Lake District Holiday
Friday 6th July 2018
Today was our last day here in the Lake District. We had a very adventurous day out planned. We set off from the apartment and made our way down to Coniston. We parked the car in a disused quarry not far out of Coniston.
We got our back packs on and set off just gone 9am for the base of Dow Crag.
The walk out took us round the side of the Old Man of Coniston and then up to Goat's Water. At the beginning of the Tarn we could see the full extent of the climb we had ahead of us.
The route was 100m long and finished up at a small grassy ledge called Easy Terrace. From there we could either descend or carry on up to the summit. We carried on up to the base of the climb. We could see that there were no other climbers on the route already so we could get ourselves kitted up and get going.
The route wasn't to hard to follow we just had to have a look around and use the most worn route up the rock. The guide divides up the climb into 7 pitches but a lot of what we had read about the climb said pople tent to divide it into 5 instead. We thought we would just see what happens! We did it in 5 in the end. It was a good climb with only one tricky bit that needed careful negotiation. A broken flake of rock was sitting in a precarious position and care was needed not to kick it off on to anyone below. Tim had a look at the patch and decided to take us a slightly different way round that bit. A good choice when I got up there to see the dodgy area! 100m later we were sat on Easy Terrace and could have some lunch. It was a good climb and we were glad we chose to do it.
Once we had eaten and rested we had a think about what we wanted to do next. We were both quite keen to continue up if it looked appropriate. We had read that the scramble zigzags to the top and the lower bit that we were now above was the harder section. The downwards option was going down the lower section of the scramble. We walked along Easy Terrace and identified where both routes went. As we were both keen to continue up that is where we went. The scramble was well trodden and pleasant. The main thing was to not look down as we were already 100m up! I didn't take us long and we were climbing up on to the top.
From where we joined the ridge we only had a short way to go to get to the summit of Dow Crag.
From the top of Dow Crag we had a few options depending on how far we wanted to walk. We decided to continue along the ridge and up over the Old Man of Coniston and back down the far side.
After another small section of up hill effort we were on the top of the Old Man on Coniston.
Down hill from there onwards, it was very steep in places!! As we got down to the Tarn the path turned to go through a disused slate mine. There were old ruined buildings, tunnels and even some old railway tracks!
The route down of the hill felt long and never ending. My feet certainly knew about it!! Eventually we were back at the car. It had been a great climb, scramble and walk. Made for a great last day of the holiday. This evening we were planning on going to the pub for dinner. It was about 6 when we got back to the car. We felt that by the time we had got back and showered it would be a bit late to go to the pub in Ambleside. We decided instead to visit one of the pubs in Coniston. It was a good choice the food was really nice and came quickly.
Back at the apartment we did a little tidying up ready for going home but we very quickly ended up flopping on the sofa as we were both shattered!!
We got our back packs on and set off just gone 9am for the base of Dow Crag.
The walk out took us round the side of the Old Man of Coniston and then up to Goat's Water. At the beginning of the Tarn we could see the full extent of the climb we had ahead of us.
The route was 100m long and finished up at a small grassy ledge called Easy Terrace. From there we could either descend or carry on up to the summit. We carried on up to the base of the climb. We could see that there were no other climbers on the route already so we could get ourselves kitted up and get going.
The route wasn't to hard to follow we just had to have a look around and use the most worn route up the rock. The guide divides up the climb into 7 pitches but a lot of what we had read about the climb said pople tent to divide it into 5 instead. We thought we would just see what happens! We did it in 5 in the end. It was a good climb with only one tricky bit that needed careful negotiation. A broken flake of rock was sitting in a precarious position and care was needed not to kick it off on to anyone below. Tim had a look at the patch and decided to take us a slightly different way round that bit. A good choice when I got up there to see the dodgy area! 100m later we were sat on Easy Terrace and could have some lunch. It was a good climb and we were glad we chose to do it.
Once we had eaten and rested we had a think about what we wanted to do next. We were both quite keen to continue up if it looked appropriate. We had read that the scramble zigzags to the top and the lower bit that we were now above was the harder section. The downwards option was going down the lower section of the scramble. We walked along Easy Terrace and identified where both routes went. As we were both keen to continue up that is where we went. The scramble was well trodden and pleasant. The main thing was to not look down as we were already 100m up! I didn't take us long and we were climbing up on to the top.
From the top of Dow Crag we had a few options depending on how far we wanted to walk. We decided to continue along the ridge and up over the Old Man of Coniston and back down the far side.
After another small section of up hill effort we were on the top of the Old Man on Coniston.
Down hill from there onwards, it was very steep in places!! As we got down to the Tarn the path turned to go through a disused slate mine. There were old ruined buildings, tunnels and even some old railway tracks!
The route down of the hill felt long and never ending. My feet certainly knew about it!! Eventually we were back at the car. It had been a great climb, scramble and walk. Made for a great last day of the holiday. This evening we were planning on going to the pub for dinner. It was about 6 when we got back to the car. We felt that by the time we had got back and showered it would be a bit late to go to the pub in Ambleside. We decided instead to visit one of the pubs in Coniston. It was a good choice the food was really nice and came quickly.
Back at the apartment we did a little tidying up ready for going home but we very quickly ended up flopping on the sofa as we were both shattered!!
No comments:
Post a Comment