Coniston 1994

Me, Joseph Middleton, Dominic Jones, Paul Furmston, William Bugg

Saturday 13th August - Cycle to Belper. Pick up Belper Round Table Community van. Go to the scout hut for 9.30am. Fran helps me load up the van. Dom's parents come to see us off. Set off at 10.30am. Go via Matlock, Chesterfield, Leeds, etc. Queues near Skipton. Arrive at 3.30pm. Me and the two scouts set up the new storm haven and the brown tent. I have difficulty lighting the fire. Paul arrives at about 11pm.

Sunday 14th - Collects lots of wood for the fire. Walk up to Tarn Howes, go in for a paddle. Walk back to camp. Go into Coniston for matches, milk, etc. We go to the Black Bull, for two pints of Old Peculiar. The scouts fancy walking back, follow signs to Tarn Howes. We find them three hours later. Back to camp for spag bol. Paul finds a magic log which is fluorescent.

Monday 15th - Good weather, have a big breakfast. William arrives at 9am. Drive to Coniston for noon, go up the Old Man via the hillside car park. They lag behind about 15 minutes. Have a long rest by the lake and have dinner. Push on to the summit. For an unexplained reason Dom wears no boots. After much discussion we all decide to walk along the ridge for the first time. Come down past a large lake, good skimmers. I hop out onto a large standing stone, get feet wet. Find a waterfall and play in it for a while. Get to the town, they have an ice cream and we have more Old Peculiar.

Tuesday 16th - Showers all day. Eventually decide to go to Sellafield Visitor Centre. Drive over the Wrynose and Hardknott. Paul gets a puncture on the way down. Change the tyre. Get to Sellafield for 2.30pm. Book a coach trip for 4.30pm. Have something to eat and then go round the exhibition. They enjoy it. Go on the coach trip, see the 1957 sealed towers, Calder Hall power station, Thorpe plant. Have bread and soup for tea. William tells us some more stories round the fire with a can of pedigree. Very heavy rain at night.

Wednesday 17th - Bad weather all day. Go to the swimming pool in Keswick. Not set off till late. Have fish and chips in Ambleside. Go down to the Black Bull again. We have more Old Peculiar while they phone up.

Thursday 18th - I go with Paul in the Renault into Coniston, book five bikes. Have some good local sausages for breakfast. Pick up the bikes at noon. Go up near Hodge Close. Go on part of the Wrynose pass. Starts to rain. Cross the Ambleside-Coniston road. Go up past Tarn Howes, heavy rain by now. Head to the Drunken Duck for a rest, it is shut. Dom is not too pleased. Ride back to Coniston, Me and Joe go the long way, via Tarn Howes. Joe loses control and breaks a tooth. Spaghetti for tea.

Friday 19th - I get up at 8am. Start clearing up. Heavy rain as we pack away. Dries up when everything is in the van. Back to Breadsall Scout hut to hang the tents up to dry.