Coniston Lake circuit 3 nites

A long wknd ahead and i had hoped to travel north to Scotland,but my old car decided to play up on the way to work so a revised plan was hatched 

It was grey, but dry when i met Lee in Coniston at 7 pm on the Friday,with a late start we headed up into the Copper mines valley chatting along the way.

We decided to camp on Kitty crag one of the peaks belonging to the  Furness fells infront of Wetherlam 

Brew on and Oscar was soon settled in his own bed and me atop my sleeping bag 

The morning was the same colour as the evening before grey, but it was dry, if a bit cooler.An updated weather forecast,with 35-45 mph winds had us chatting about a change of route 

We walked over Wetherlam with a fresh breeze and as we left Swirl how it tried to snow for a while...temp -3.4c with the windchill...we headed south towards the Bank holiday crowds into a blustery wind

With a trip to Northern Sweden in a few months i decided to up the weight of my pack, in case i do end up carrying 9 days food, the Hyperlite pack carried the 32lb with ease

The hills were still pretty quiet, apart from Coniston Old man so we had a 2nd breky before the summit, then headed over the summit down the beautiful sw ridge, by far the best way up and down this mountain

The new route involved us dropping down the ridge, passing Trover to then pick up Cumbria way, to camp just behind Beacon fell summit

It being a long wknd you'd maybe expect the hills to be full, but we hardly saw a soul after we left the summit of Old man 

The 2nd morning started dry and nice again and it was nice to know we would be on quiet small tracks and some new ground for Lee too

Dawn over my long serving and loyal hound.Does very well for a ten year old dog

Beacon fell was cool and windy at 8-30 the next morning, so we pushed on towards the other side of Coniston lake 

Theres a nice scattering of 7 peaks on the East side of the lake and we had it all to ourselves 

Lee checking out a different view of the Coniston fells

As we neared the end of the Lake again, we started to seek our 3rd camp spot, at a clearing in the woods we spotted a lovely spot and were soon pitched up, drinking and eating our teas

The sunset and sunrise were again a no show, but the forest was alive with bird song 

We had a tiny spatter of rain, but it was dry as we packed up for the last hours to walk down and into Coniston for a breakfast

Meadowdore breakfast hit the spot and soon i was heading home 

Heres a coulee of screen shots of route in case anyone ever fancies following the route, easy enough to follow but the section on East side of Lake is Trackless in places and can be a bit tricky to nav when the class down, but they are lower peaks  

Thanks for looking and safe travels Peter and Oscar