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| Brown Pike, Buck Pike, Dow Crag and Coniston Old Man from
Beckstones on the A5084 |
| As we got nearer to Torver the weather improved
and I had to stop to take a photo of the Old Man, it was just asking to
be climbed today! Tessa seemed to like the windows down in the car and
I am sure she could sense that we were nearing journeys end. We had to
stop in Coniston for Amanda to change trousers and visit the loo. She tried
to apologize about this but I had to point out that this is nothing new
as we always visit a loo for Sarah (must write a
good loo guide to the Lakes!) Whilst I waited in the car park I
took a photo of a rather conspicuous crop circle sort of thing on the
fell side above the village, the last time I had noticed this was when
we did Wetherlam, but then it was a CND or Greenpeace sort of crop circle.
This time it was a smiley face, but more on this later! After pointing
out the
"Coniston
Bus Shelter" and discussing the cult web site we drove up to the
Walna Scar Road. |
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| Coniston Old Man from the car park |
Boo Tarn |
| We followed three cars up the road and some
kindly gentleman held open the gate for us at the top. It was busy up here,
there was even an ice cream van doing not a lot of trade! Parking was not
a problem (who needs the National Trust rip offs!) and
we got ready to walk. Well I did, as Amanda and Tessa had come all ready
prepared! I talked about the choices of route with Amanda, Tessa was too
busy having a swim in a big puddle of water to listen anyway! We had three
choices. The tourist path, the path via Bursting Stones Quarry or my preferred
way via the Walna Scar Road and Goats Water. The latter was agreed upon,
I am glad as I never intend to walk up the tourist path! We set off at
a cracking pace, Tessa did the usual doggy thing of running everywhere
and back three times, this would not last ! Past Boo Tarn and the road
up to Bursting Stones Quarry we went, for some reason Tessa had not listened
to us and the route plans, and thought we were heading up to the quarry.
It was only when we walked past the road that she got the message and rejoined
us! |
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| The path up to The Cove turns off here |
Cove Bridge and the Walna Scar Road |
| Amanda does a lot of walking with Tessa, the
Trough of Bowland, the Peak District and around the local area. I could
tell this as I was struggling to keep up! I had fallen for the "I've
never walked in the Lakes much story". I had hoped for a nice gentle
stroll away from John and his fast feet ! No way, Amanda and Tessa kept
up a pace that was worrying me! This lasted until Tessa found her first
sheep, at last a chance of a breather whilst Amanda tried her best to restrain
Tessa! Tessa went head to head with a sheep and did the one woman and her
dog impression, scary stuff! Amanda got a bit frustrated with this and
eventually put the lead on Tessa. |
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| Brown Pike, Buck Pike and Dow Crag from the path up to The
Cove |
| As I look back on walks that I have previously
done I always seem to split them up in my head into easy bits and hard
bits. I always seem to think of the path up to Goats Hause as hard work,
along Goats Water as easy, the path along The Cove as easy after a hard
start and the Walna Scar Road as an easy introduction to the walk. This
initial walk up to The Cove today I found to be really tiring, my legs
did not want to work at all! I think this had something to do with how
fast we had already walked to get here. Amanda took pity on me and suggested
a stop for a drink, this I great fully did! I was feeling like a right
wimp now (even
more than usual!) Here I was trying to show Amanda some proper
walking and she seemed to be much better at it than me, life is just not
fair! |
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| Dow Crag coming into view over Goat Crag |
Looking back over The Cove |
| After I had recovered slightly I asked her how
she was enjoying it so far. She seemed to be impressed with the place so
far (she
ain't seen nothing yet!). Looking back over The Cove was a bit dreary
to my way of thinking, but Dow Crag did offer something that was worth
looking at! Now that the path was much more level I felt much better. Making
our way up towards Goats Water we chatted away whilst Tessa led the way.
