Lake District Hiking: Skiddaw, Little Langdale, and Coniston Old Man

A pictorial guide

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Any extracts used in the following article are for non-commercial research and educational purposes only and may be subject to copyright from their respective owners.

Handwritten. No hallucinations or propaganda.

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Contents

Introduction

Skiddaw

Little Langdale and Cathedral Cave

Coniston Old Man

Parting shots

Disclaimer

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Introduction

It’s the time of year for Doorless to leave the carp pond and head back to the hills.

Three walks in two days, earlier this week (July ‘25).

The UK’s Lake District National Park is the UK’s second national park to be founded, a month after the Peak District, on 9th May 1951. It covers an area of 2,362 km² (912 square miles) and received over 18 million tourists in 2022.

It has four mountains (‘fells’) over 3000’ / 914m, the highest in England being Scafell. Skiddaw is the fourth highest of the group:

• Scafell Pike, 978 m (3,209 ft)

• Scafell, 965 m (3,166 ft)

• Helvellyn, 951 m (3,120 ft)

• Skiddaw, 931 m (3,054 ft)¹

Coniston Old Man is at the Southern end of the range, whereas Skiddaw is at the North.

I was based at Coniston, as my plans to overnight at Keswick were scuppered by a lack of campsite availability. Thanks must go to the Coniston Sports and Social Centre for their facilities. I paid for my three nights at the bar on arrival. “Would I like to add a pint to the bill?”. It would have been rude not to.

Back to business. Getting parked at Skiddaw meant an early morning 25-mile / 1 hour drive from Coniston. I arrived at 07.30, yet only just managed to get parked in the last available spot.

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Skiddaw

“Skiddaw at dawn”. Photograph by Jon Allison. https://www.cookhousegallery.co.uk/product/skiddaw-at-dawn/

Personality: Gracefully monolithic, but with hidden corners. Skiddaw's outline from the south, its most familiar side, is instantly recognisable – a sweeping pile of curving lines drawing inwards, like arms reaching out to embrace the viewer. It's a mountain pleasing to the eye, at once cuddly and pointy.

What's in a name? The origin of the name 'Skiddaw' is up for debate. Medieval versions of the name include Skythou and Skydehow. Most sources now indicate an Old Norse origin, from skúti ('projecting cliff') and haugr ('hill' or 'burial mound').

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/destinations/one_minute_mountain_skiddaw-12877

Start: Latrigg car park, Keswick, CA12 4PH.

What3words: ///corner.pixel.tracks

Grid Reference: NY 28078 25343

The path up from Latrigg. Source: http://www.wainwrightroutes.co.uk/skiddaw_r1.htm

I recommend a 4x4 for parking at the top end, as I needed a push out of a pothole on my last visit. This time, I came prepared with a set of traction boards. Fortunately, they remain untested.

Ordnance Survey (OS) Map: The English Lakes, North Western area. OL4. 1:25,000

https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/map-of-the-lake-district-north-western-area/

Distance: 9.0 miles / 14.5 km

Time: 4-6 hours.

Total Ascent: 2667‘ / 813m

GPX Route: “Skiddaw & Glenderaterra Beck from Underscar Walk”

Android App: Locus Map

OpenAndroMaps Downloads for Android: Link

Website with OS Maps (may be deprecated): Link

Garmin OpenTopo Downloads: These are near OS quality and include Basecamp files & DEM contours: Link

Further Reading: How to use OpenStreetMap and OS digital maps

“Little Man” is the deceptive false peak on the left (2837’ / 865m), behind Jenkin Hill.

Borrowdale, the hikers’ town of Keswick, Derwent Water, and the Cat Bells on the far bank.

The latest fun craze is to take your electric gravel bike to the top of paths like this and enjoy the ride down.

I was blessed with a cracking hot day, needed a sun hat, and got through 3L of water. Morning visibility was excellent. On the horizon is the Isle of Man, about 60 miles / 96 km off.

Looking West from the cairn just south of Little Man.

The main path follows the contours around Little Man.

The last of the hard work gets you up on the summit ridge.

Skiddaw and Coniston Old Man are composed of slate, a fine-grained metamorphic rock derived from shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash.

Looking back down the approach to the summit cairn.

It was an amazing 23°C at the summit, with views of the Isle of Man, Carlisle, and Dumphries and Galloway (Scotland).

