Clear, Blue Skies

"The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it."

- John Ruskin

We met some friends down in Coniston at 10am and we were soon heading away from the village and up the Coppermines Valley in walking boots. On the trundle up the valley, Church Beck was flowing downhill on our left. I occasionally glimpsed the rocky bed ideal for gorge walking, and when there's even more water, kayaking as well.

Looking up the Coppermines Valley to the Youth Hostel and the Coniston Fells.

We eventually reached Levers Water, which was partially frozen, and hear we parted company with the guys we had met up with in Coniston and headed for the ridge running from Swirl How, in the north, to The Old Man of Coniston, in the south. We gained the ridge by a steep climb to Levers Hawes and then headed for our most southerly point first, The Old Man of Coniston, before tracking back north.

Levers Water with Little and Great How Crag rising up from the water.

Marking the path to Brim Fell and The Old Man of Coniston.

Once at The Old Man of Coniston, where it seemed many of the Lakeland walkers had congregated, we headed back the way we had come, over Brim Fell, on past Levers Hawse and on along Little and Great How Crag to Swirl How, our destination.

Frost covered rocks at Sam Bottom on the way to Swirl How.

Once at Swirl How, we turned east to descend from our vantage point, which was being battered by a cold easterly wind and had little to behold as cloud had rolled over the fells, to Swirl Hawse before making our final, long drawn out climb to Wetherlam so that our fourth summit was completed.

Looking out over the Langdale Fells from Wetherlam.

More pictures can be found here.

Good lines, stay safe and see you on the wet stuff...
Iain