A short, but interesting linear walk with lots of industrial archaeology. Starting off above the village of Coniston with views out to Coniston Water and beyond, it climbs through old quarry workings, perhaps a stop at Low Water for a breather before the last section to the summit. You could carry on and do a longer circuit by dropping down to the Walna Scar road via Goats Water, but there's a danger you'll hurry and not explore.
Whether you take your time, a short winter's day, or just an afternoon, there is a lot to see on this popular route.
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This walk takes you to the top of the following hills: The Old Man of Coniston; and includes 1 Wainwright, 1 Birkett, 1 Marilyn, 1 Hewitt, 1 Nuttall, 1 HuMP, and 1 County Top - Historic.
Walk height profile
note that gradients are usually grossly exaggerated
Entering the car park at the end of the tarmac on Walna Scar Road you drive through a gate, immediately on the other side to your right is a track. Start walking up this gravel and rock track heading approximately north west. For the first kilometre or so the way is gentle and easy underfoot. You then come to a sharp left turn in the track with paths joining on your right. Ignore them and remain on the track bearing left round the corner where it soon steepens and becomes rough. The track then zigzags.
Continue up the zigzags and you will come to a 'level' with ruined buildings and the industrial detritus of old quarry workings. The path goes through the middle complete with rusting steel cables from the aerial tramway. Go through the level, up to your left and under or over the cables, then when you get sight of the fallen tower the path goes up to the right.
After some more climbing you come to Low Water. The path continues up the hillside to the left, zigzagging as it climbs in a generally southerly direction. There aren't any real difficulties here, a few steep steps are encountered and some loose ground. A cairn marks a path off to the left, either way will do, but our way is straight on. At the top of the zigzags the path bears right to the summit cairn and trig point.
If you like this walk then why not try one of our other nearby walks:
Name | Rating | Starts |
---|---|---|
The Old Man of Coniston, Brim Fell, Swirl How, Wetherlam | 100m (110 yards) away | |
Dow Crag and Goats Water | 100m (110 yards) away | |
Walna Scar, White Maiden, White Pike, with a visit to Blind Tarn | 100m (110 yards) away | |
Coppermines Valley above Coniston | 1.4km (0.9 miles) away | |
Cumbria Way - Coniston to Dungeon Ghyll | 1.4km (0.9 miles) away | |
The Old Man of Coniston, from Coniston village | 1.5km (0.9 miles) away | |
Wetherlam, via Lad Stones ridge and Black Sails | 1.5km (0.9 miles) away | |
Tarn Hows from Coniston | 1.6km (1.0 miles) away | |
A visit to Cathedral Cavern from Tilberthwaite | 4.3km (2.6 miles) away | |
Steel Edge and Wetherlam Edge, from Tilberthwaite | 4.3km (2.6 miles) away | |
Tarn Hows, Black Fell, Holme Fell | 4.5km (2.8 miles) away | |
A stroll around Tarn Hows | 4.5km (2.8 miles) away |
Unless otherwise stated the text in this walk is the copyright of Hug Solutions Ltd trading as The Hug and the photographs are the copyright of Elizabeth Oldham. Hill data is derived from Database of British and Irish hills which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Maps contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2011 and paths © OpenStreetMap Contributors,CC-BY-SA, 2011