Author Topic: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19  (Read 1914 times)

April

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Day 1

We got the bus to Coniston on Saturday and very entertaining it was. The driver was hilarious and he had all the passengers laughing. The roads were busy and negotiating the narrow roads and the sometimes gormless drivers was problematic. At one point the driver had to get out of the bus and tell the car drivers they had to reverse so the bus could get through or they would be there all day. We were half an hour late getting to Coniston because of the traffic. We'd been travelling for 4 and a half hours and we were well ready to start walking.

We walked by the Sun Hotel and went up to Church Beck. We were on the way to Red Dell and the Black Sails Ridge   

The Coppermines valley 


The weather was glorious but rather too warm, we were very hot walking up the valley

The Black Sails ridge ahead


I've wanted to do this ridge for ages but I wasn't looking forward to the steep bit up the Thriddle Incline       

The Thriddle Incline seen in this shot


The Thriddle Incline is a disused tramway used in the mines here.
Also in view is a very nice French woman. We'd spoken to her earlier when she'd asked if she was going in the right direction. She was. She said she was an intern at Lancaster University and had came from Lancaster to do a day walk. She had also been on the Coniston bus and had enjoyed the bus driver's humorous asides.

On the way up the Thriddle Incline


We'd stopped for lunch before we started climbing it. It was nice sitting in the sun and there was a cooling breeze. We were out for 2 nights and progress was slow as we climbed with 3 days supply of food. We got to the main ridge and started up the ridge. There was a trod to follow which made navigation easy

A herdy looking rather bemused


Looking back down the Black Sails ridge   


Can anyone spot the rock trying to look like our MSR Elixir?

Beefy and Squeaky on the ridge   


It seemed never ending; there were a lot of false summits.

Beefy and Squeaky on Black Sails summit


The trod bypassed the summit but we left the trod and our packs to pop up on to the summit

Beefy and Squeaky on Wetherlam summit


We'd dropped our packs behind some rocks on the way up to save us having to carry them all the way up just like we'd done on Black Sails.

Some walkers asked us about ways down to Coniston from the summit and I gave them  a few options. They went down the Lad Stones route. We were retracing our steps a little, we had found the perfect spot to pitch the tent.

The MSR near Wetherlam


It was a great pitch, very flat, out of the wind and it had a super view. We'd got some water from a tarn and got it on to filter as we put the tent up.

We had a brew, then our tea and we enjoyed the peace and quiet. We'd not seen many people all day. We could see other wild campers going up on to Great Carrs.

We had some wine and waited for the sunset


The last shot of the sunset   


Not the greatest one we have ever had but we had really enjoyed the camp. There were a lot of flying ants about, that was our only complaint, everything else was nigh on perfect. Day 1 was Coniston - Church Beck - Red Dell valley - Thriddle Incline - Black Sails - Wetherlam - to pitch. 7.25 km with 805m ascent.

Day 2             

We awoke and it was another glorious day. Very warm even at 8am

The Scafells, Crinkles and Bowfell


Prison Band up to Swirl How


We were going up thur  ;)

Squeaky waiting for us to pack the gear


Levers Water from Prison Band


It is a good route up Prison Band, some rocky steps that aren't too demanding and a lot of fun

On Swirl How summit


We chatted to a nice man who'd bivvied at Blind Tarn. He had started walking early, before 7am  :o

Squeaky and Beefy on Grey Friar summit 


Squeaky made sure she touched the cairn  :)

Scafells view from Grey Friar


It was very hot and we felt like we were being baked. The wind was blustery at times and we were grateful for it. We had 15 minutes rest below the summit out of the wind.

The Matterhorn rock on Grey Friar


The Halifax Bomber wreckage on Great Carrs


We paid our respects to the young men who lost there lives, always a sad moment here.

Great Carrs summit


We had some lunch near a tarn that provided us with a water top up. It was brown and didn't look very nice but amazingly clear once filtered.

The Wet Side Edge ahead


I slipped and was on my backside on the way down from Great Carrs and twisted my dodgy knee. I thought I had really damaged it but I was fine to go after a few minutes. We started the never ending route down to Greenburn Beck. It seemed to take hours. 

On the way down to Greenburn Beck


It was even more hot now. We got into the beck to cool down. Beefy stripped down to his undies, I went in with my clothes on. We were seriously over heating and sitting in the beck up to our waists for half an hour was wonderful.

The Langdale Pikes seen on the way through to Little Langdale


My trousers were almost dry after half an hour it was so hot. The sun was still unrelenting and we'd been in it from 8am, over 7 hours by now.   

Slater Bridge 


We had 2 seconds to take a shot without anyone on  :)

We began the ascent of Lingmoor Fell via Dale End and Bield Crag. It was even more hot as we ascended and it was a struggle. We had to dig deep and we were relieved when we saw the Crinkles, it meant we were close to where we wanted to pitch for the night. 

The MSR on Lingmoor Fell 


Wetherlam lit up by the sun


We'd got our water from a nearby source, had our tea and had a rest. We were tired out, the heat had taken it out of us, it was the hottest I'd ever felt coming up Lingmoor Fell.

The sunset   


We didn't think it would be very good because there was no cloud and the full too bright sun went down behind The Crinkles.

Wetherlam and Great Carrs


The last sunset shot


We had our wine and were fast asleep as soon as the sunset finished. Day 2 was pitch - Swirl How - Grey Friar - Great Carrs - Wet Side Edge - Greenburn Beck - Slater Bridge - Dale End - pitch on Lingmoor Fell. 14.5km with 650m ascent

Day 3

We awoke in clag and I was quite happy. It was nice not to have the sun beating down after two days of constant sun. We followed a trod that went passed the summit but doubled back to get onto it once it reached the wall.

