We hit the road at 7:45am for the hour and fifteen minute drive to the village of Coniston located in Lake District National Park.
Our friends were already waiting for us because they had driven down from Scotland in their campervan Friday evening and free camped at a side road in the village.
The village of Coniston.
We set off up to The Old Man of Coniston... a popular hike due to the spectacular views. But it's also a moderately strenuous hike, with an elevation gain of 2,633 feet (803 metres) over 5 kms (3 miles).
We had parked for free in town, but there is also a small paid carpark up the road a little further. By 9:30am it was already full, and people had to turn around and go back down this narrow lane that others were trying to make their way up. So glad that we parked lower down.
Lots of green grass for these cows.
Ruth and Mirsie.
A lot of other people out hiking.
Starting to get a nice view.
The trail was quite busy!
There are a lot of remnants of the copper mining industry here.
Beautiful views!
A lot of people taking a break at the lower water pond.
These young guys have some ambition!
Heading higher.
Mirsie and Ruth.
Scenery along the way.
More gorgeous views.
Zoomed in on the full car park.
Mirsie and David.
The four of us at the top!
There were a lot of people up there and it was tough not to get someone else in the photo.
Ruth and Kevin.
View of the top.
Rather than going back down the same way we came up, we decided on a bit of a longer route that went across the top for a while and then a steeper section down.
Me and the views!
Looking down on Coniston Water.
Beautiful!
Where we sat and had lunch.
About to head back down.
It was pretty steep in this section.
Nice waterfall.
Levers water pond reservoir.
Interesting looking cave.
It was blocked off, and with a rope leading down the steep slope to the entrance. There were a group of spelunkers with all the proper safety gear who were doing some exploring.
Looking across at where we had come down.
Scenery along the way.
Nice waterfall.
Old copper mine.
Mirsie and Ruth.
What a perfect hike, with perfect weather. We ended up doing a total 11.1 kms (6.9 miles) with a lot of elevation so it was good training for our upcoming Albania hike. We had fun catching up with David and Mirsie again, and hopefully we will see them in Mexico this coming November or December!
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Looks like a beautiful hike! How are you liking your new Oboz boots, Ruth?
ReplyDeleteI was a great hike, just the type of hike and scenery that we love. It also really helped that we had such a nice day weatherwise.
DeleteI like the boots but they did leave me with a very small blister on the bottom of my foot and my right baby toe felt a little tight even though the shoes are wide. They felt very comfortable in the store but I think that I maybe should had got a half size bigger but it is too late now. I like the grip of the tread on the sole though, my last pair had no tread left and I found I wasn't confident with them on any kind of slippery surface.
Try lacing them up tighter - that's solved my problem in the past.
DeleteThey are already laced up pretty tight. My foot isn't moving around in the boot, I only have enough room to wiggle my toes, so it isn't like my foot is sliding around in the boot.
DeleteOh darn, new boots always seem to come with a blister or two, but the toe thing is a bit more worrisome. It can be so hard to get the fit right. I hope they will stretch out a bit in time. Either that or lop off that pinky toe! ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe last four or five pairs of hiking boots never gave me blisters at the beginning, in fact only one pair of boots needed a little bit of working in to feel nice and comfortable, and those ones were also a pair of Oboz. We went out for a hike yesterday and hiked about 8 km (5 mil) or so and that small blister didn't bother me, even the baby toe was fine, I think that maybe it only starts to bother me after a long time in the boots which of course it going to be the case with our big hike next month.
DeleteI will have a better idea how my boots will feel after a planned two day hike early next month, just before our big hike.