Coniston Adventure Loop Challenge

The Coniston Valley is no stranger to speed records, with Donald Campbell using Coniston Water for trial runs and then an attempt to break the World Water Speed Record in the Bluebird. This adventurous challenge will give you the opportunity to set your own speed record on a journey around the valley by mountain bike, foot, and includes a 37m abseil to really add to the challenge along the way.

We starting above the beautiful village of Coniston, directly at the foot of the biggest mountain in the area, the Old Man of Coniston, with views across Coniston Water. The first part of the journey starts by mountain bike, using two wheels to gently ascend south west along the Walna Scar road, before descending down fun trails mountain bike trails which are technically straight forward, into the valley. Using a mixture of rural roads, cycle track, and simple off road tracks, we continue our way along the shores of Coniston Water, before ascending further north into the mountains, to reach Cathedral Quarry. Left over from the Lake District’s industrial past, this astounding but well hidden quarry feels like something out of a J R R Tolkien novel, featuring a large cave, a quarry and numerous underground tunnels. This is the site of our 37 meter abseil down its biggest face. From here we get back on the bikes and head through the picturesque valley of Little Langdale, and up one of the Lake Districts infamous mountain pass’s – Wrynose Pass. From the top of the pass we leave our bikes for the last time, continuing the final stage of the adventure back by foot. Walking southwards down the spine of the Coniston fells, traversing over the summits of Great Carrs and Swirl How, this spectacular ridge walk and its stunning views across the Lake District mountains leads to the final objective, the Old Man of Coniston. From the highest summit in this part of the National Park, we descend back down to our start point, in a target time of within 10 hours.

We recommend that in the lead-up to this challenge, participants work on building up their stamina with weekly cardio-vascular exercise of a minimum of 1 hour per day, 5 days per week to build up their calf + quad muscles. It would also be beneficial to do at least one training walk if possible on broken rough terrain walking for at least 8 hours. From an average fitness start point it is likely you will need to commit to a 3-4 month fitness training programme to maximise your chance of success. We can help you prepare for this event – for  information about our  pre-selection / training day click here.