31/04/2011 Coniston circuit (shameless peak bagging)

Wetherlam (wainwright/hewitt)
Black Sail (hewitt)
Swirl How (wainwright/hewitt)
Great Carrs (wainwright)
Grey Friar (wainwright/hewitt)
Brim Fell (wainwright)
Coniston Old Man (wainwright/hewitt)
Dow Crag (wainwright/hewitt)

Length: 13.2 miles  21.2 km, Ascent: +1479m, Naismith: 6h 42m

Well, the MLT training has been postponed. Not enough people to run the course. I had to consol myself with the thought that Mrs H and me might go to Rum with some friends and do the Rum Cuillin traverse, however other commitments and poor weather meant that this did not happen, I'm quite glad the MLT was postponed, we had a very wild week with a couple of big trees down on the estate and very heavy showers.

Just as events conspire against hill days, sometimes events work in favour, the forecast showed an improvement and Mrs H and I were up at 6 am and headed for Coniston. Neither of us had been before so we didn't know the main road A593 from Ambleside to Coniston is effectively single track for much of the way - this didn't seem to put off the odd HGV. It took a bit longer than expected to get to the village so we didn't leave the car till nearly 12.

sky

The route is straight forward, from Coniston follow the track past the miners bridge until a right fork takes you up above a row of cottages, a couple of switch backs and up to Hole Rake. A faint path (looks like a sheep track) branches off and takes you up (eventually) to Wetherlam. We were very slow up this section which is easy going on short grass. Our excuse is that we hadn't been out for a couple of weeks.

miners bridge

looking up Levers Water Beck

A pause for coffe and sandwiches. We could see most of the Cumbrian hills, Scafell and Scafell Pike (which semed to have attracted low cloud), Langdale and across to Helvellyn and Fairfield. To the South East was Grizedale Forest and the sea. A big lump lurked on the shore which I later discovered was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heysham_nuclear_power_station Off down across Black sail and down to the busy Swirl Hause. Prison Band to the summit of Swirl How was pleasant, very easy rocks and out of the cold wind and in the sun too.

that way to Swirl How

on Prison Band

From the summit we could see the remaining tops and although I expected a minor mutiny, Mrs H was happy to bag a few Wainrights so we started with Great Carrs. On the way, I came across a memorial at NY270008 http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/ll505.html 8 crew. All died. Average age 22. The remains of the undercarriage sit next to the cairn. The rest of the aircraft was pushed over into Broad Slack to prevent it being reported as an accident again.

Brim Fell (L) and Dow Crag (R) from Kidson How

We climbed Grey Friar before contouring round on a small path to Brim Fell and Coniston. Hiding behind the massive summit cairn at the top of the Old Man, we scoffed snickers and coffee. The wind seemed to be getting stronger, we heard some of the stones on the cairn moving in the wind, so we packed up and headed to Goat's Hawse and back into the sun. From there we had a really good view of the crags on Dow Crag - I've checked for routes and there's a few in my ability level of Moderate to Difficult - even a couple of easy winter routes although I'm not sure how often they would be in condition... It might be worth a day out at some point.

Low water from Coniston Old Man

Dow Crag isn't as big or a steep as it looks so in 45 minutes from the Old Man summit we were up and back down to Goat Hawse. I had originally planned on continuing over Brown Pike but we were keen to get back to the car so back down past Goat Water and The cove to meet Walna Scar Road and down to Coniston. As it turned out Brown Pike would have taken another 10 mins and may have been a nicer descent.

Goat Water

Back to the car and home for 11pm. I think we took about 8 hours in total. Thanks to Mrs. H for the photos. I was sore the next day!!