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The Old Man of Coniston, my 214th Wainwright

The Old Man of Coniston, my 214th Wainwright


Postby Patricia Woofings » Mon Apr 11, 2016 3:02 pm

Wainwrights included on this walk: Coniston Old Man

Hewitts included on this walk: The Old Man of Coniston

Date walked: 09/04/2016

Time taken: 4

Distance: 11.5 km

Ascent: 750m

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I, Patricia Woofings, Earl of Blanchland and Lord of Munros, have completed my final Wainwright. And what a fine day's poodling it was.
one.jpg
Failing to find goats.

My pack leader has oft informed me that Wainwrights should ideally be ascended on days with close to zero visibility, strong winds and, ideally, some form of precipitation. In securing these conditions for our completion of the full 214 fells, she has been remarkably successful and on many occasions I have spent happy hours leaping across the hills to the sound of icicles tinkling on my fur. Naturally, these harsh conditions have been achieved by selecting winter as the season for most of my summit bids.

Not for this last one though. Barely a breeze stirred the grass and the blue sky was .... well, pretty odd really; I'm simply not used to it. All the way up and down I could see things; this is not normal but was most welcome. Not only that, but our route up, starting in Coniston and taking the southerly path up past Goat Crag, Goat's Water and Goat's Hause, was clear and obvious, with not the merest hint of route-finding difficulty (nor, for that matter, any goats, which was a little disappointing given the multiple references to them in my well-pawed 'Big Poodle Book of Wainwrights').

Being such an auspicious day for me, almost my entire pack accompanied me in my triumphal procession up the hill, even some from far-flung points of the compass. I was also provided with what I was assured was a suitably triumphal balloon and, later on, a neckerchief summarising my accomplishment and a certificate of completion which I have since had mounted above my bed.

two.jpg
A final dash for my 214th summit.


Once I and the rest of the pack had reached the summit I celebrated in my normal manner with pork pie, not wishing to break with tradition. I also posed for rather more summit photos than usual and did my best to look 'hard as nails', as I believe is appropriate. My speech of thanks for the splendid support I've received over the years of my campaign, written by me and delivered by my pack leader, was, I believe, suitably modest and dignified. I didn't even mention the approximately three million miniature-poodle steps I have taken in my Wainwright round; not once. Dignity and restraint are my watch-words.

My one concern from the day was an overheard conversation as I looked across to the snow atop Scafell Pike, my very first summit back in 2009, in which the words 'go round again' seemed to feature. I'm not saying that I can't do it - of course I could - but I did rather have my eye on the Donalds as there are, not to put too fine a point on it, only 89 of them.

Whatever I decide to do next, I'm thoroughly delighted with being the only miniature poodle I know to have stood on the summit of every Wainwright and I don't mind at all that I could barely see the cairn on about three quarters of them. I can also recommend the southerly, goat-themed route up the Old Man; far less busy than the normal route through the quarry, which we used in descent.

And now, I can tick the final box on my Walkhighlands Wainwright map.

three.jpg
My official summit and completion photo.
I
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User avatar
Patricia Woofings
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 3
Munros:101   Corbetts:5
Hewitts:107
Wainwrights:214   
Joined: Dec 8, 2014
Location: NE

Re: The Old Man of Coniston, my 214th Wainwright

Postby ChrisW » Tue Apr 12, 2016 5:08 am

Not a word about chasing ptarmigans Patricia...I'm disappointed :lol: :lol: Congratulations on your wonderful achievement and the same goes to the human pack you've had to carry for the most part :wink: ....might as well get those Donalds now I guess :clap: :clap: :clap:
User avatar
ChrisW
Rambler
 
Posts: 4941
Munros:18   Corbetts:5
Fionas:3   
Sub 2000:6   
Joined: Jan 25, 2011
Location: Cochrane- Alberta - Canada

Re: The Old Man of Coniston, my 214th Wainwright

Postby Patricia Woofings » Tue Apr 12, 2016 11:42 am

ChrisW wrote:Not a word about chasing ptarmigans Patricia...

Thank you very much, Chris. To be honest, I'm nervous of ptarmigans: they're not much smaller than me and I always worry that i might catch one, and then what would I do? I find it best to stalk them a bit, for the sake of appearance, and only then make a brief dash once they've spotted me and there's no chance I could catch them :roll:
User avatar
Patricia Woofings
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 3
Munros:101   Corbetts:5
Hewitts:107
Wainwrights:214   
Joined: Dec 8, 2014
Location: NE

Re: The Old Man of Coniston, my 214th Wainwright

Postby johnkaysleftleg » Thu Apr 14, 2016 1:57 pm

Well done Patricia :clap: :clap: Good to see another small dog completing all 214, here's a picture of Hughie the Westie on Great End with his pack.

ImageAll Done! by Anthony Young, on Flickr
User avatar
johnkaysleftleg
Hill Bagger
 
Posts: 3341
Munros:25   Corbetts:11
Fionas:11   Donalds:3
Sub 2000:7   Hewitts:172
Wainwrights:214   Islands:8
Joined: Jan 28, 2009
Location: County Durham

Re: The Old Man of Coniston, my 214th Wainwright

Postby ChrisW » Thu Apr 14, 2016 5:08 pm

Thank you very much, Chris. To be honest, I'm nervous of ptarmigans: they're not much smaller than me and I always worry that i might catch one, and then what would I do? I find it best to stalk them a bit, for the sake of appearance, and only then make a brief dash once they've spotted me and there's no chance I could catch them :roll:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
User avatar
ChrisW
Rambler
 
Posts: 4941
Munros:18   Corbetts:5
Fionas:3   
Sub 2000:6   
Joined: Jan 25, 2011
Location: Cochrane- Alberta - Canada

Re: The Old Man of Coniston, my 214th Wainwright

Postby Patricia Woofings » Thu Apr 14, 2016 9:20 pm

johnkaysleftleg wrote:Well done Patricia :clap: :clap: Good to see another small dog completing all 214, here's a picture of Hughie the Westie on Great End with his pack.


Thank you.

Gosh. That's most impressive. Hughie appears to have even shorter legs than me, making even more millions of steps. And a very poetic choice of finishing hill too. I chose mine due to being an 'old man' myself now, though I'd probably argue that seven is not that old really.
User avatar
Patricia Woofings
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 3
Munros:101   Corbetts:5
Hewitts:107
Wainwrights:214   
Joined: Dec 8, 2014
Location: NE

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