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About The old man of Coniston | Parking Location | OS Map | Current Weather
Having spent a lot of time in Coniston we have done several the fells before, with this walk we wanted to take in some of the stunning waterfalls and Tarns of the area while still getting in a bit of height.
We started by heading up the main path to the Old Man of Coniston, but rather than going all the way, we stopped at leavers water for some lunch. This is a very well-trodden path, mostly rocky or stepped with a few sections of loose slate. Due to the popularity, navigation here is pretty easy, the paths are very obvious and generally there are a number of other walkers in the area.
Starting out at the main path, the track is wide enough for vehicles, and although some do come up this route, it’s slow going and very few will do so. Once up to the main bridge on the left, we crossed over and headed through the fields. These gives you a straight line towards the Old Man and again is easy to follow.
Before you know it, you’ve started getting some height and you pass a small path to the right, keep going as the next, rockier path is the one you want. Following this past the old disused mines is much harder going, although mostly stepped, it’s heavy on the legs and some sections of the loose slate take a little more caution in getting over. It’s perfectly fine but slows you down a little.
Once we got to the tarn at the top, we sat down and had some lunch with the beautiful surroundings enclosing us. Not long after, we headed back down the main route the bottom and then before heading towards the fields we came through, turned left across the grassy path.
This next section is quite grassy all the way across and is quite a steady walk and you can clearly see the waterfall in front of you for some time. Heading across and it becomes bigger and bigger until you are very close. This is running from the Tarn we initially visited, and, on the day, we arrived it had been raining so was running quite fast. Passing over the flowing river, we headed to the next waterfall that is running off another tarn, leavers water.
This path follows the river for some way, before heading off on its own. Again, is easy to follow and easy walking under foot. Here there is an even more majestic waterfall which has a little wooden bridge over to the path the other side. We spent a little more time here as it was a nice and much quieter area.
Once ready, we followed the path down, this is a bit rockier again and very wide, eventually this takes you down past the YHA as well as some beautiful cottages on the right before joining back to the main path we started on.
It’s a great walk, that’s not too long and takes in some stunning views but as a couple who love getting out in Coniston, this is as good as any.
