Coniston and its Old Man

On Sunday it was my birthday and what better way to celebrate than by hiking the Old Man of Coniston ?
But first we decided to explore the Coniston Water pier and the nearby Brantwood manor, the home of John Ruskin (i'm ashamed to admit I'd never heard of John Ruskin before, but he was a man of many talents).

:: at the Coniston pier

:: view from the gardens of Brantwood

:: Brantwood manor

:: a very lovely quilt

We then returned home for a quick lunch and someone had to take a nap ...

 

Around 2 PM we finally decided to start our hike up to the Old Man of Coniston. The are several routes up to the summit, but the one we took was this one.

Hike: old Man of Coniston
Distance: 12.4 km
Ascent: 985 m
Time: 5.5 hours

I think it took us about 3.5 hours to go up and 2 hours to come down. We got lost for a while after reaching Dow Crag and missed the path to the right that would take us to the summit, but it was not difficult to get back on track. We were lucky that the weather was nice and the visibility was good, but when we reached the summit it was already getting a little foggy.

:: Goats Water

:: peanut butter sandwich break
:: view of Goats Water climbing up towards Dow Crag

:: yay, we reached the summit !

:: the most amazing views of Coniston and the surrounding lakes

:: the old copper mines