly sheltered and hot on the climb, 

And finally at the top!  At this point with Isabelle we'd already done a couple of extra hours, so we had taken the path down to Goat's Water.  However this time things were looking a lot better, so we set off from here to the north, along the ridge towards Brim Fell.  

Now at Brim Fell, we found our first snow!  Grace was delighted, and spent most of the rest of the walk searching out patches of snow to make snowballs.  The girls even invented a song, I seem to remember the words were mainly around snow...

I think Isabelle had realised my plan at this point, to do a circuit and pick up Swirl How and Wetherlam, since Caroline and I on our honeymoon had done a similar walk.  However she was happy to not let Grace to just yet what we'd got planned.

Grace, on the other hand, was showing off her split personality, occasionally manic (more often when walking on snow) and occasionally morose.

Still, there were more patches of snow to conquer.  On the path from Swirl How to Wetherlam there is a fairly obvious place where you can turn right and head back down the hills, or continue on and up to Wetherlam.  To their credit the girls, having come this far, consented to carry on and climb back up for a last peak.

Now at the top of Wetherlam, the last peak on a walk well done.

We decided to head down the valley path.  The valley itself was easy to fine, the path less so.  The bogs more so.  I have a feeling that it was on this stretch that Grace lost a shoe in a bog and ended up getting mud everywhere on her foot & sock.

Finally back down at Consiton, to admire the new lambs and find the car.

Coniston Old Man, still no view

Another route reconstructed from a record of the peaks we climbed and careful looking at the photos, we returned to the Old Man, three years after coming here on honeymoon, but with little more success at getting a view.

We took a different route up, following the road to the left first, rather than heading straight up to the workings.

Not looking too promising,

At Low Water, around the same cloud level as last time. 

Caroline going up to the top, I'd offered to help carrying her rucksack since I hadn't taken one for this walk. 

Me at the top.  I think the combination of green waterproof and pink rucksack look pretty dashing.

Some view!  We could even see down to Levers Water and the Lake!

The view going up to Swirl How.

Caroline, with Seathwaite Tarn in the background.

At the top of Swirl How, a little more view. 

Looking along the ridge towards Wetherlam.

Obviously enjoying the rocks on the way.

At Wetherlam.  Not looking impressed with the lack of view from here, as the cloud hadn't continued to lift.

We could see the Old Man on the left though, and Swirl How on the right.

But not much down towards Coniston and the lake. 

Levers Water on the way down.

Caroline, looking unimpressed with the view and her boots.