As the path disappeared amongst some large rock formations and large boulders
under Goats Crag Amanda asked about the way forward. I was a bit confused
by this as the path was plain to see as long as you only looked about ten
feet in front of you, it twisted and turned amongst the rocks, just follow
your feet! |
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| The path by the side of Goat Crag |
Dow Crag |
| This got me to thinking about Tessa and how
she had been able to follow the path without fail. Amanda had said that
Tessa was a good walking dog (what's one of them
then?) but
when I asked her whether she followed the path by sight or scent it made
Amanda think! While Amanda pondered over this question I thought it would
be a good idea to make my way to the outflow of Goats Water instead of
keeping to the path, this was fun as it involved a bit of boulder hoping
or boulder jumping or whatever it's called! |
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| Goats Water and Goats Hause |
The path by Goats Water |
| We watched a couple of walkers/scramblers/climbers go up
one of the gully's to the left of the stretcher box. I explained to Amanda
about the fascination the terrible trio seem to have about doing this sort
of thing but she did not seem convinced! Maybe it was the thought of Tessa
not being able to do it that put her off. Sat by the side of Goats Water
was a solitary walker, as we approached he decided that his peace and solitude
had been ruined (sorry about that) and he
started to walk past us. Tessa seemed to take offence at this and promptly
followed him and jumped up, planting both front feet firmly on the blokes
backside and nearly pushing him into the stream (really
sorry about that!) Amanda went about apologizing and I was just
glad that Tessa was not mine! |
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| Dow Crag from the path by Goats Water |
| So making our apologies we made our way up to the path and
headed towards Goats Hause. By now the sun that we had enjoyed for most
of the walk disappeared and we had overcast sky's for a while. By the side
of the path we came across some large patches of ice that still remained.
Tessa thought that these were great as she sucked away at them, must be
a doggy thing! |
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| A river of ice still here |
The path up to Goats Hause |
| As I had mentioned Goats Hause to Amanda before
and told her that it holds no fond memories for me, when we actually got
to the path that led up there she seemed a bit taken aback about how much
I had built it up. For her it did not seem much at all (me
and my memory!), for me it was still hard work. Tesa kept ahead
and stayed on the path, she did not seem to find it hard either! That was
until she took a dislike to a group of descending walkers! She seemed to
take offense at one bloke in particular, Amanda chased after Tessa and
told the offending walker that it must be his glasses that had spooked
Tessa ?? |
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| Looking down to Goats Water |
Tessa, feeling the pace now! |
| These walkers were the "power walker" types,
mean, lean and quick on their feet! The lead guy had on a pair of big fancy
sunglasses. When Amanda told him about the glasses he immediately took
them off with a worried look on his face, "Glasses?" he asked,
trying to dodge the attentions of Tessa! I must admit this threw me as
well! Apparently Tessa has a thing about blokes with glasses, it must be
a girl thing! I was getting a bit embarrassed now, first a sheep, second
trying to push a poor bloke into Goats Water and now scaring a bloke half
to death over his choice of shades! (sorry, sorry,
and sorry!) All
this running about took its toll on Tessa and she had to stop for a bit,
well she didn't, but I did! |
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| Having an ice lolly (lolly ice) doggy style! |
Looking down to Goats Hause |
| After recovering from our exertions a bit we
headed up and soon came out at Goats Hause. For the last half hour or so
the view that had faced us was limited by the surroundings. Now at Goats
Hause the view opened up and I think Amanda was impressed. I pointed out
Harter Fell, Slight Side and unfortunately the clouds that covered the
Scafell's! Still it was quite impressive, and very windy! |
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| Heading upwards from Goats Hause |
Harter Fell |
| Like my last visit here the path up towards the Old Man was
covered in ice. At first Amanda seemed to struggle to pick a route upwards
without slipping whilst Tessa had great fun rolling about on the ice and
then trying to eat it! We met one walker coming down who warned us about
arctic weather at the top. Very windy, very cloudy and very cold! Oh well,
something's never change! |
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| Goats Hause again |
Heading towards the summit |
| As we made our way up the clouds started to clear, well actually
they looked like they were blown away at a rather fast pace. It was a strange
sight seeing the clouds move so quickly. It was cold and talking was a
problem at times as the wind carried away your voice. As the gradient started
to ease it actually started to get brighter, This cheered me up as I was
really hoping for some good views from the top today! |
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| Looking back over to Dow Crag |
| With the weather clearing I just had to stop
and look back at the sight of Dow Crag. This has to be one of the most
impressive sights in the whole of the Lake District. Looking at it now
I felt a slight twinge of regret that John and Sarah were not here to see
a sight that I had promised them on two previous trips up here, on both
occasions all that they could see was clouds! Maybe next time........... |
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| Harter Fell again |
Nearing the top and the weather starts to improve |
| As I took some photos I was pointing out the
tops to Amanda. Harter Fell, Grey Friar, the Scafell's still in cloud,
and now Crinkle Crags and Bowfell could be seen, as well as lots more clouds!
