Grey Friar

Every drop of rain on Grey Friar ends up in the Duddon, not in Coniston Water, and the fell stands apart from the main Coniston ridge, west of Great Carrs. Its long, rough slopes make the east wall of the Duddon valley for several kilometres.

Seathwaite, the top of Wrynose Pass and Cockley Beck are all possible starts on the Duddon side. A good line begins at Long House Gill bridge on the Walna Scar Road above Seathwaite, where the wide verge takes about half a dozen cars. Follow the Seathwaite Tarn track to the dam, then a faint cairned path up grass between outcrops onto the south-west ridge. It grows clearer as it climbs over Wether How. That way is about 3.2 miles with 2,020 feet of ascent. Walkers from Coniston usually add Grey Friar to a round of the Coniston fells, reaching it from Great Carrs or Swirl How.

The northern and western slopes are long and rough, with many small crags, but the usual paths need no scrambling.

Two cairned outcrops sit on the stony top. The south-east one is higher, and the north-west one has the better view. About 200 metres north-west of the summit stands a pointed rock known as the Matterhorn Rock. The Scafells look good from here, and the Coniston fells run away south along the ridge.

Copper was mined on the fell in the mid-19th century, at the Seathwaite mine on the south slopes and the Cockley Beck mine to the north-west. Neither came close to the Coniston workings in size or profit.