Area: Lakeland
Distance: 13.6 Miles 21.9K
Start Location: Eskdale
OS Sheet: Explorer OL6 & OL7
Outline: Eskdale – Seathwaite – Walna Scar Road – Coniston
Journey
We left Eskdale YHA at about 9:30am having had a decent nights sleep and good breakfast, shoes and socks were dry for a while. We went past the Woolpack to Doctors Bridge and along past Penny Hill Farm. Passing through several fields we started climbing up towards Kepple Crag, eventually joining up with the path from Jubilee Bridge and headed south east across the low land between Ulpha Fell and Harter Fell. The weather was blustery with big clouds and blue sunny patches all of which created dramatic lighting effects on the scenery around Eskdale.
The path alongside Spothow Gill and into the southern part of Dunnderdale Forest was all rocks, bog and water making the journey a bizarre game of hop scotch with the looser getting another shoe full of black sludge, joy. As we squelched our way along the path to Grassguards we, met coming the other way a largish group of walkers ploughing westwards. Their movement appeared to be like that of a large liner on the sea, they couldn’t stop in a short distance, so everyone had to give way or get run over, but with a smile. As we stopped and they advanced A. bellowed out “I’m only going to say this once GOOD MORNING” which went down very well with lots of smiles and hellos. And then we were alone again, slopping along.
The plan was to go into Seathwaite for lunch at Newfields Inn, at Grassguards we had a choice of routes, turn right to High Wallowbarrow or left to down the River Duddon by the stepping stones but without crossing turn right along the river. If I come this way again I will take the first option, our way was scenic and interesting but as one does in the checkout queue, I feel that the other way may have been the choice we should have made.
Newfields Inn is lovely the beer, the food, the place, the décor (not quite the word I want) the toilets were all great, I particularly enjoyed reading about the Riots here in 1904, wonderful stuff. I am going to book a weekends B& B here with my wife, she will love it.
From here it was a long slow slog up the Walna Scar road. Why is a never ending road only a never ending when you’re going up it, downhill roads are never, never ending. Puzzling this out kept me going for quite a way up. As we dropped down towards Coniston we were blessed with a double rainbow, possibly to make up for the rain on the way up!. We arrived at Coniston YHA just on 5pm and ended up in the same beds we had in 2008, The GPS said 13.6miles.The drying room was nice and warm, kit and shoes dried out ok.
Can’t remember where we eat and drank in Coniston, I seem to remember Liverpool might have been playing someone on the TV. It was a very dark walking back to the YHA. I was knackered.
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