But at least the way up towards the Old Man was becoming brighter and more
inviting by the minute! |
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| Tessa contemplating the path |
Brim Fell |
| Normally I have always followed the path that leads towards
the summit. Today we made a beeline for the ridge between the Old Man and
Brim Fell. I did this because I wanted to show Amanda the view whilst we
still had a view! As I had pointed out Harter Fell and Sellafield to Amanda
I also threw in the "by the way, that's the Isle Of Man" routine!
We had been able to see it quite clearly in the distance. Amanda then started
to tell me about her recent visit to the island. |
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| Low Water |
Coniston Old Man from the ridge |
| This story lasted until we reached the ridge
line overlooking Low Water. Here two things happened, the views opened
up and took your breath away and the wind picked up and nearly blew us
over, talking was not an option here! The wind was extremely strong, standing
upright was a struggle and I was pleased to see that Amanda had as much
fun trying to stand still as Sarah does! I think she was impressed and
she forgot about the story. The views were as good as I remember them,
the ridge up to the Old Man looked great but looking back over to Brim
Fell it looked like the weather was going to close in again soon. |
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| The zig zags of the tourist path |
Nearing the summit |
| From here the summit of Coniston Old Man looked
fantastic. It was slightly higher than we were and because the next high
ground in the direction we were walking is probably somewhere in North
Wales it looked like the top of the world. I think the blue sky's helped!
The weather, the odd bit of snow still lying on the ground, and the views
towards the summit all went to make this one of those special times on
the hills. |
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| The summit trig point |
Coniston Old Man summit |
| Soon we reached the summit, and as always on
one side it looked deserted and on the other side, out of the wind it was
like Blackpool prom in the summer! I snapped the odd photo or two and persuaded
the |
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two ladies to pose at the
trig point. I must point out that even though it was windy, Amanda does
have BIG hair!!! Anyway that aside I think it is a good photo! We walked
around a bit and I jumped up to the summit cairn and took the panoramic
photo. Amanda was wondering what I was doing but I was too busy trying
to stay upright to answer! With the clouds clearing I was able to point
out Scafell, Mickledoor and Scafell Pike at last. They are just names
to Amanda but at least she had heard of Scafell.
We had another wander around trying to find a place for lunch. All the
good spots that offered shelter were double booked so I suggested that
we walked down and away from the summit to find a more sheltered spot.
We had to walk a fair way before we found a couple of likely looking
seats for our backsides. It was comfy, out of the wind, sunny, and gave
great views back towards home, not that we could see that far! We settled
done for some well earned lunch, well I did, Amanda had some fruit and
a drink of water! |
| Amanda and Tessa on Coniston Old Man |
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| 360 degree panorama from Coniston
Old Man |
| Tessa seemed to like my sandwiches more than Amanda did,
I offered her one as I thought that fruit alone was not enough, but she
gave most of it to Tessa. I had to follow of course and Tessa seemed to
like the Sandham's Tasty Lancashire cheese and Branston Pickle on Bell's
granary bread ! This obviously gave Tessa an appetite and it was not long
before she visited everyone at the summit begging food of them! Amanda
left her to it for a while but then had to go and retrieve Tessa
as she was starting to annoy a few people (sorry!) |
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| Looking towards Scafell Pike |
Looking back to the summit crowds |
| With all the food consumed (mine as
well as everyone else's!) we retraced our steps to the summit
for one last look around. The weather was constantly changing and it
seemed as if we would not enjoy the sun for much longer! I talked about
the possibilities of the return trip with Amanda as she was a bit pushed
for time. I suggested a return over Dow Crag but after initial excitement
Amanda decided that she did not have enough time for this so the direct
way back down the tourist path was decided upon. |
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| Brim Fell |
The start of the tourist path |
| The descent down the tourist path has an indistinct
start but soon turns into a nice wide path. If there is ever any doubt
as to the way all you have to do is follow the crowds coming up this way!
