Old Man of Coniston 10-11 октября 2025

The weekend forecast looked promising, so we headed for the Lakes. Somehow, we had never been up Old Man of Coniston before. We left the car in a small lay-by just off the main road and followed a country lane up towards the hills. After finding a flat patch of ground, we pitched the tent and turned in for the night.

The blue and red lines show our track on the first and second day. Hold Shift while clicking a link to open it on nakarte.me.

In the morning, we saw a layer of cloud trapped at low level.

Autumn mornings come late, so we had a proper sleep and got up with the dawn.

A lonely larch tree stood out against the northern Lakeland hills.

There used to be a lot of mining around here. The spoil heaps are scattered over every hillside.

White cottages dotted against the rusty autumn slopes.

We descended a steep little path to a stream, crossed the road, and began climbing up towards Levers Water.

An old mine entrance, perhaps?

We made for the Old Man of Coniston. The sun broke through unexpectedly, as it hadn't been forecast, and we started meeting a few other walkers along the track.

Clouds spilling gently over the ridge.

Originally, we had planned to scramble up Brim Fell, but with the cloud hanging low we worried the rock might be wet. Instead, we decided to circle round and climb Goat Crag from the sunnier side. The scrambling there was easier too.

Here is Goat Crag. A huge boulder had rolled down from the hillside and come to rest by the stream.

Climbing up Goat Crag.

Just before the top, the rock gave way to a broad grassy slope. Hardly anyone comes up this way. Strange, streaky clouds drifted across the sky.

The sea shimmered far below.

We followed the ridge northwards. Just beneath us is Low Water, and beyond it Levers Water which we had passed earlier in the day.

Another cloud inversion: the peaks poked through a blanket of cloud that filled the valleys below.

We tried to scramble up Long Crag towards Wetherlam, but the rock was slick and greasy, so we skirted most of it on the grass. From Wetherlam we dropped down into the Greenburn Beck valley along a faint, hardly-visible path. The slope was treacherously slippery and we had to tread with care not to go flying.

Evening was drawing in, and we still had quite a trek to reach the car.

On the way back we stopped by Cathedral Quarry. It was well worth a look, with its vast chamber and a massive pillar holding up the roof. We made it back to the car just as darkness fell.