Coniston Fells 24th August 2014

Another brilliant day in the lakes with a few errors, which I can only learn from.

 

First error – parking in Coniston Village - £7

 

Second Error – wearing walking shoes rather than boots. My toes got bashed and the day after my ankles were really sore…definitely boots for this type of walk next time

 

Third error – not packing my sandals as a backup to protect my toes from a basing on the way down.

 

On the plus side :-

 

• A perfect day for walking
• Five Wainwrights
• Awesome views.

 

 

I walked out of the village up the Walna Scar road and discovered two car parks – one at the bottom of the road and one at the top – both free. After just leaving the one at the top I got chatting to a fellow walker and we ended up doing half the wlk together. It was very pleasant to have a companion for a change. He was from the North east and was 67 years old ….I hope I keep going for that many years !!.

Dow Crag

 

From the top of the Walna scar road we took a right onto the Dow Crag ridge which included the minor summits of Brown Pike and Buck Pike. The summit of Dow Crag is reached with a small scramble. Goat water is a few hundred feet below the sheer drop of the cliffs. To the west the Scafell massif can be seen.

 

Goat water from the top of Dow Crag

Trig point on the old man

Old Man summit

From there we followed the ridge down to Goat Hause and the up to the old man. My companion explained that the tourist route (shortest) is a terrible path – steep and rocky – and yet there were all the ants on their way up or down.

 

Looking back to Brim Fell

Sca Fells from summit of Swirl How

Swirl How summit

From the top of Wetherlam - what a view - Windemere to the right and in the far distance the Pennines

un-named Trn on the way down from Wetherlam

The second half of the walk was an easy stroll across to Brim fell and then along the ridge to Levers Hause where my companion left me to drop down the valley back to Coniston.

 

I was starting to get a bit tired by now (6.5 miles covered so far). Swirl How is the summit at the end of the ridge and from there are superb views to the Scafells, Bowfell, and the Langdale Pikes. I decided that Great Carrs would be for another day , so set of  on the descent of Prison Band. It was here that my toes started getting bashed, and my progress slowed. I need to develop a better technique for descent….everyone was overtaking me.

 

At the low point of the link between Swirl How and Wetherlam (Swirl Hause) I had the choice of taking the valley route down to Coniston but opted for my fifth Wainwright of the day. The view from the top of Wetherlam is brilliant. Windemere  Coniston Water and the Coast can both be seen.

Descent of Swirl How

 

The final descent was quite painful – I was using my walking poles as much as possible to stop the damage to my toes which made it slow going – even though the descent was quite gentle by Lake district standards.

 

Despite that – another fantastic day in the Lakes

 

12 Miles OS OL6