Walna Scar - Coniston

frankspencer1979

Hoping to do this tomorrow

Torver to Seathwaite, then over Walna Scar back to Torver. I've done the descent into Coniston before, but this ends up on quite a long road section. I see there's 2 BW's that drop off to Torver and one to Haws Bank. Are any of these a better alternative?

rockmonkeysc

Yes. I forget the names but at the carpark there is a bridleway to the right, leads to a gate and then through a short grassy section and down to a stream crossing and a rocky trail to the road.

sniper68

Before the car park...a long way before take the BW just after the little rocky gully.Good little route that passes through the old quarry,past a natural looking waterfall(that's actually man made) and into Torver.The last bit is Tarmac but it's a lot better than carrying on to Coniston 8)

frankspencer1979

Brill, I'll look out for it.

Was going to do the steep road climb from Torver through the big wood to Stephenson ground, then onto Seathwaite. Are there any trails round there I shouldn't miss!?

sniper68

Before you get to Stephenson ground follow the fire road that runs to the right of the river Lickle up to Nanny Bridge.Just after the bridge you cross over the river and double back on a cracking little trail back to Stephenson Ground
The outward leg is just a fire road grind and if you look left you can see the return track it's literally 50m across the river.It's worth the detour 8)

frankspencer1979

I've ridden out on that trail, thought it would be way better coming back the other way! Didn't realise there was a way of getting to it so I'll definitely be giving that a go! Cheers fella

rockmonkeysc

There are several singletrack trails in Stephensons Ground.
Would be interested to know if there is a more interesting route up to the top of Walna from the bottom of Stephensons Ground.

frankspencer1979

I found a big portion of the route from Stephenson ground to Walna to be an unrideable boggy drag.

Is the route over to Seathwaite any good? I've heard there's a good descent into Seathwaite but I don't know if that's what I'll be taking

frankspencer1979

Did Walna scar today. Really nice day out.

ibbo68 wrote:

Before you get to Stephenson ground follow the fire road that runs to the right of the river Lickle up to Nanny Bridge.Just after the bridge you cross over the river and double back on a cracking little trail back to Stephenson Ground
The outward leg is just a fire road grind and if you look left you can see the return track it's literally 50m across the river.It's worth the detour 8)

Did this, that portion of single track runs really well this way, worth the diversion like you said.

ibbo68 wrote:

Before the car park...a long way before take the BW just after the little rocky gully.Good little route that passes through the old quarry,past a natural looking waterfall(that's actually man made) and into Torver.The last bit is Tarmac but it's a lot better than carrying on to Coniston 8)

Found this, brilliant run pretty much all the way to Torver.

The descent into Seathwaite was decent too so overall a pretty good day. The route has loads of great singletrack and doubletrack. Hefty drag up Walna scar road but there's a good pay off.

sniper68

frankspencer1979 wrote:

The descent into Seathwaite was decent too so overall a pretty good day. The route has loads of great singletrack and doubletrack. Hefty drag up Walna scar road but there's a good pay off.

Sadly that descent has been sanitised.About three or four years back there was a really rocky chute/gully about 300m from the gate at the bottom.I don't know why it was removed but it really broke up the descent and made it better than it is.There used to be some steep slabs to the right hand side of it too :roll:
How's the top 200m of the Walna scar descent now?It too had been "repaired" when we were last there and was just starting to get cut up again :?:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

There are several singletrack trails in Stephensons Ground.
Would be interested to know if there is a more interesting route up to the top of Walna from the bottom of Stephensons Ground.

The only viable way is to follow the River Lickle up past Caw Moss and White Pike.It joins the original slog up Walna from Seathwaite just passed the gate before the trail turns left.A pretty good alternative but you miss the drop into Seathwaite.

frankspencer1979

It's still quite smooth at the very top, i couldn't say where exactly it starts to rough up, but a little bit of smooth ain't so bad when you take the descent as a whole.