The next job was to get back down safely. My backup route to the Bassenthwaite side of Skiddaw (North West) would have involved traversing the exciting Longside Edge.

A bog asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum), on the marshy slopes of Sale How.

Common heather, ling (Calluna vulgaris).

Heath Bedstraw (Galium saxatile), a key food source for Britain’s only true alpine butterfly species: the small mountain ringlet (Erebia epiphron).

A long-distance path, the Cumbria Way, follows the River Caldew to the North East of Skiddaw.

A change of paths and a right turn at the Skiddaw House Youth Hostel (1,550’ / 470m).

Skiddaw House. Built c.1829 as a keeper’s lodge and a shepherd’s house. It was previously inhabited until 1969.

“You can have that room”.

Salehow Beck footbridge:

“Skiddaw Forest”. Be careful you don’t get hit by a falling branch. Seriously. (N.B. "Forest" refers to a medieval pattern of land ownership.)

Skiddaw Forest

Extra-parochial fell pasture, which formed separate CP until absorbed into Underskiddaw CP 1934.

Acreage:

2,969 acres [1,202 ha], almost entirely open fell.

Economy:

demesne cattle pasture in 13th century; fell grazing thereafter. Grouse shooting in 19th century. Hostel for walkers (Skiddaw House) since 1980s

https://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/township/skiddaw-forest

Lenticular clouds above Lonscale Fell.

The path back to Latrigg car park. On the left is the Glenderaterra Beck, with the remains of the Glenderaterra/Brundholme lead, copper, and barytes mine. This proved to be uneconomic and was abandoned in 1920.

“Map, uncoloured engraving, Map of the Lake District Mining Field, Westmorland, Cumberland, Lancashire, scale about 5 miles to 1 inch, by John Postlethwaite, published by W H Moss and Sons, 13 Lowther Street, Whitehaven, Cumberland, 1877 edn 1913.” Source: https://www.lakesguides.co.uk/html/lgaz/lk31966.htm

“Print, drawing, mine section, Glenderaterra Mine, Threlkeld, Cumberland, scale about 1 to 720, published by W H Moss and Sons, 13 Lowther Street, Whitehaven, Cumberland, 1877 edn 1913.” Source: https://www.lakesguides.co.uk/html/lgaz/lk31966.htm

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Little Langdale and Cathedral Cave

A short walk the following morning, whilst waiting for conditions to improve at Coniston. In contrast to Skiddaw, Monday brought low clouds and torrential downpours, but at least the cooler temperatures meant it was much better for walking.

My wide-brimmed sunhat was put to good use again, but this time to stop a torrent of water from running down my neck. Such is the variability of Lake District weather.

Signs put out by the local council tell you where they want you to park for the Cathedral Cave walk: Tilberthwaite.

Start: Tilberthwaite Ghyll car park, Coniston, LA21 8DG.

What3words: ///squish.schematic.vessel

Grid Reference: NY 30622 01016

Ordnance Survey (OS) Maps: You need two OL paper maps as backup. GPS devices are a godsend.

1/ The English Lakes, South Western area. OL6. 1:25,000:

https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/map-of-the-lake-district-south-western-area/

2/ The English Lakes, South-eastern area. OL7. 1:25,000:

https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/map-of-the-lake-district-south-eastern-area/

Distance: 5.6 miles / 9 km

Time: 2-3 hours.

Total Ascent: 768‘ / 234m

GPX Route: I used this one and followed it anticlockwise, but there are many variants.

Hodge Close spoil heaps dominate the early part of the walk. The Lake District’s valuable, durable green slate has been extracted from the Little Langdale Quarries since the 1700s. Main uses included walling and roofing.

Hodge Close is a quarry pit with a depth of over 90 metres (300 feet), half of which is below the current water level.^[2] During the quarry's operational use, there were at least three different systems installed for lifting and removing the large slabs of slate (clogs).

A steam crane and a water balanced lift were used to effect in the latter part of the 19th century. During the 20th century, a Blondin crane was used right up until the quarry closed.

… The remains of the water pipe for the water balanced lift, and various support anchors for the Blondin crane are still visible on the periphery; heavy-duty steel, cut and rusted, bygone times of industrial workings, now with an air of peace and tranquillity.

https://theenglishlakes.uk/wiki/Hodge_Close_Quarry

Setting the scene, on approach to Cathedral Cave (near Slater Bridge, at ///compress.demand.shifts, NY 31362 02930)

An info board directs you to enter this inviting tunnel.

