~Great Carrs for Remembrance~
Sunday 13th November 2011
Peter Burgess announced he was going to the site of an WW2 air crash on Great Carrs for his Remembrance thoughts this year. Good idea, I thought; so Peter, myself and three others headed for the memorial up there and constructed a good walk around the 11am event.
Great Carrs Memorial
Scroll down for photos and a description of the walk....
Coniston Copper Mining Area
Start time of 08:10 from Coniston Village, the plan is to find a route to Levers Water for a path to Swirl Hause. The white building is Coniston Mines YHA. Swirl How is hidden under low cloud.
Simon's Nick
All part of the mining history of Coniston Coppermines. Danger lurks all around!
Across The Beck
Bob, Ed and Neil make up the quintet of walkers.
Levers Water Beck
We chose this route up to the tarn.
Levers Water
Calm at the tarn. A little cloud at the top of Great How Crags. The area below GHC is known as The Prison, now where did they get that name from? Naughty mineworkers sent to the distant slopes?
Levers Water
Is Levers Water the squarest tarn in Lakeland?
Pike O'Blisco
Looking north from Swirl Hause, Pike O'Blisco and further away, Pike O'Stickle. We start our ascent of Prison Band, leading to Swirl How.
Walkers on Prison Band
I got stuck on ice up here a couple of years ago and this time I slipped and scraped the skin off my shin, not my favourite place. Bob thinks he lost 10p somewhere around here on his last visit; Neil makes progress.
Swirl How Summit
Peter has never seen a summit cairn before and he thinks its amazing.
Great Carrs
Great Carrs from Swirl How is one of Lakeland's easier "Ridge Routes" - a way of attaining an extra summit without going back to the bottom as described in most of Wainwright's chapters. Ed spots Bob, still looking for his missing coin.
The Scafells from Great Carrs
Time allowed for a visit to the top of Great Carrs before heading for the memorial. We can't see Great Gable where hundreds of fellwalkers will be gathering for the annual Remembrance "service" at the summit.
Great Carrs Summit
Peter has found another summit cairn. Bob explains that he is from Blackburn and he will return one day and resume his search for the coin.
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The Memorial
Shortly before 11 o'clock, we were joined by a family of four. So nine of us marked the occasion with two minutes silence. I stand to be corrected, but I think that this is the only site on Lakeland's fells where wartime servicemen were killed whilst on duty.
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Wolfy & Family
Wolfy is on the left, this family had rushed up from Wrynose Pass and arrived just in time. Wolfy, sir, if you want the photo removing, contact me and I'll take it away.
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Grey Friar |
Grey Friar Top |
Grey Friar
Grey Friar is another "Ridge Walk" away. We cross to Grey Friar and then take a flank route to Brim Fell.
Peter and Ed on Grey Friar's "Matterhorn". Wainwright refers to this as "the pointed boulder" in a diagram on GF Page 8. Thanks to website reader Ian Fisher for pointing this out - I thought AW had missed this distinctive feature, but it was not the case.
The "Matterhorn"
Cloud is approaching from the east.
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Cloud Encroaching |
Seathwaite Tarn |
Well that's it for views for the time being. Mountain-hugging cloud has defied the forecasters' predictions.
Mist-er Burgess
We had a game of hide-and-seek on Grim Fell, Peter emerges from the gloom.
Neil and Trig
Neil has spotted something of interest on the Triangulation Column. The Ordnance Survey used Trig Points (as we know them) to help measure mountain heights and survey the land. But not in weather like this.
Summiteers
Peter does the honours and photographs the proud climbers. Just reflect for a moment...how many thousands, maybe millions of pairs of feet have reached the top of The Old Man of Coniston? Easily accessible from the village, ever more so since the railway arrived in the 1860's. The railway closed in 1962.
Levers Water
We retraced our steps over to Brim Fell and then wandered off over the edge, looking for Gill Cove. Of such a descent, Wainwright says "not recommended in mist". In due course, Levers Water appears.
Copper Mines
This is the view of Simon's Nick from the edge of Levers Water. The fence is designed to keep adventurous walkers out of danger.
So much for the fence...
Coniston Copper Mines
We descended through "Boulder Valley" and then headed off down the main route up from Coniston to the fells.
Descent Route
The Sun Inn
Walkers' refreshments were taken here.
Walkers: As below: Bob Eaves, me, Neil Haslewood, Peter Burgess and Ed Harrison.
Time taken: 8 hrs 30 mins over a distance of 11.5 miles,
Route: Coniston, YHA at the mines, Levers Water Beck, Levers Water, Swirl Hause, Prison Band, Swirl How, Great Carrs, Grey Friar, Brim Fell, Coniston Old Man, Brim Fell, Levers Water, main footpath and road back to Coniston, via The Sun Inn.
Weather and conditions: Bright, sunny on Great Carrs, clouding over and remaining misty until our descent to Levers . Breezy on top.
Greetings Count: The first other fellwalkers were encountered on Swirl How summit. Then others passed us on Great Carrs before we met the family for the memorial. Quite a few folk on the main ridge from Brim Fell to Coniston Old Man.
Richard's Refreshment Review: We had pints at The Sun Inn, which was fine - broad choice of Real Ales. Peter and I ate at The Black Bull in Coniston in the evening and the food was excellent, beer not bad either.
Team Photo
Courtesy of Neil's camera and some help from the other gang. Ed was clearly distracted, there's another photo in Peter B's camera, which will come to light in due course.
All photos copyright Richard Ratcliffe 2011 ©, except Neil's photo above.
Take me back to the start ....