Shock horror… an update!
So, it was decided, that Josh, Sarah, Richard, Kate, Abbie and Yours Truly would have a long weekend walking in the lakes. The plan is to do this more often, so this was our first go at it.
After a lot of deliberation we decided to go to Coniston, a village in the South East Lakes. It’s bordered on one side by Grizedale Forest, and the other by a decent range of hills and mountains, the highest of which being the Coniston Old Man.
We chatted about it before hand and decided that we would tackle the Old Man on the second day, leaving the first to set up and potter and the third to do some more gentle walking. It sort of all worked.
All the photos of our trip are here, in the Gallery.
Day 1: Arrival
We got the 8AM train to Windermere. We were packed up like horses and our spirits were high. Shortly after arriving at Windermere we decided to bin off getting the bus / walking and took taxis instead. It worked out the same price as the bus but took us right to the site (and was a great deal less hassle, we were very loaded!).
30 minutes after getting off the train we arrived at the campsite (Coniston Hall Campsite). After a bit we set up our base of operations. I smugly deployed my 2 second tent in record time, and not long after everyone else was done. Josh and Rich immediately cracked open the gin.
Once we were all settled we had a wander into Coniston. We went to the pub (of course) and had a chat about what was going to happen. We were happy that we could have a go at the Old Man on Saturday, but Rich had pre-binned off coming along as he wanted to chill out at the campsite. Abbie’s ankle was playing up so it was a bit touch and go for her.
After general pottering and drinking (and the occasional rain), we headed back to camp and had a good nights drinking al fresco. Towards the end of the night it started raining heavily so we all piled into Sarah and Rich’s porch and continued in there. A good time was had by all.
Day 2: Coniston Old Man
The second day probably marks the largest physical exertion I’ve ever made (though I am a lazy fecker). We staggered to the summit of the Old Man of Coniston on Saturday afternoon. The walk was pretty difficult (in fact very difficult for the unfit yours truly) but we made it and ultimately it was great fun.
The walk started off as it carried on: an insanely high road to walk up (think Blake Street but 5 times longer). We got to the top of that but sadly Abbies ankle imploded and she bailed back to meet Rich at the campsite. The rest of our brave crew soldiered on. There was a gentle walk up to the car park at Walna Scar Road (I say gentle in comparison to the evil road before it). From here there was an almost jolly sign telling us the Old Man was 1.5 miles away. We didn’t know at this point that the direction was up, and not northwest…
After this the walk is Generally Upwards. The views and scenery are awesome, showing all the nearby hills, Coniston, and other bits and bobs. You can carry on looking back at the car park as you ascend which gives you a sense of distance.
We skirted down the hill and then began a sharper climb up a rock road to an old mining outpost. The walk up to this bit I coped with pretty easily, but getting to the mining buildings saw me flagging a bit. Little did I know we were aeons from the summit 
We rested at the mining buildings and took lots of pictures. After that is a similar ascent round the edge of Low Water. You can see this for a long time as you essentially walk up a hill at the side of it (and you can still see it when you get to the summit). After maybe half an hour the route becomes what I would class as Evil. The final climb to the summit was insanely hard for me and Josh ended up carrying my bag to the summit (he is a beast). Lots of resting and forging on and we were finally there.
The views were very nice but sadly there was a lot of mist at the top, the sun having not burnt it off as we had hoped. It was exhilarating being at the top though and we sat down and ate our dinner.
The walk then took a comedy turn. Josh had implied that it was a helter skelter or zipwire ride back to the bottom, this was not to be the case. We carried on along the ridge where there was a good degree of scrabbling downwards (fun for the ankles) as we rounded Levers Water, a reservoir (that has hydroelectric attached to it). We rounded the water clambering through some peaty soil (Sarah’s method of crossing it resulted in a face plant) until we got to the road back down. We could see the coppermines and hydroelectric gubbins as we walked towards the road. After that it was a pretty simple walk down medium rocky road/path and back into Coniston, passing various bits of works and miner’s bridge on the way.
After we finished the walk, sunburnt and tired, we met Rich and Abbie in the pub and drank away the rest of the evening there and in the campsite. Chipper.
Day 3: Coniston Water Walk
This walk was a bit botched, but fun nontheless. The original plan was to walk to Grizedale, where we would do Touristy Things and walk or get the bus/boat back. Didn’t quite pan out like that though.
We took the solar powered boat for a quick jaunt round the northern part of Coniston Water (and I must have taken a gazillion photos). We alighted on the other side of the Water and began walking up towards Grizedale. We were pretty much dumped into Grizedale forest so it was a pleasant shaded uphill walk. We passed through the grounds of Brantwood House. After about half an hour of walking uphill some of the more tired members of our party 
decided that they’d rather go for a row on the water. We backtracked a bit and walked round the northern edge of the Water back to Coniston.
We walked to the boating place which was on the way back to the camp. After some “water issues” me and Abbie decided to bail and sit about on the beach (rather than get in Kayaks… we were planning on having a 6 man boat). Josh and Kate took one kayak, Rich and Sarah the other. They did some pretty impressive paddling about round the water (and Rich some navigation) before coming back and going back to the campsite. Rich, Sarah, Josh and I decided to go get some dinner in the “foodie” pub, The Black Bull. Food was very nice and I tried the Old Man ale which is brewed on site. After being kicked out for being almost the last people there, we walked back to the campsite in the dark and generally looked at the stars, which are always a stack better in the Lakes.
After some late night head-torch style drinking and tunes provided by Josh and my iPods, we called it a night (morning?) at about 3AM.
Day 4: Departure
This should have been pretty straightforward but we ended up sitting around for a long time or stuck on trains with no working toilets because we are unable to run a decent rail service. Go England!
All in all, it was a great trip and we’re all looking forward to doing it again. There are a few ideas on the drawing board already: Rich’s brothers at Cornwall, Kate’s folks near Cheddar, or a longer stay up in the more northern lakes north of Penrith.
TTFN, and don’t forget to check out the pictures,
Gricey.