Coniston Fells

Coniston Fells

June 2010 and this weekend was needed more than most, after the loss of  my father to old age, that was two weeks ago, now here I am back in the lakes with my father's ashes on a solo mission and I was so looking forward to getting out into the fells, so after finding a campsite just outside Coniston village on a lovely evening I was on my first mission of exploration, new for this mission was the use of Alfred Wainwright's Outlying Fells book, this book just gave me the bigger picture of the area I wanted to explore.

Beacon Fell. 26/6/2010 

2 miles 

From the small car park on Brown Howe I set out on this lovely evening walk a steady climb through woodland, has the trees were left behind for more open ground of bracken and juniper scrub with some nice boggy areas,  with a rich display of flowers such as Bog Asphodel Narthecium assifragum and Heath spotted orchid Dactylarhiza maclata.

Bog Asphodel

Bog Asphodel is a perennial flower, it produces creeping rhizomes from which it is able to spread by vegetative reproduction.
Found in boggy areas on acid soils in uplands, it is also pollinated by a range of insects.

Heath Spotted Orchid

It was only a short climb to the top of Beacon Fell and there I was on a lovely summers evening sat on the summit with the Coniston Fells in front and the full length of Coniston Water. I repeated my journey back down and back to the car.

Beacon Fell  summit 

Coniston ridge walk 27/6/2010

8 miles circular 

I parked the car up in the village of Coniston this morning with a lot on my mind, all to do with the loss of my father; I had his ashes in my rucksack with the plans of leaving them in Leavers Water.   The weather was good on this sunny morning, so I set off out of the village on the track up to the youth hostel, from the hostel I took another path up to Leavers Water, passing through areas of industrial activity of mining, upon arriving at Leavers Water I found a rock to sit on and took out my dad's ashes out and had a few moments of thoughts about my dad and then threw the ashes across the water, I hope he enjoys his final resting place. 

Leavers Water

Leavers Water is another tarn created by the Ice Age it sits high up. So this must be cirque or corries which have been shaped into deep hollows by the erosion of a glacier.

I left Leavers Water and made my way up onto Swirl House and onto the Prison Band for the third time, once in winter and again in spring; I stopped for lunch on the Prison Band in the shelter of some rocks with views over to the Helvellyn Range.

After lunch, it was a small climb to reach the summit of Swirl How 2630 ft, 802m and the start of the ridge walk to the Old Man of Coniston.

I aimed south along the plateau for Brim Fell, a mile and half of ridge walking first How Crags and then the descent to Leavers Hause all on a sunny afternoon with plenty of other walkers on the fells. Only one disappointment the long distance views to the pennies were very poor with haze. I made my way to the summit of Brim Fell 2611 ft, 796m and the cairn and stopped to take the view and then it was a short stroll to Old Man of Coniston at 2633 ft or 803m, a half a mile walk to the large cairn summit and a busy one for this sunny afternoon I stopped for a break and to take in the views.

Old Man of Coniston summit

The descent was the tourist path through the quarry workings passing Low Water and more workings to Miners Bridge and back into Coniston and the end to a good day of fell walking.

Grey Friar 2536 ft, 773m. 28/6/2010

6 miles circular 

Sunday morning and my last day here with intentions of driving home later, I had it planned around the World Cup as England was playing Germany today, so if I hit the motorway at kick off I should have the motorway to myself.

So I packed up my tent and my stuff for a short walk and drive to the Wrynose Pass summit and there I was ready to start this circular walk and not a soul about on this lovely sunny morning with no path to follow I set a compass bearing for the top of the ridge to meet the path coming down from Great Carrs a steady climb it was through the short grass to the ridge and the road I left was getting smaller in the distance.

Grey Friar stands aloof from the main spine of the Coniston Fells, so has I approached Great Carrs I took a compass bearing to Grey Friar and picked up a path to cross the grassy area of Fairfield and then a short climb to the summit of Grey Friar and in all this time on this sunny day, not soul about. Grey Friar has two summits, checked with the Southern Fells book and Wainwright says ‘where two rocky outcrops 40 yards apart, each bearing a cairn, are slightly elevated above the plateau; the one to the southeast is the true summit’ I reached the rock summit and passed the true summit and went to the other cairn for the better view, time for a break and a spot of lunch while enjoying the views to the Scafells.

The two summits of Grey Friar

After lunch, I took another compass bearing to take me into the Duddon Valley and onto Cockley Beck where I picked up the road and followed it to the summit of Wrynose Pass a nice bit of easy road walking to finish my walk.

And that is it for another great weekend of fell walking and myself feeling de-stressed and feeling better now that all the hassle what comes with death brings to the family, I was the one to sort it out, now I can put my mind to rest, my blessed father who I shall miss.