June

Michelle

Coniston – Watna Scar Road – Goatswater - Coniston Old Man – Quarries - Coniston.

Brilliant sunshine with very occasional cloud. A bit breezy on top but quite hot in sheltered spots.

Michelle, Michael, Sandy, Ron, George B.

Carol - no excuse.

Bernie - not able to come.

Ashley - attending a Hash event.

Olwen - in Wales.

Comments

The walk was postponed from 11 June to 2 July for various reasons including Carol’s retirement do. Also, the weather was much better than on the original scheduled date.

It was the first real walk for a long time with a long gentle ascent (4 miles) to the summit, apart from the relatively steep section from Goatswater to the col. Then there was a slow, relentless and agonising descent over rocky terrain back down to the village. This was sore on the knees and big toes.

We met some clueless mountainbikers from Birmingham who did not seem to know where they were going. A helicopter was busy transferring rocks for path reconstruction. There were lots of climbers on Dow Crag and a noisy bird of prey who was unhappy at their presence.

Ron returned early due to failure to take on enough protein at breakfast. However, he was soon back to rights after lunch.

Superb views in “tous les directions” (Michael). Most of the hills, e.g Scaw Fell amd Scaw Fell Pike, in the Lake District could be seen as well as Coniston Water with the steam gondola, Windermere, Esthwaite Water, Tarn Haws. Further afield Morecombe Bay, Heysham nuclear power station, also the wind farm in the Irish Sea and the Isle of Man.

There wasn't much wildlife on view, probably keeping in the shade and out of the way of the hordes of friendly people and lots of dogs.

We forded the river towards the end to get access to the road and a faster route back to the village. We inspected the Coniston Hydroelectric Scheme and the waterfall below which ran through a deep gorge.

There was a cricket match in progress as we returned to the village. Shandies all round outside the Crown Hotel on our return.

Evelyn had an interesting trip on the steamer around Coniston Water - quite a long walk from the village to the lake.

Wildlife/Flora/Animals:

Birds: wheatears, jackdaw in the car park and a chaffinch.

Mammals/others: Fox seen attacking a lamb on “the Struggle”

Queen’s Head, Tirril. Nice meal as usual with friendly service although they got the bill wrong. Tasty lamb chops, quite big too.

June walkers minus one

Goat's Water and Dow Crag

Final push to the top

The summit

Old mine workings

Coniston Panorama