Another weekend in the glorious Lakes, this time with N. The Coniston Fells were the target and another YHA…
Saturday Morning started from home... The North West’s entry for the London Olympic Endurance Sleep competition started in Congleton it seems, with N clocking a respectable 10 ½ Hours.
Suitably rested (ha!), it was time to depart for the highlights of Coniston, but not before an ingestion of dead pig
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| Tesco's pathetic excuse for "bacon" |
Another steady drive up to my favourite motorway junction (M6 J36) and much merriment was had on the way with the momentous occasion of breaking into the 40’s miles per gallon (well an eyebrow was raised anyway)…
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| Perhaps a contender for "Most Boring Photo of the Year" Competetiion? |
So, straight to the Youth Hostel., ditch the car and a celebratory pint in the pub…
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| Coniston Holly How YHA |
The pub was on old haunt, having been there ~25 years ago whilst on a camping trip with the Morrison’s. On completion of the Old Man of Coniston with David and Chris, Chris introduced me to the wonderment that is cheesy chips. My life hasn’t been the same since.
Not only that, the pub is in the ‘Guide’, bonus! Another one down, approx. 4,000 odd to go! (It’s a life’s work this one)….
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| The Sun Inn |
Eager not to repeat the same “mistake” as last time (see Januarys blog) and ‘accidentally’ get shit faced again, we tore ourselves away from the pub and embarked on a wander up the Walna Scar Road towards the Coppermines YHA.
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| N looking towards Coppermines YHA |
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| You can do your own punchline |
Somewhere along the line, a decision was made to head ‘up bank’ and so we heroically scaled the unclassified hill of “Mauldy Bank”. This was a fairly prominent lump, and not being classified as a Wainwright, Hewitt, Birkett or Nuttal etc a new classification was born, the “Spencecroft”. You read it here first folks.
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| The first officially documented 'Spencecroft' |
After some navigation practice, and a quick game of ‘guess where the hell are we’, (the GPS won, again) towards the lake we headed.
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| Coniston Lake |
After N had satisfied his duck fetish and gained some extra video footage for his private ‘stash’, We headed into town for more essentials (beer and peanuts) and back to the pub for a well earned pint or two. Our circumnavigation of Coniston had turned out to be a good two odd hour jaunt, I am sure what would be a good walk in itself for a lot of people.
By now it was , so time to check into the YHA and get tea on (Spag Bol). Followed by a relax in front of the telly and a lovely beer later from the YHA bar. Later on we were joined by a couple of rather loud gentlemen, who had apparently got from Congleton (coincidence) to Coniston in only 1 hour, in a 1.1 Nissan Micra. Impressive huh! For us mere mortals, it’s a 2 ½ drive.
Anyway, after a slightly restless nights sleep (fat bloke + beer = snoring – and no, I don’t just mean me!), it was up at a civilised (“only” 9 hours sleep logged towards the Olympics) and away!
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| Packed and ready to go |
The forecast was dire, the cloud was down, winds were gusting up to 60mph and worst of all, it was raining. Not too cold though, so was thankful for that. Here's the photos of the summits gained throughout the day…
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| Weatherlam Summit |
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| Swirl How Summit |
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| Brim Fell Summit |
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| Old Man of Coniston Summit |
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| Disused Slate Quarry |
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| My next car with the Lakes in the background |
Speaking of grey, apparently in the Lakes, Slate isn’t grey at all, its “olive green”. However bearing in mind the amount of grey in their lives, I’m guessing the Cumbrians have as many names for grey as the Eskimos do for snow.
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| Olive Green (yeh, right) Slate |
The planned walk was 10 miles and to include 4 Wainwrights, 2 of which we had visited on a previous walk and so the 2 new ones were Wetherlam and Coniston. After a reasonably straight forward walk up the valley, a slightly nervous crossing of Red Dell Beck in full spate and up the hill towards Wetherlam. It was at this point, that visibility reduced to about 50 feet and the path became non descript and eventually, non existent!
It took a while to find the actual summit of Weatherlam, and by now the ground was fairly featureless with a covering of fresh (but slushy) snow…
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| "Weather"-Lam Summit (ba boom) |
After a quick brew and a flapjack just off the summit we took a bearing to Swirl How (Note to self: List bearings from each summit before walk}. It was at this point that things started to become really hard core, the wind was howling, the rain turned into a million tiny needles and I was grateful for my new toy (ice axe) for a bit of support. On top of this, navigation was to say the least “challenging”, but nonetheless, we ploughed on.
After a gruelling scramble and stumble, photos at this point are a bit scarce but once atop Swirl How (802m), it was time for a new bearing towards Brim Fell and thereafter to Coniston. Visibility and ground features had by now all but disappeared and I’m pleased to report, that we experienced (and more importantly, survived!) our first ‘white out’
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| White Out |
‘Enjoyment’ would be too strong a word at this point, but I must admit to a certain satisfaction and inner confidence, at being at such a mad place, in such mad conditions. It wasn’t without a few nerves though.
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| N in White Out |
And so onwards to Brimfell, here’s N at the summit…
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| Brimfell 2011 |
Here’s N at the same point in April 2010, notice the recurring theme of ‘grey’ in our walks….
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| Brimfell 2010 |
It was at this point, we met Mr Orange. Mr Orange had climbed the ridge from the side and turned right instead of left, for Coniston. So we saw him twice as he retraced his steps, it was to be our first of many encounters for the rest of the day.
The final climb up to Coniston was without incident (barring the odd sighting of Mr Orange), and once at the top it was a quick shake of hands, on what I thought at least, was a pretty good achievement, before heading down the tourist path to the warmth of the car.
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| Old Man of Coniston |
Getting ever lower, we were at last treated to a parting of the clouds with views down to Low Water and disused quarries…
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| Low Water |
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| Disused Quarry |
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| Mr Orange |
So another walk done, a walk with immense satisfaction at having completed without incident. Our first ‘proper’ winter experience, albeit without the hard ice, but the weather more than made up for this. It wasn’t without its lessons, i.e. pre planning the bearings. But now at least a sense of being able to face any hill, in any weather, at any time of year.
Here’s the forecast from the day…
FELLTOP CONDITIONS REPORT from Helvellyn at 1215pm on Sunday 13th February 2011 . Between 1 and 2cm of fresh snow has fallen overnight above 800m. With the warmer daytime temperatures this was thawing especially below 900m. The fresh snow now hides older patches of snow and ice such as on the steep eastern facing exit to Swirral Edge. Although only a short section the use of an ice axe is strongly recommended here especially in descent. Above 800m large banks of frozen snow remain above some north and eastern facing slopes and gullies so please keep well back from the edge. Full winter clothing footwear and equipment remain essential for anyone venturing out onto the fells. For those going above the snowline 800m crampons and ice axe are recommended in case the fresh snow and slush freeze overnight which may happen.Summit readings from Helvellyn today at 1215pmTemperature plus 1.9 cWind chill minus 8.6 cMax wind speed 57.6 mph Average wind speed 40.9 mph
The drive home wasn’t without incident, I appear to have taken a wrong turn and ended up in the middle of a lake….
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| Is that a relation of Mr Orange? |
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