At the end of this nice wide path the descent starts in earnest, steep,
rough, and high up above Low Water. I was trying to explain to Amanda why
I prefer coming up to the Old Man via Goats Hause instead of this way,
she soon agreed with my choice of routes! |
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| The steep descent on the tourist path |
Low Water and a glimpse of Levers Water |
| In places the path zig zagged down, still quite
rough but loosing lots of height. The view down to Low Water was interesting
as a fair amount of it was still frozen. We passed numerous walkers on
the way up, ranging from a couple in jeans and trainers, to a family on
a day out to some "power walkers". Coniston Old Man is one of those fells
that attracts everyone, today was no exception! |
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| Looking back up towards the summit |
Looking over Coniston Village and Coniston Water |
| Amanda seemed to get a bit quiet now. It turns out that she
was feeling a bit cold and her knee was starting to trouble her. It was
bitterly cold and I offered her some of my spare clothing but she declined.
As far as knees and feet we then chatted away about our various problems,
I'm glad it was not just me! I'm seriously thinking about making a web
page or web site just on feet and knee problems, a sort of "walkers in
pain" chat room! But then again maybe not...... |
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| Bad weather on it's way! |
A partially frozen Low Water |
| To compound the problems the weather was definitely
getting worse. Wetherlam disappeared in cloud and soon it started to snow.
Well it was that trying to snow sort of thing, the odd spot of something
more substantial than rain but not yet a fully fledged snow flake, it was
quite nice really! |
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| Closer view of Low Water |
A level area along the path |
| Passing by Low Water I was tempted to stop and
see if Tessa wanted a swim, after all she had been swimming in just about
every patch of standing water that we had come across so far today! It
was just too cold to stop really and after the steep descent the path in
front of us was turning into a nice level section that just had to be walked
upon at speed, besides it kept us warm carrying on walking. At the end
of this nice level part the path turned to the right and we came across
the start of the old mine/quarry buildings and the entrance to a large
quarry. I asked Amanda if she fancied some hot chocolate and with a strange
sort of look she said yes. I suppose the look sort of said "I do,
but there's no sign of a cafe here!" |
 |
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| Wetherlam over Raven Tor |
Looking over Copper Mines Valley |
| Into
the quarry we went, it was out of the wind and quite sheltered. After a
quick look around the quarry I set up the cooker and started to heat up
the milk for the hot chocolate. Prepared or what! Amanda seemed impressed,
I'm not sure whether it was with the quarry or the my cooker! The peace
and tranquility here was soon broken by a lone "power walker". He had obviously
entered the quarry to spend a penny! Not being put off by the sight of
Ste's Cafe, he passed us by to find a quiet corner to use. Tessa took exception
to this and soon started to follow him and put him off. I hope he was not
interrupted mid stream! Amanda took pity on the poor bloke and tried her
best to keep Tessa away, without much luck! It was quite comical really,
there was me slaving over a hot stove whilst Amanda tried her best to
keep Tessa away from the poor walker, needless to say Tessa won and the
last I saw of the walker was him disappearing out of the quarry being chased
by Tessa who was being chased by Amanda! By now the chocolate was ready
and whilst Amanda refused a Ripple to dunk Tessa was more than happy to
accept! |
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| An old level |
One of the old mine buildings |
| All good things must come to an end and as this
was the Lake District it ended by starting to rain! This was a good old
Lake District shower, we packed up quickly and set off to try and stay
dry, what a waste of time! We passed through the old ruins and wondered
what this place must have been like in it's heyday, the old ropeways hauling
vast amounts of stone, the workers having to walk up here to start work
everyday. We both agreed that we all have it easy nowadays! |
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| More old buildings |
And more |
| It would have been nice to spend some time here
looking around the old buildings but time was pressing and it was still
raining. We walked on past the old buildings and down the path, occasionally
having to negotiate the old wire ropes that lay across the path. Amanda
seemed to have an interest in the history of the place, just as myself
and John do. The Coniston area is full of interest if you are into the
old industry's of Lakeland, at times there is something new around ever
corner. |
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| The path back to The Walna Scar Road |
Looking back to Black Sails and Wetherlam |
| By the time we reached the junctions of the path from Levers
Water it had stopped raining and the sun started to come out again. We
could just about see the car now and we knew we were on the final |
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stretch. With the breeze, it could
hardly be called a wind down here, and the sun, we soon started to dry
out. I was still amazed by Tessa, she had spent most of the walk out in
front of us and still managed to know exactly which path and which way
we were going! Amanda had told me that Tessa originated from Langdale so
may be there was a bit of local knowledge in the genes, perhaps her distant
relatives have herded sheep around here in the past! Just to round of the
day we were in for one more surprise. As we walked along the track we started
to hear the sounds of dogs. It all came back to me now! I can remember
this from a |
| On the old road catching up the crowds |
| previous time. There is an old tradition / sport
/ pastime of dog racing carried out up here. Not dog racing like in greyhounds
running around a track, but a Lake District version. A sort of fell running
for dogs sort of thing. As I tried to explain to Amanda about someone
dragging a cloth soaked in Linseed oil (I think) around
a course and then the letting the hounds loose to follow the scent we saw
them! A pack of Bloodhounds running flat out towards the finishing point
at the car park. Tessa of course wanted to join in but the sight of these
bigger dogs put her off! Besides the race was already won and all we saw
were the stragglers. One dog in particular I fet an affinity for. It was
obviously older, bigger and less fit as it brought up the rear, way behind
the younger fitter dogs at the front, a bit like me really! |
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| Rainbow starting at The Bell.... |
and ending at Coniston Village |
| With this spectacle in front of us we were then treated to
a bit of weather that we had missed out on so far, a rainbow! This now
completed a full hand, a royal flush of Lakeland weather for us, we had
it all today! Back at the car park we had to compete wit the local race
goers to leave, it was not as bad as trying to get out of Cartmell but
not far off! |
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| The smiley face on Mouldry Bank that
overlooks Coniston Village |
| As I needed some petrol I pulled into the BP
garage and filled up whilst Amanda visited the toilet. I asked the bloke
in the petrol station about the smiley face that I had seen before. He
told me a story about last year being a bad year, "we lost a few good
people last year" he said, one young lady in particular to cancer.
The crop circle thing was made by a few locals with a strimmer, something
to put the cheer back into people he said. He also mentioned that it was
hijacked last year by Greenpeace. This was obviously what I had seen last
October when we did Wetherlam! He went on to say that they thought they
knew who had defaced it but could not prove it, they have managed to return
it too it's original condition now though. He also said that it had looked
great in the snow! I was pleased about this story, it just goes to show
what a bit of community spirit can do to help lift the locals spirits.
Long live the community! |
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| The GPS track log from today's walk
plus the path profile and route information. |
And so ended another great walk in the Lakes.
because of the weather and the views, the Old Man is once again up there
in my top ten! Amanda seemed to enjoy it even though she had listened to
my story's of my past experiences up here. Tessa was soon asleep in the
back of the car, she had definitely had fun! By way of a change of journey
I went back via Ambleside, just to show Amanda the turn off for Hodge Close
and Tilberthwaite, pointing out on the way Raven Crag. As Amanda needed
to be back home in good time I decided to give the M6 a miss and went via
my secret short cut to miss out on the traffic jams into the roadwork's
at Carnforth, I need not have bothered as the jams were elsewhere!
We had
a great conversation on the way back, Amanda was such a good listener.
We discussed football, the offside rule, music, lad's night's out,
sex, the lot!. In fact she never argued with anything I said, then I noticed
she was asleep, oh well!
Missing out on the traffic jams I thought I was onto a winner so I made
the mistake of carrying on the M6 to get onto the M55 instead of getting
off and taking the A6, mistake! Two miles of traffic before a few cones,
two lanes and nobody working! Amanda woke up and made her apologies(no
need) and a bit later than expected, but still within limits we
reached home.
For me it was a nice change to revisit an old favorite and introduce it
to someone new. Amanda seemed to enjoy it and when I spoke to her later
on that evening to tell her that the photos were on the web site she was
out for a walk with Tessa, that girl does not know when to stop! I am sure
that Amanda will join me again and next time hopefully with John and Sarah,
I am sure she will give John a run for his money as me and Sarah look on
from the back! |