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Having walked the Old Man of Coniston several times, including a few loops ticking off other Wainwrights, we found ourselves in an unusual position of only needing to “bag” Weatherlam in order to complete the whole range. Staying locally in Coniston made it easy to get up and tick off the fell on the best day of the week. So with that in mind and a sunny day in hand, we headed out.
Starting behind the small miners cottages (where we were staying – but it’s very easy to get to the start point following the road up from Coniston) we started the ascent. On a hot day this was more effort than we thought, it’s not the steepest fell but the heat and the quickly gained height both add to the effort required. Zigzagging up the side of the fell over the rocky path for a short distance before lunging directly towards Wetherlam, the path continues to be easy enough to follow. As the path starts to flatten and our pace increased, we managed to cool off considerably with the high winds, a common feature of this part of the walk. Although hard to show off in photos, this is an interesting point as you’re in a small valley between Yew Pike and the base of Wetherlam.
We easily made our way to the small tarn, then took a hard left on the path which heads up into the fell. This path was easy to lose, and there are 4-5 little routes up from here. We pretty much just followed the ones we could see and ensured a correct bearing using compass and GPS to help us find a track which was as close to the original route as possible. Much of the ground is straightforward and grassy, but following the exact paths were slightly harder.
Eventually, we hit a fork in the path and from here knew we wanted to take the right-hand path. Keeping to the right on the subsequent off shoot’s ensured we headed to the three small tarns on the flatter section of the mountain. Here the wind really started to pick up as you’re much more exposed and have a decent bit of altitude. The section around the tarns is again much flatter and once past a short boggy section the route becomes very defined.
A much rockier section follows, but still easy to navigate. You soon start gaining height again and before you know it, the top is visible. The summit was quite popular with people heading up from all corners of the mountain, and the reason why is very easy to see. Views from all directions greet you at the top, you get a fantastic view up into the heartland of the Lake district, while still being able to see Coniston water and on a good day, even the sea. From here we headed down the Western path which leads across the ridge to Swirl How. As we have already completed this we had settled on following a route which takes you down to Leavers water.
The Western path is very straight forward. It's the usual high mountain rocky affair with a good path to follow. In any clear weather, there would be no issues following this path here. Once at the path down to Leavers water, again it’s very straight forward and we managed to follow the dirt track all the way down without issue. Having done this same path in awful weather a few years back, we knew from experience that it's hard to find in bad weather. But, on a clear day, there are no issues.
The ground is boggy on either side of the path, but there is rarely anything to worry about on the actual walkway. Once down to Leaver's water, the path skirts along the shoreline, then adds some height and even a slight scramble. Anyone who has done mountain walking before will be fine with this, it’s easy enough but taking care is always worthwhile. The path is narrow as you climb over boulders with the lake a little way below you.
Once at the head of the tarn, the path becomes a much more accessible track. 4 x 4’s can drive up when required. This makes walking a little difficult as there are a lot of loose rocks on the track and slowed us down a bit, but following the route is as easy as you can get, the path slowly winds its way down the mountain side down towards the YHA and copper mines cottages. Because we were staying at the cottages, our walk stopped here. But following this path down a little more gets you back to the bottom of Coniston Village
It’s a great walk for some big height and fantastic views, at least once at the top and the paths for the most part are easy to follow. The few that aren’t, are on sections which you can easily find your way to the next section of path with navigational skills, so should never be a major issue.
