Old Man +
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2020 12:11 pmA real sweltering day out on the Coniston Hills - doing a slightly unusual route to visit a few new areas to me including the route up to Levers Hawse, Seathwaite Tarn and the Walna Scar route from the West.
Very busy in Coniston and on the Old Man but peace and quiet on the much quieter Duddon side.
Boiling hot and at times like walking in an oven!
- Swirl How in view as I take the usual Old Man approach from Coniston to begin with
- Once past the turn off for the Old Man things got a lot quieter as I headed towards Levers Water with Swirl Hawse in view
- Heading round Levers Water - an attractive route
- It's then a stiff climb on a well made path up to Levers Hawse. Certainly one of the quietest routes I've taken up to the Coniston Fells.
- Looking down on Levers Water
- Levers Hawse - I could have dropped down to Seathwaite Tarn here but as I'd gained the height I couldn't resist heading to a couple of tops
- Old Man from Brim Fell
- Busy Old Man summit - I didn't linger long
- It was really tempting to stay high and head over to Dow Crag but I remained true to my goals for the day
- Descending from Goats Hawse with Greyfriar ahead - although marked on the map the path is very faint - non-existent in parts - but the going is easy enough
- Seathwaite Tarn
- I opted to stay on the Southern side of the tarn where again there is a marked path on the map - this proved difficult to find on the ground and I found myself very low down with some really awkward scrambling moves up and down boulders and rock outcrops to navigate the tarn.
It occurred to me later that the level was so low I was probably where the tarn would usually be and checking the OS Map later it's obvious the true line keeps it's height much more.
Other reports also suggested that the Northern side has a much better path so worth bearing in mind for anybody visiting.
- More boulders!
- Eventually I hit a more even beach and joined up with the dam - which is serviced by a good track that links up with the Walna Scar path. Good views up Seathwaite.
- Beautiful Duddon Valley with Caw, Back Combe and Whitfell in view
- I now started the climb back up to Walna Scar - not a hard gradient at all but taxing in the heat and I had to drink loads of water to replenish what I was losing!
- Nearly at the top of the pass - Dow Crag visible at the end of the ridge
- Harter Fell and the Eskdale Giants
- Dropping back down into Coniston on the Walna Scar route
A really interesting route to see up close some features I haven't seen before. Taxing around Seathwaite Tarn but I feel I made hard work of it and added more ascent than was required to climb up and down various rock outcrops.
It certainly looks a better bet to get to the Northern side of the Tarn..or better still perhaps turn right from Levers Hawse and go over Swirl How and Greyfriar and descend to the bottom of the dam?
It's very striking just how quiet the Western side of the Coniston Fells are compared to the Eastern side though!
and that was quite a mission in that heat 