On Lingmoor Fell summit 


No view it remained all claggy. I won't bother posting the other shots I took, there wasn't much to see. We descended on the north side by Banks Quarry. We climbed up from Elterwater, legs protesting by High Close YH.

We had a brew and food stop near the car park at White Moss before getting on the bus. By the time we got to Keswick most of the fells were clear of cloud of course. We weren't that bothered, we'd had a great 2 days.

Day 3 was Lingmoor Fell - Elterwater - High Close - White Moss 10km with 320m ascent.


Hate will never win

beefy

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Re: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19
« Reply #1 on: 20:21:23, 28/08/19 »
Tremendous  8)
Great pics and write up Ape O0
What a great weekend especially after the last couple of weekends of rain
Wild camping at it's best eh  :)
Leave only footprints, take only photographs, kill only time ...

vghikers

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Re: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19
« Reply #2 on: 21:16:51, 28/08/19 »
Brilliant round and pictures if a bit hot for backpacking, not to mention a bank holiday  O0
Another grand pitch with views to match.

Ridge

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Re: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19
« Reply #3 on: 21:31:38, 28/08/19 »
Lovely pics April, is that the MSR pretending to be a rock or a rock pretending to be the MSR?


My kids were walking and camping in the Brecon Beacons for 4 days over the weekend an also felt that they had been baked.

karl h

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Re: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19
« Reply #4 on: 21:35:21, 28/08/19 »
Moaning when it rains moaning when it's sunny, moaning about ants ;D
seriously, glad you had a decent weekend and although I don't like to moan those ants were something else

Mel

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Re: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19
« Reply #5 on: 22:07:22, 28/08/19 »
Smashing write up and pics as always April  :)   Good effort on the fully-clothed wild swim  ;D


(karl h ..... urrrrghhh, that looks horrendous  :o  )

pdstsp

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Re: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19
« Reply #6 on: 06:43:39, 29/08/19 »
Love  that TR, April, and so glad you forgot to post the picture of Beefy in his undies.  Have you got a name for this, like Summit Slugs? Beck Beauties?


Sure was hot last Saturday and Sunday, took Penny the Pup for her first fell walk in Saturday, Loughrigg and Silver How, she really enjoyed the dip in Grasmere at the end to cool down. Though the family she shook herself over, and the girls whose boat she climbed into didn't seem quite as happy  :-[

richardh1905

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Re: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19
« Reply #7 on: 08:46:45, 29/08/19 »
An enjoyable read and some lovely photos, April. Really whetting my appetite!
WildAboutWalking - Join me on my walks through the wilder parts of Britain

Rob Goes Walking

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Re: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19
« Reply #8 on: 09:10:09, 29/08/19 »
An enjoyable read and some lovely photos, April. Really whetting my appetite!

Mine too and I only walked up a Lake District fell yesterday.

Lovely TR April makes me want to get back out there already.  O0

jimbob

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Re: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19
« Reply #9 on: 09:49:03, 29/08/19 »
Thanks for another great, precise TR.Great views. Made even better by not scarring our retinas with folks dipping in their scanties :o .
Too little, too late, too bad......

pleb

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Re: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19
« Reply #10 on: 11:02:39, 29/08/19 »
Great light on the Wetherlam sun pics  O0
What is a Thriddle?
Whinging Moaning Old Fart

Rob Goes Walking

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Re: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19
« Reply #11 on: 12:21:01, 29/08/19 »
Great light on the Wetherlam sun pics  O0
What is a Thriddle?

The Thriddle Incline is just the name of the route I think pleb, there's a Thriddle shaft too so perhaps it's the mine name?

Dovegirl

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Re: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19
« Reply #12 on: 17:13:33, 29/08/19 »
Great photos April     :)     Sounds quite an adventure

April

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Re: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19
« Reply #13 on: 21:33:08, 29/08/19 »
Wild camping at it's best eh  :)

It was on Saturday, a perfect pitch  :)

Another grand pitch with views to match.

It was a grand weekend and for a Bank Holiday very quiet on the fells we did  :)

Lovely pics April, is that the MSR pretending to be a rock or a rock pretending to be the MSR?

It is a rock pretending to be the MSR  :) It is remarkable how much it looks like it!

Moaning when it rains moaning when it's sunny, moaning about ants ;D

 ;D We like a good moan  :)  We didn't have as many ants as you did, that looks horrendous.

so glad you forgot to post the picture of Beefy in his undies. 

Beefy has video footage  :D I haven't got a name for bathing in becks, it isn't something I normally do  :)
Lol at Penny  :)

Thanks Richard, your move must be very soon now?

Thanks Rob, the weather doesn't look good for the next few days  :(

Great views. Made even better by not scarring our retinas with folks dipping in their scanties :o .

 ;D  Beefy has video footage  ;)

What is a Thriddle?

I think it is just a name for the bits of the mine. There is a Thriddle Shaft too
(just read Robs post, he has answered the question already  :))

Sounds quite an adventure

It was a very hot adventure, thanks Dovegirl  O0



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lostme1

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Re: TR 2 nighter from Coniston Sat 24 to Mon 26 Aug 19
« Reply #14 on: 22:22:15, 29/08/19 »
Great report and lovely photos. Sometimes wall to wall sunshine can be too much. There is no pleasing us. Those ants look horrendous.
These boots are made for walking.... so long as the rest of my body agrees

 

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