Suddenly, you find yourself stepping into another world. Cathedral Cave is man-made, and gets its name from its 40’ / 12m high main chamber. Operations ceased in the early 20th century.

Famous children’s author Beatrix Potter bought the quarry in 1929 and bequeathed it to the National Trust.

Drilling and blasting with gunpowder was a laborious manual task from 1800 to 1910, when compressed air drills were first used. Diamond-tipped saws didn’t replace the hammer and chisel until the 1930s. Source: https://www.cumbria-industries.org.uk/slate/

Cathedral Quarry dates back to the 16th Century, and was in use until the middle of the 20th Century. There is a windy path down, if you have time.

Looking down into Cathedral Cave from the quarry.

Little Langdale forms the backdrop.

Cold Pike and Wrynose Fell rise from the shores of Little Langdale Tarn.

You can take a car over the Wrynose Pass, but it’s not for the faint-hearted.

Looking North towards Pike O’Stickle (2,326’ / 709m) and the Mickleden Valley.

Industrial ugliness meets nature’s finest. I spotted these marsh orchids on the hilly route back to Tilberthwaite.

Hybridisation makes getting a positive ID quite challenging, but I think this is an unspotted Early Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnate).

Sundews (Drosera spp.) evaded me this time, but I did find common butterworts (Pinguicula vulgaris) in a few locales.

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Coniston Old Man

… It is believed that “Old Man” is derived from the ancient Celtic “Alt Maen” meaning “High Stone” and the Coniston part comes from the Old Norse “Konigs Tun” meaning King’s Farm.

https://benthamfootpathgroup.co.uk/the-old-man-of-coniston-from-torver/

I returned to my base in Coniston just after midday and waited to see if the cloud would lift. This took until about 13.30, so rather than do the full 9 mile / 14.5km loop and risk being caught out by nightfall on the Fells, I decided to retrace my steps from the summit.

I always pack a head torch for such an outcome, but as a solo hiker, this would be pushing my luck.

The Tuesday forecast was for torrential rain lasting all day from 06.00, so that wasn’t an option. (In the event, they recorded 40-60mm of rain in just a few hours).

Start: Coniston Sports and Social Centre, Shepherds Bridge Lane, Coniston, LA21 8AL

What3words: ///watching.retained.warblers

Grid Reference: SD 30549 97748

Ordnance Survey (OS) Maps: The English Lakes, South Western area. OL6. 1:25,000:

https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/map-of-the-lake-district-south-western-area/

Distance: 6.0 miles / 9.6 km

Time: 4-6 hours.

Total Ascent: 2470‘ / 753m

GPX Route: Dow Crag & the Old Man of Coniston from Coniston Walk

Modified route, using a back-course from the summit.

On most of the mountains that I’ve climbed, steeper grades of the mid-slopes give way to a gentler climb as you approach the summit. Not in this case. It started as strenuous, rock-strewn climb, and just got worse. But it was all worth it!

The start of walk takes you along the stunning Coppermines Valley. It had one of the largest copper mines in Britain, with a working depth of around 2000’ / 610m. Copper mining stopped in 1914.

You start to climb as the path bears left.

A common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata subsp. fuchsii) by the path.

Coppermines Valley.

It is thought that copper and slate mining on Old Man dates back to the 12th and 13th centuries. By the 1500’s slate workings were well established, and the path soon leads you through the remains of the Saddlestone Quarry, at about 1500’ / 457m.

Saddlestone mill

Mandalls Slate Co Ltd worked a number of quarries on the slopes of Coniston Old Man. The main processing area was the mill at Saddlestone to where the slate 'clogs' were brought down by an aerial ropeway and sawn in the shed seen here. There were also a number of riving or dressing sheds on this level. The worked stone could then be sent further down the ropeway towards the Coppermines Valley for outward transport by road.

Remains of the ropeway are still evident right up the hill with both fixed and moving ropes lying on the ground. The collapsed wooden framework was the start of the next flight of the ropeway.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/93173492@N00/5903849227/in/photostream/

The path takes you through the remains of a cableway, at the foot of a slate retaining wall holding back hundreds of tonnes of spoil. I’m sure its quite stable, but I didn’t hang around.

Looking back down the path towards Coniston.

What am I getting myself into?

