February 2022. In what turns out to be a long old day, Neil heads out of Coniston, in the south west of the English Lake District to climb Coniston Old Man (or, if you're the Ordnance Survey, The Old Man of Consiton), via the Walna Scar Road and up to Dow Crag. He then heads north to Brim Fell and Brim Fell , before paying a quick trip to Great Carrs. On the way, he visits the memorial marking the site where a Halifax bomber LL503 crashed in 1944 killing all eight on board. The descent is via Swirl How, Prison Band in the snow, and back past Levers Water.
On the way, there's a rainbow, snow, cloud, a historic plane crash, and the thorny question of mountain supremacy.
This is a long walk, taking almost 10 hours, but there are many possible (shorter) variations of the route up Coniston Old Man. The simpler round is via the quarry route, to the east of the hill, and then back either via Goat's Hawse or Dow Crag (or, of course, the other way round). A lot of time and height can also be saved by parking at the Walna Scar car park (OS Grid Ref: SD 28914 97050).
The 2018 surveys of Swirl How and Conison Old Man were carried out by John Barnard, Jim Bloomer and Graham Jackson, and a copy of their detailed report can be found here: www.hill-bagging.co.uk/surveys/Surveys%20of%20Swirl%20How%20and%20Coniston%20Old%20Man.pdf
The men who died on 22 October 1944 were Pilot John Johnston, Navigator Francis Bell, Bomb Aimer Robert Whitley, Flight Engineer Sgt Harvey Pyche, Wireless Operator / Air Gunner Sgt Calvin Whittingstall, Air Gunner Sgt Donald Titt, and Air Gunner Sgt George Riddoch, of the Royal Canadian Air Force, as well as Flight Engineer Sgt William Ferguson, from Caldercruix, North Lanarkshire. More detail about the crash on Great Carrs can be found here: www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/lakes/ll505.html
Subscribe for more films of our walks and visit our website: www.onyvafilms.com to read more and to suggest other walks that you would like to see.
Ordnance Survey maps used with permission. OS Explorer maps: OL7 and OL6: South-western area - shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/map... (We don't get revenue from OS Map sales, but are grateful for their support and permission to use their mapping!)
Thanks to Short Films Matter for their review: shortfilmsmatter.com/518/lake...
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