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BB1510
: Not Just The Coniston Fell Race
Wednesday
18th March 2015
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The
Coniston Fell Race is held in May every
year. The circuit is 8.7 miles and
3,494 feet of climbing. The record
of 63.29 minutes was set as far back as
1996 by a modern day legend of the fells,
eight times winner Ian Holmes.
You
can get an idea of the nature of the terrain
and the athletes participating by clicking
on Coniston
Fell Race.
What struck me was the amount of grey
hair and the man carrying a bike.
Stan,
like Bryan, has taken part on several occasions,
his best time being just under two hours
so you can see how good this guy was.
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Ian
Holmes
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Roger
T
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It
was Stan's idea that today we should follow the route
although, rightly, he did not expect the record to be
under any sort of threat.
There was a sad overtone to
the day.
Our friend
Roger T, jolly Westmerian raconteur
and occasional BOOTboy, sadly died earlier in the week and our thoughts
were with Vickie and their family.
However, Roger would
have been the last person to want us to forego the outing.
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We
parked by the Coniston show ring and took the Coppermines
Valley track
to the Miner's Bridge then up the ridge to Lower Hows
and on to Wetherlam.
I had my clothing strategy
completely wrong.
It was a rather better day than
forecast yet I had dressed in my heavy winter clothing
that I should have used in the awful conditions on BB1508. Consequently I got rather hot and encumbered by
the large padded jacket!
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b.jpg)
The
Old Man of Coniston across Coppermines alley
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x.jpg)
Crinkle
Crags with Bowfell behind, as seen from Wetherlam
Next
was the descent to Swirl Hause and the climb up Prison
Band. From a distance this looks formidable but
actually, once on it, it is perfectly safe, it's just getting
longer as the legs get older. At last we reached
Swirl How at which point we decided that the race route
was somewhat lacking in challenge and that it would be a good idea
for John's Wainwright collection if we were to visit Great Carrs
and the remains of the Halifax bomber that crashed there
in 1944.
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x.jpg)
Climbing
Prison Band, Wetherlam behind
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b.jpg)
Stan
at the memorial.
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It
then seemed a good idea to take in Grey Friar, which
otherwise would be an awkward outlier, to add to the total.
Coincidentally we met there a group of Kendal
Fellwalkers, including one of Bryan's buddies and a
guy who knew Stan from decades back.
Fortunately,
rather than return to Swirl How we found a traversing
path (not that I am a great fan of traversing paths)
that led eventually to Brim Fell and another W.
From
there it was a relatively short and easy climb to the
sixth W, Coniston Old Man, the summit of which was extremely
busy with students on a brief visit from Birmingham.
x.jpg)
The
busy Old Man summit from Brim Fell
x.jpg)
The
Dow Crag cliffs
Of course, we were now back on the race route
so duly descended by the Tourist Route. As
we passed the mine workings, to our surprise there was
blasting in progress. We thought they were closed.
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x.jpg)
Low
Water below the Old Man
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b.jpg)
Old
mine buildings
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x.jpg)
Stan
surveys the Coppermines valley and the skyline around
which we trod
The track was hard underfoot
but did lead us safely back to Coniston in, it must
be admitted, a rather longer time than it would have
taken Ian Holmes. Or Stan in his heyday.
We finished
the day
at the Black Bull Inn where we raised a glass in
memory of Roger. We will miss him.
Don,
18th March 2015
PS
The stats say today's 4,231 feet is the most height
climbed on a BB day since 2010!
PPS
The practice of "Lovelocks" has now crept
into the Lake District. Not sure that I approve.
Everest Base Camp and Much More
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Namaste
to my BOOTboys
Friends
I
hope you will join me on my Nepal adventure
by logging on to the following blog:
Everest Base Camp and Much More
Hopefully
there will be wifi connections at most of
the tea houses and lodges on the trails
and I will try to keep you updated as often
as possible.
All
the best,
Terry
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Namaste
is used amongst Hindus of the Indian Subcontinent as
a respectful form of greeting, acknowledging and welcoming
a relative, guest or stranger. It is used with goodbyes
as well. It is spoken with a slight bow and hands pressed
together, palms touching and fingers pointing upwards,
thumbs close to the chest but it may also be spoken
without acting it out or it may be performed wordlessly;
all three carry the same meaning: "I bow to the
divine in you".
| STATISTICS
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BB1510
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| Date:
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Wednesday
18th March 2015
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| Distance
in miles:
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11.1
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| Height
climbed in feet:
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4,231
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| Features:
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Wetherlam,
Swirl How, Great Carrs, Grey Friar,
Brim Fell, Coniston Old Man
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| Comitibus:
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Don,
John Hn, Stan
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BOOTboys
routes are put online in gpx format which
should work with most mapping software. You can follow
our route in detail by downloading bb1510 .
To
discover which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing
- although it may not be that up to date - or for the totals of the mileages and heights (ditto) see the Excel
file: BB Log.
You
can navigate to the required report via the Home
Page
Photos
have been gleaned from many sources although mostly
from me!
Likewise written comment.
Unless stated
otherwise, please feel free to download the material
if you wish.
A reference back to this website
would be appreciated.
I apologise if I have
failed to acknowledge properly the source or infringed
copyright. Please let me
know and I will do my best to put things right.
Wainwrights
To
see which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing
see Which
Wainwright When?
This
may or may not be up to date!
For the latest totals
of the mileages, heights and Lakeland Fells Books Wainwrights see: Wainwrights.
Ditto warning!
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BOOTboys
2015
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