Saddlestone Main Bank

Extracted from the Coniston Local History Group website link

"This Bank was the main processing facility and site office for the Old Man Quarries during the last 30 years of operation. However, prior to that, it was a separate underground working which was initially developed in the 1880’s and finally closed just before the 2nd World War.

After closure the entrance to the level leading to the underground chambers became blocked but in recent years has been re-opened (but secured) by local industrial archaeologists. The processing site included an electric saw and riving and dressing sheds. The aerial flight down from Moss Head, high above, terminated at Saddlestone. The road up to Saddlestone was improved to allow motor lorries to reach the site to transport finished product away.

The story has been told of the day the draw rope of the aerial flight snapped as a large lump of slate had just started its journey from Moss Head. As the runaway load passed over the last flight pylon above Saddlestone the block came off the carrier and embedded itself deep in the quarry bank. No one working in the sheds there was hurt or even saw the mishap. The workforce spent several minutes searching for wreckage as they were convinced there had been a plane crash.

Two other aerial flights terminated on the Saddlestone bank. Slate clog from the higher Light Hole workings was brought down to Saddlestone on an aerial flight that passed over Smithy Bank. A separate flight also descended from Saddlestone and terminated, via an intermediate pylon, on the High Brandy Crag bank. Slate clog was brought down to High Brandy Crag to be processed until the road up to Saddlestone was improved."

by Mick Garratt

https://www.geograph.org.uk/snippet/2429

Saddlestone Main Bank. I did this walk once, the miners probably had to do it daily.

Bramley Engineering Ltd., of Leeds, manufactured stoneworking machinery from 1851 - 1963. I suspect this was an electric saw.

This part of the climb was slow-going. My satnav measured only 0.3 miles / 0.5km to the summit, and yet the gain of height needed was 1000’ / 305m, so I knew it had to get steeper from here.

Finally, I was within scrambling distance of the summit cairn.

Coniston Old Man summit trig point, at 2,635’ / 802m.

Looking South towards Cartmel Sands.

Coniston village to the East.

Looking North over Levers Water and the Tilberthwaite High Fells. Little Langdale is the other side of the ridge.

Google Maps visualisation for context:

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.3469232,-3.1227316,898a,35y,22.03h,76.65t/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDcxNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Lake Windermere and Hawkshead to the East.

This is the route I would have followed to the North.

I had to very carefully retrace my steps back down, past Low Water.

Back down to the beautiful Coppermines Valley.

Church Beck waterfall:

Common spotted orchids.

The Coppermines Valley also has butterworts in the damper spots.

One last surprise was when something caught my eye, slithering over a rock along the side of the path.

Two venomous common European adders (Vipera berus) were catching the last rays of the evening sun, at about 6.30.

This one stayed put, but kept a beady eye on me. I nervously checked my surroundings before getting this shot from a safe distance.

You have no idea what a relief it was to find this oasis.

The traditional celebratory pint: “Dungeon Ghyll Stout 5%”, by a Lakeland Brewery, Tirril.

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Parting shots

It was an incredible two days of climbing.

I normally bring British MOD MRE (Meal, Ready-to-Eat) ration packs, but these can be a touch bland, and the hard tack biscuits might be built to withstand nuclear war, but that doesn’t make them very palatable.

Not so with the French military equivalent, which proved to be something of a revelation. Called the “Ration de Combat Individuelle Rechauffable” (Combat Ration Individual Reheatable), or RCIR, there wasn’t anything I couldn’t eat, and if you like French fayre I can recommend giving one a try.

https://francerevisited.com/2020/01/french-combat-rations/

Example menus. These do get changed from time-to-time. https://www.mreinfo.com/international-rations/french-rcir

https://francerevisited.com/2020/01/french-combat-rations/

They include a disposable solid fuel burner in the standard 24h pack:

https://www.mreinfo.com/international-rations/french-rcir/

There are rumours they even used to include a small bottle of wine.

Thank you for reading.

Next time normal business resumes, and we return to part II of the review of HPV vaccine pathologies.

Disclaimer

Walking can be dangerous, and all walkers must take personal responsibility for their own safety. You should always carry a backup means of navigation and not rely on a single phone, app or map. This Substack strives to provide accurate information but cannot accept responsibility for changes, errors or omissions.

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References

1. Lake District. In: Wikipedia. ; 2025. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lake_District&oldid=1298746106