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BB0619
Old Man Succumbs!
12th
July 2006
I
confess, I tried to get out of going up Coniston Old Man today. The MWIS weather forecast put me off with
tales of drizzle and high winds. But
inevitably Bryan (and Stan, Tony and Philip for that matter) weren't for turning
so off we went to the Walna Scar Road car park.
There I had a panic. I
could not find my lunch. Tony had a
panic, fearing he would have to share one of his precious butties with me. Stan however saw it as an opportunity- he was
happy to share his butties as long as I carried his rucksack. Anyway it was a needless panic- I found my
lunch in the boot of the car.
It was a bit breezy but fine as we set off up the Walna Scar
Road. The tops were in mist but no sign
of rain. Turning off the road (what a
trial it must have been for the poor old pack horses, it is so steep in places) we entered the mist and soon
reached a peak. However Bryan disappointed me by saying that
it was Brown Pike, not Dow Crag. "You'll
know Dow Crag when you're there" he advised, ominously, more than
once! Due to the mist we couldn't
see Blind Tarn though we could see that there were some very steep drops
worryingly near to the path. And it got
worse as we reached the scramble to the rocky top of Dow Crag.
Tony was amazed when Bryan gave him permission to eat. It was only 12:05 - none of the usual torture
we put him through. As we lunched just
out of the wind but still in mist (and Philip read his newspaper) there was a
steady trail of people going by who elected not to take in the summit. I just wonder how worried I might have been had we been able to see where
the drops went to!
After lunch we descended to
Goat's Hause and then climbed up towards the Old Man. Bryan decided to put on a cracking pace and
for a moment I thought I was going to get dropped. However I dug in and got back on his
heels. What silly old men we
are!
On reaching the shoulder, the mist lifted and there were find
views of Coniston and Windermere. And
then it came in again and the summit disappeared, hence the rather indistinct
team photo!
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Coniston disappearing!
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Team picture, Coniston Old Man
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Our initial descent was by the tourist route but then we cut off
right and found a fairly direct but simple descent by the quarry and back to the
car.
Philip was anxious to be home by 4 but even more anxious to buy us
all a drink in the Sun Inn, which was very pleasant. However when the road near Skelwith Bridge
was blocked by a large mobile home having a duel with a much larger lorry on a
tight and narrow bend, the time spent drinking no longer seem such a good
idea. Still the lorry eventually got
through and there were no other obstacles on the way back so the drink had been
a good idea after all! And when we got
home, the drizzle set in!
Compared with some of our recent outings this was rather modest. However my legs
felt as if they had been on a real test- it must have been the pace at which we
stormed up from Goat's Hause!
STATISTICS
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Distance:
5.9
miles
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Height
climbed:
2,589 feet
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Map reference:
See Map
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Wainwrights:
Dow Crag
and Coniston Old Man.
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