15/05/17 - Inn Way to Lake District - Day 7 - Coniston to Old Dungeon Ghyll

Start - Coniston
End - Old Dungeon Ghyll
Distance -  7.5 Miles
Key Features - Furness Fells, Tilberthwaite
Geocaches - 1
Pubs -  (7 - 35 In Total)
Previous Legs - Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6

The final day of the Inn Way to the Lake District was always going to be the tough one.  For a start, its meant to be 15 miles.   Lakeland miles count double.   It also has a very high number of pubs to visit - four before you get to the eight in Ambleside.

We already had a choice about whether to complete the High Level route or the "Low Level" alternative.

Ultimately, the weather dictated the day.  On Day 3, I wrote about the drought.  The drought is over.

We looked out the porch of the Black Bull in Coniston, saw the rain bouncing off the tarmac and vowed to take the Low Level and make a decision on how we felt when we got to the Old Dungeon Ghyll, 1st pub of the day.

Rainy Coniston

The term "Low Level" is all relative.  We have the same early climb up the Coniston Fells but veer right at Milners Bridge, avoiding Swirl Hause and taking in the wonderful steep valley of Tilberthwaite.  In total, we still manage 1840ft of ascent - very nearly a whole mountain.

Tilberthwaite would have been even more spectacular if we could see it through the mist.

A rare glimpse

I'm not going to try and pretent it was fun.   The paths are turning to streams, there is little to see and our soggy pants confirm what we already know.  Goretex just does not work.

A Rambler with the 1000 Yard Stare

No point getting the camera out too often as we fight our way down to the road and up and over Knotts to Blea Tarn and ulitmately the Langdale Pikes.  Delighted to say, it looked exactly as we remember it from March.

Langdale Pikes

Pub 29, The Old Dungeon Ghyll, Langdale, Yates Bitter

Refuge!

Gav heads to the pub first and I am in charge of a) finding out what time the bus leaves for Ambleside and B) get the Geocache.  I succeed in both and we have nearly two hours until 2:05pm to determine what to do next.

I'll never write Mystery Novels.  Of course it was this.

The ODG is perfect for our needs in every way.   The vinyl floor slopes away from the bar, so the run off water from our sodden clothes flushes away, causing only a minor trip hazard.  The log burner is on.  The beers are excellent.  The Staff (and other punters) are once again in great spirits.

We could not have stood around in our sodden stuff, so we were forced to change into what we had dry in the Gents and confirm our abandonment with the locals.

Those that were there to see the conditions, agreed with our choice.  Those that saw my Twitter check ins called us quitters and wanted their sponsorship money back.

Can't begin to explain how nice this was.

So, not quite the finale I was expecting but the ODG is a fine place to end any adventure.

The bus was bang on time and not without its own excitement. Splashing through the huge puddles was more akin to the Log Flume at Alton Towers than any regular bus journey.

Inglorious End to the Inn Way Challenge 2017

We've done the other pubs (New Dungeon Ghyll and Sticklebarn) in Langdale before, so not too worried about missing out on these but it was a shame that we missed out on the Britannia in Elterwater - a pub I had heard really good things about.

However, once we were ensconced in the new outdoor Hot Tub on the Salutation in Ambleside, rain beating down on us but gently warmed and massaged, we knew we had made the right decision.

Ambleside Pubs in a separate blog - as well as an Inn Way to the Lake District Summary.

Thanks for reading.