Malcolm and Ann decided it would be good for us to tackle the Matterhorn - and we were all relieved to hear that it was actually a small outcrop on the Coniston Fells rather than a mighty peak far far away that none of us were sure we could manage.

The weather, having been beautiful for weeks, decided this was the day to be really mean and nasty, so I reckon we could have managed the true Matterhorn anyway.  We altered the route a little bit to make sure we could see something on the way up and set off up the Walna Scar Road.

The rain stopped and we all enjoyed winding our way up through Goat's Water to reach the col between Dow Cragg and Coniston Old Man.  After a quick coffee stop in a rather breezey spot we decided it was too dicey to tackle Dow Cragg and headed instead up to Coniston Old Man.

Here we were rather subjected to the full force of the winds and rain which had been held back for over a month!  Ron and Ann had opted for shorts and did admit to things being a little chilly!

We turned our backs on the weather which helped a bit and headed along to Swirls.  Here we decided it really wasn't suitable to stay on the tops a minute longer and headed off down the Prison Band to shelter.  We got slightly off the path going down here, and made a good team effort using map, compass and the GPS to sort ourselves out, contour round and hit the path again bang on the col - always very satisfying when that happens.  And if you are ever heading down that Prison Band, we would highly recommend the slight swerve to the left as our grassy rocky path was much more enjoyable than the usual scree run!

Having found the path we celebrated with a quick lunch - as it was still pretty breezy.  Then down we went beside Levers Water.  It was still very misty here and it was great to walk along with only a few rocks in the murky depths visible ahead.  We enjoyed the emerging relics of the mining industry as we headed down to the Copper mines and had a good laugh at some 'fools' enjoying a rather wet ghyll scrambling experience - rather them than me.

One good thing about having to head off the hills early is that you can have a leisurely pint or two in the pub and this was achieved down at the Sun in Coniston, where the fire was lit and all were cosy. 

Thanks so much to Malcolm and Ann for leading the walk.  We'll head up that way again when the sun is out!