CHAPTER VIII 



CONISTON LAKE 



CONISTON (or more properly Thurston water) is 

 the third largest lake of the district, being six 

 miles in length, and about three-quarters of a mile 

 in breadth. Its area is 1,210 acres, and its height 

 above sea level 146 feet. Its principal feeders 

 are Yewdale Beck, draining Yewdale and Tilber- 

 thwaite, and Church Beck. Its effluent is the river 

 Crake. 



Coniston lies parallel to and above five miles 

 west of Windermere. Its setting is of a soft 

 and more sylvan character than that of most of the 

 lakes, except on its northern extremity. Here the 

 mountains are finely massed, the most striking 

 being Coniston Old Man (Maen = steep rock) 

 2,633 feet; and Wetherlam. 



However keen the angler may be on wetting his 

 line in the lake, he should not omit to climb to the 

 summit of the Old Man. If he is fortunate in get- 

 ting favourable atmospheric conditions the pros- 

 pect from the cairn on the summit is one that will 

 astonish and delight him. On the shoulder of the 

 mountain is Levers Water, and as he proceeds up 

 the path he will come upon one of those solitary 

 mountain tarns Low Water which are so charac- 



