The Old Man of Coniston - 4th October 2011

8 miles - 5.5 hours

The start of the walk was a small car park at the end of the road near Long House in the Duddon Valley. We headed up Long House Gill and then along Walna Scar Road. From here we traversed south of Brown Pike and cut across to Goat's Water Tarn. It was a very windy day and we managed to find a sheltered spot just before the tarn to have lunch. We then walked alongside the tarn and climbed to Goat's Hause. From here we started our ascent of the Old Man of Coniston. It became windier and windier as we climbed and by the time we arrived at the trig point a gale was blowing...... you had trouble standing on your feet each time a gust of wind blew. The place looked deserted, but actually there were lots of people sheltereing in the lee of the trig point. We descended back to Goat's Hause and headed across to Seathwaite Tarn. We arrived at a level above Far Hill Crags, and with no obvious way down to the tarn we headed back and found a route down. We skirted the tarn for a while, but there is no obvious path along the water's edge, so we climbed back up until we found a sheep's track. From the dam on Seathwaite Tarn we dropped back down to the cars. The walk was complete with a pint of "Dickie Doodle" beer in the Newfield Inn nearby.

Tony, Mick, Lesley, Jim, Torben and Jim

Walna Scar Road towards Coniston

Brown Pike and Dow Crag

Jim, Torben, Lesley, Jim and Tony

Goat's Water

Goat's Water from Goat's Hause

View from the Old Man of Consiton eastwards over Coniston Water

Tony, Jim, Lesley, Torben and Jim at the trig point on The Old Man

Above Far Hill Crags, overlooking Seathwaite Tarn

Seathwaite Tarn dam