TR: Coniston Fells

John Dawson said:

I drove over to Coniston to do a circuit of the fells knowing the
fading light might drive me down before I managed to do all I wished.
The sun bathed the fells in an orange glow as I set off from the car
park at 9:00. I'd printed out the first paragraph of the walk on my
website as I know route-finding is quite awkward on that section. I
set off to the Sun Inn and up to Church Beck and soon had passed the
quarry and was up on the ridge to Wetherlam. The sun was low and a
thin haze to the south meant no photos in that direction, but once I
got to the top there was plenty of opportunity to photograph the fells
to the north, so I got maybe a 270 degree panorama. As I was having
breakfast of crisps, M&S all-butter flapjacks and pomegranite and
raspberry juice I met my first fellow-traveller. He said he'd followed
me up. His dog had too. She was after the flapjacks.

I headed on past Black Sails and up the Prison Band to Swirl How and
on to Great Carrs, scene for another photo panorama. I wandered down
to what remains of the wreckage of the wartime Halifax which crashed.
The last time I saw it there was a piece of paper in a plastic wrapper
commemorating those who died but now there's a memorial engraved slate
plaque.

I skirted Swirl How on the way back and found my way to Lever's Hause
and up onto Brim Fell. When I got to the Old Man there was quite a
crowd. Most were part of some society and they were holding a ceremony
welcoming a new member. Some were wearing white shirts and black bow
ties. I cleared off before they decided on a ritual sacrifice. I went
down to Goat's Hause, evading several sections on the path which
usually have running water but today were covered in ice. It was just
after 2:00 pm so I had plenty of time to traverse Dow Crag, Buck Pike
and Brown Pike. The Walna Scar road had its fair share of ice but it
was easy enough to avoid. An almost full moon was hanging in the sky
directly ahead of me as I headed back to Coniston. It's been a
fabulous day.

John D.

Sounds a great walk. I had some fun flying slowly around my
approximation of your route in Google Earth. 13/14 miles?

Must say I envy you your location. I love The Lakes, but it's quite a
trip from here. I did get 3 days in June, with 2 good walks (third day
was heavy rain), including Buttermere to Derwent Bank via Grasmoor,
Crag Hill, Sail and Causey Pike. Poor weather for photography though,
and last couple of hours in steady rain.

Some superb photos on your site, especially your panoramas. I started
incorporating some of my own into holiday DVDs this year, following a
couple of week's walking at Selva (Dolomites) and Mayrhofen (Austrian
Alps). Slow pans across panoramas like this one,
20070725-140106x9Pano1.jpg at
http://www.speedyshare.com/681675404.html
proved quite effective. It was stitched together from 9 photos from my
Canon Ixus 60.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK