Coniston Old man (Oct 2014)

4268840Distance 17.5km (10¾ miles)
Total ascent 1100m
Time 6 hours
Start/finish SD228960 outside the Newfield Inn (parking by village hall)
Terrain gentle ascent mostly on good track, good paths on narrow ridgelines, rough descent over pathless ground, lower pasture/lakeside/fields often boggy. NB Footpath marked on OS maps in descent fromLevers Hawse is nonexistent on the ground.


4263106 SD228960 Head north out of the village, then right up a driveway, initially towards Turner Hall Farm campsite. Follow waymarkers onto High Moss driveway, and into fields, taking a short cut footpath to a country lane. This leads to the Walna Scar Road (restricted byway) whose stony track and engineered gradient makes relatively light work of the majority of the day’s ascent. Rise initially beside a pleasant gently flowing brook; often in summer this is where you will first encounter skylarks singing. Stay on the Walna Scar road for roughly 2.5km as it bends left with the valley then rises moderately to a col.

4263261 SD237968 The ascent steepens as you leave the easy track and zigzag on a narrower gravel path, up the southwest flank of Brown Pike. The views from the summit over Coniston Water are beautiful and the first views of the Old Man appear across the valley. The ridgeline now becomes gentle and grassy to the left and steepens markedly to the right – eventually forming the sheer cliffs of Dow Crag. Partway along the crag is a rock window down a small gully that makes a great hidden viewpoint. This requires care and one scrambling move to reach, but it’s worth the effort – if you dare!

4263264 SD258964 (roughly) Partway along the ridge, and very shortly beyond the rock window, take care in clag; it would be scarily easy to overstep the sheer crag edge and into a gully. The ridgeline now becomes more rocky and the path drops briefly below a small rocky knobble, then descends to a col at Goat’s Hawse. Follow the line of the fell around to the right and ascend once more to gain the west ridgeline of the Old Man. Now it’s just a further 200m along a narrowing ridge to the summit cairn.

4263266 SD272978 Retrace your steps for 200m from the summit, then continue along the north ridgeline over Levers Hawse towards Swirl How. (NB Descent from this ridgeline to the west before Swirl How is no escape route – the footpath marked on the map does not exist and the broken ground is very steep and bouldery). Descend from Swirl How to a slight col, then into a grassy bowl bounded to the left by boulder fields and crags (aim just right of a prominent low outcrop) to reach the valley head streams. Stay to the left of the main stream to avoid a short ravine as you descend over steep and pathless ground. The valley bends right, then follows the west shore of the reservoir.

4263804 SD250987 Cross the outflow stream and dam wall on a series of narrow bridges, then follow the reservoir access track for roughly 500m to reach a small waymarker leading right. Follow this over a grassy track, which soon descends steeply. The mostly good path through bracken roughly follows the line of an incoming wall to the left. Bend left in the valley below and through fields to reach Tongue House. Now follow the tarmac lane to a T-junction. Turn right; then at a further T-junction turn left and back to Seathwaite village.