Region 34D The Lake District - Southern Cumbria
The Old Man of Coniston is probably second only to Helvellyn as one of the Lake District's most popular climbs. It dominates Coniston village which lies on the shore of Coniston Water below the mountain. The tourist route comes up through old mine workings, past Low Water and then steeply to the summit. The picture is taken looking down on this path from the summit. A quieter and gentler route by Boo Tarn is described in Wainwright's guidebook. A strong recommendation is to continue over the much rockier ridge of Dow Crag and back along the so called Walna Scar road which is actually only a rough track. The second picture is taken at the summit looking north towards Brim Fell which gives another longer return route, continuing to Swirl How, descending the steep ridge known as Prison Band and perhaps including Wetherlam, which lacks only 5 metres of drop to be a Marilyn and a "furth Corbett".
Harter Fell lies between Eskdale and the Duddon Valley, two of the most beautiful and relatively peaceful valleys in the Lake District. An excellent path winds up from Eskdale, starting just at the foot of the Hard Knott Pass. There are several rocky tors on the summit, the one with the trig point being only the third highest. We continued our walk down the knobbly north ridge and across the Hard Knott pass for the easy ascent of Hard Knott, another Marilyn. Then we came down over Border End to the Roman fort to complete an excellent circuit. The first picture shows Harter Fell as seen from the slopes of Coniston Old Man and the second shows the true summit. For more pictures of this walk see Hard Knott in region 34B.
Black Combe lies in the extreme south-west corner of the Lake District and is often overlooked by fellwalkers, not least by A W Wainwright. It does appear in his afterthought volume of outlying fells, a book aimed mainly at octogenarian walkers. It is a hill worth any walker's attention however. We started from Whicham Mill and climbed steeply onto the pleasant little ridge south of White Combe. The first picture shows Dave and Tessa on this ridge with Black Combe behind. We continued round by Stoupdale Crags and up Black Combe from the north. The path down to Whicham is well walked and very enjoyable, especially by the light of the setting sun as seen in the second picture.
The Ordnance Survey seem undecided about the spelling of this hill. The Landranger map agrees with Alan Dawson's Marilyn list but Wainwright and the Outdoor Leisure Tourist map have it as Holme Fell. It has no ridge connection to any other fell, so makes a short self-contained half day excursion. We combined it with a visit to Tarn Hows, going there first, early in the morning, to avoid the inevitable crowds at this popular beauty spot. A pleasant path winds up above Yew Tree Tarn to Uskdale Gap just north of the summit. We visited Yew Crag, which has a large cairn and a splendid full length view of Coniston Water, as shown in the first picture. Then we went across to the higher western ridge which has a bare rocky top at each end with a cairn between them. It is not easy, even on a perfect clear day, to decide which is the true summit. We came down by way of the two reservoirs on the north side of the hill, the more easterly reflecting the twin ridges of the hill, with Yew Crag to the left and the main summit to the right.
Windermere is the largest lake in England and probably the best known yet it lies outside the true heart of the Lake District, well south of the real mountains. Indeed the western side of the lake is quite rural and Claife Heights is an ill-defined upland area which stretches along the whole north-western quarter. The lower slopes are agricultural and the higher parts covered with forest so walking routes necessarily follow defined paths. Wainwrights book of Outlying Fells gives a circular route which can conveniently be used to visit the hill although his suggested parking in Far Sawrey is no longer available and cars should be left in the National Trust carpark a mile west of the ferry. The true summit is marked by a trig point about 50 metres west of a signed viewpoint and is now easily accessible. Views are strictly limited however and by far the most attractive features on this walk are Moss Eccles and Wise Een Tarns, the latter being shown in the picture below.
Although Whitfell lies much closer to the heart of the Lake District than Black Combe it was also overlooked by Wainwright until his book of outlying fells. The easiest way up is the route described therein from the fell road to the south. This is the route we used for our first ascent in rather awful weather. On a more recent visit we encircled Devoke Water, also described in Wainwright's outliers, with a diversion southwards to Whitfell which is the highest top in this area of rolling, grassy and rather boggy hills. The first picture below shows Whitfell from the west and the second is the view eastwards from the summit. Despite its relative obscurity Whitfell has one of the biggest cairns in the Lake District which is shown in the small picture.
Gummer's How is one of the easiest and best loved of Lakeland's little hills, well known for its full length vista of Windermere, England's largest lake. We had decided to fit in a reascent of this hill on a journey further south so were not dissuaded by gale force winds but we parked as far as possible from the trees which surround the special Gummer's How carpark. The first picture shows the south end of Windermere as we struggled up the well worn path to the summit. The second shows the northern view along Windermere from just beyond the summit which was very hazy on this January day. It also shows that strong wind is very much the norm on this hill despite its lowly altitude.
Top o'Selside is the highest top in a rolling area of undistinguished hills east of Coniston Water. A large part of this area is covered by the trees of Grizedale Forest but Top o'Selside is a fell of open rough grassland. It is included in Wainwright's volume of outlying fells where he suggests a fairly long approach starting at High Nibthwaite at the south end of the lake. The snag of this route for the car borne walker is that there is no parking in the vicinity. For our second visit to this hill we started from the Dodgson Wood carpark. A short distance up in the wood, round the back of a small building, is a gate and the start of a permissive path marked with white arrows and posts. For some strange reason there is no indication of this path from the carpark. It winds pleasantly through the trees, emerges and climbs alongside a wall to the bridleway which runs along the western flanks of the hill. From here one can climb directly up the hill. Enjoy the retrospective views of Coniston Water here because it cannot be seen from the summit. The first picture shows the lake with the attractive house of Low Parkamoor. After the summit we came down onto the bridleway from which the lake is well seen as shown in the second picture.
Muncaster Fell is another of Wainwright's outliers and in this case his route can be recommended although the return along a wide track on the southern slopes is rather boring. A pleasanter alternative would be to come down to Irton Road station and return on the miniature Ravenglass - Eskdale railway, known locally as Ratty. The traverse of the ridge is most enjoyable however although the track was diabolically boggy in places when we did it in the middle of February after an exceptionally wet period. The fell forms a long low ridge quite isolated from other hills. It is best done west to east with the fells of Lakeland ahead as shown in the first picture, taken at the summit. Don't forget to look back since an extra delight of this mountain in miniature is its closeness to the sea seen beyond the summit in the second picture below.
Whitbarrow lies on the southern edge of the Lake District and is very different in character from the other Lakeland fells. It consists of a limestone escarpment some three and a half miles long with steep edges and a broad summit plateau which is very typical limestone terrain, although the pitted pavements are less extensive than those on Hutton Roof Crags. There are also steep cliffs on the south eastern corner of the hill as seen in the first picture below. Most of the hill is a nature reserve beloved of geologists, botanists and bird watchers and particularly famous for its butterflies. There is also rock climbing on its western flanks although this is restricted to one small area to protect the wildlife. A right of way leads steeply up the escarpment to the summit from the vicinity of Witherslack Hall. A delightful permissive path, seen in the second picture, winds its way along the plateau southwards finishing with views across the Kent estuary. These two paths can be combined into a pleasant circuit or a slightly longer one wanders further northwards and is described in Wainwright's book of outlying fells.
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