Cooked on Coniston

[ridgerunner]

Yes 24 centigrade for second half of our week based in Keswick.
Decided to have a day to myself and do a clockwise circuit of Coniston Old Man via the south rake of Dow Crag.
Wasn't sure how much space there would be at Walna Scar road end so arrived early at 0915 to find plenty of spaces and was surprised on returning to see even a camper van had made it up the very steep access road.

looking towards COM from car park

view toward Swirl How

Headed south-west along the Walna Scar track then north-west towards Goat's Water.

First view of Dow Crag

Then a very small drop to Goat's Water and a simple crossing of its stream.
From here onwards the dry looking stones proved to be very slippery.

Goat's Water

The view of Dow Crag from here looks intimidating and the south rake isn't easy to see in the following photo.
Its not either of the two obvious gulleys luckily!
Carefully follow the skyline in from the left to the exact centre of the picture. This is where the rake starts and it is hidden behind this ridge. A path zig-zags up the scree to the start of the rake.

Dow Crag

I would advise wearing a helmet here as i dislodged several rocks that fell a long way and i even found a walking pole.
The centre of the rake is quite loose and its safer and more fun to scramble up the sides of the rake alternating from side to side. Easy scrambling but the rocks were slippy so slow careful progress.
My pictures from the top of the rake refuse to be rotated and uploaded to the website so have included one from nearer the summit of Dow Crag

view of the start of rake heading diagonally to the right

From the top of the rake its only a short walk to the top of Dow Crag.
Unfortunately a cloud came in to stop me getting the best of the view from here..

looking back to Dow Crag

looking across to COM

Became very windy nearing summit of COM though still very warm.
Headed north and as still very windy decided to drop down east to Levers Water from Levers Hawse.
This was a very heavily repaired path at some stages but i never saw anybody else on it. Very sheltered and warm in this valley.

Levers Water

In the above photo my path contours round the Water on the right side and on the far left side there is an obvious rock at the waters edge. AT first i thought it must be a monument as something very white was on it.
But then i started to wonder if i had heat stroke when it started to look like a bride in her wedding dress.. Too far away to get a decent photo. However at the far end of the Water i met a couple who had walked round the Water and confirmed it was a bride and groom dressed in their finery , perched on top of the rock and getting photos taken! Maybe a local tradition?
From here a pleasant mild descent to the Pudding Stone [east of Low Water] which i have photographed from its easy side. Couldn't resist a challenge and apart from a slightly awkward first step up , a nice easy scramble to the top.

Pudding Stone

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Then joined up with the usual ascent route and an easy stroll back to the car.

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[icemandan]

Excellent photos - wouldn't think it was October. When I was a kid in the 70s, my grandparents lived in Coniston and my brother and I used to make a few pennies opening the gate for people on the Walna Scar road.