A few people I know have hiked up the Old Man of Coniston. A couple of years ago I took myself off for a couple of solo hiking days up in the Lake District. I did a route that took in a number of fell summits around Coniston, ending up on Old Man of Coniston before descending past the mines.
All day, my views were negligible. Driving rain and 5 to 10m visibility put paid to any chance of enjoying the views. But I’ve always wanted to get back up that one on a clear day.
So I seized my opportunity on a sunny Wednesday morning in August 2024.
Leaving my house at 6am, I was parked up and ready to hit the trail by 8:20. And it was a glorious day. Here’s how it went
| Hike date | 14th August 2024 |
| Weather conditions | A clear day. Warm and sunny |
| Distance hiked | Approx 8.2km (as measured on Apple Watch. Longer than All Trails estimate but partly because I have tendency to wander off the path for a look at the views etc during a walk) |
| Walking time | 3 hours 35 minutes (including all the photo stops 20 minutes of sitting on the summit with a sandwich |
| Elevation gain total | 573m |
| Terrain | Easy to follow paths, rocky towards the summit and on descent |
| Hiked with | Solo |
Old Man of Coniston Quick Route
I only had the morning available with work commitments in the afternoon. And as I’d already bagged surrounding summits I figured I’d just do a short circular. I knew I wanted to come back down through the mines rather than heading up that way. So I took this route:
It was a really easy route to follow. I wasn’t sure whether it would end up taking me longer than the 4 hours so I paid for a full day parking ticket at Walna Scar (£8 as of August 2024) and headed off.
A clear path marks the start of the route, before you veer off right before Boo Tarn up a narrower path weaving its way between ferns. It’s a reasonably steep incline to start with but does get less steep as time goes on.
The views soon open up and I was able to see Coniston water as well as right over to the seas of Morecambe Bay.
It gets rockier then for the final ascent:
Views throughout are wonderful and the summit views were incredible.
I took the path down back through the mines.
It starts out rocky and steep but the path is very easy to follow.
The mines themselves are worth stopping to explore around. Most of the additional distance I did on top of the AllTrails estimate would have been here, wandering off the path to look at things:
How tough is the hike?
Technically, this is not a challenging hike. Plenty of people of differing mobility, fitness levels and ages were on the way up as I was coming down.
The paths are well maintained too. But there’s a reasonable amount of elevation to gain so some fitness helps, of course.
How busy is Old Man of Coniston?
Ok, so let me caveat this by saying I went on a sunny day in the summer holidays.
BUT – I like my mountains quiet. So I set off early. When I arrived at Walna Scar car park, there was just a handful of cars there. When I got back, it was packed, with people parking in silly places (not in spaces) making it tough to get back out of my own space.
I saw very few people on the way up. But I saw scores of them ascending as I was making my way down.
It does get busy there.
But if you want to do this mountain and still want a quiet experience, I’d suggest:
- Setting off super early
- Term time week days if you possibly can
- Taking one of the quieter routes – the way I came down is the most popular way up with lots of hikers going up and down the same way. Avoid that for your ascent and you’ll have a quieter walk
I managed a summit photo (albeit it with my sweatband slipping over my eyes at this point) without anyone getting in my way!
Old Man of Coniston Summit
The views from the summit are gorgeous here:
For a start, I do love a trig point like this – nice and dramatic on a cliff edge.
Here’s the view I revisited for:
@staceyhikes The last time I visited Old Man of Coniston’s summit was a day on which I bagged a few nearby Summits too. Sadly, for the whole day I endured driving heavy rain and absolutely no visibility whatsoever. I was always a bit disappointed, despite the fact that I know hiking in the UK never comes with a guarantee of any views. But in this case so many people had told me how wonderful the view from old man is and I felt remarkably short changed that I hadn’t had it. So today, with a beautiful mountain forecast, I decided to go back for a revisit and finally bagged the view as well. Whar a beautiful, sunny solo hiking day in the Lake District
Would I do it again?
Absolutely. I repeat my favourite Wainwrights from time to time. The view from this is exceptional and as a really clear pathed route, it’s easy to follow and there are lots of options and routes up. So I think this is a really good choice if you’re hiking with friends who do less hiking and are perhaps relatively new to hill/mountain climbing.
I’ll probably go back at some point for sure. Had I had more time, I’d have some some of the surrounding fells again as well.
