Walna Scar facts for kids
Walna Scar is a cool hill located in the beautiful English Lake District. It sits just south of a mountain pass that shares its name, in an area called the Coniston Hills. The very top of Walna Scar is about 2,035 feet (620 m) high, which is just a little bit taller than the pass itself.
This hill is special because it's the highest one mentioned in a famous book by Alfred Wainwright, called The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. He wrote about how to climb it, starting from a town called Coniston.
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Exploring Walna Scar
Walna Scar is a great place to visit if you love hiking and exploring. It offers amazing views of the surrounding Lake District. Many people enjoy climbing to the top to see the landscape from above.
How to Reach the Summit
You can start your climb to Walna Scar from two different places: the town of Coniston or the Duddon Valley. Both paths eventually meet up at the top of the Walna Scar Road. From there, you just head south to reach the very top of the hill.
The Historic Walna Scar Road
The Walna Scar Road is more than just a path; it's a restricted byway, which means it's a route that can be used by walkers, cyclists, horse riders, and sometimes even vehicles, though it's mostly for non-motorized travel. This road is very old! Alfred Wainwright called it "the ancient highway over Walna Scar" because it was once a busy route for packhorses.
In the Middle Ages, this road was super important. It connected Furness Abbey to Coniston and was used to transport wool. Imagine horses carrying big loads of wool along this very path hundreds of years ago! Some people even think parts of the road might have been used way back in the Bronze Age.
Walna Scar's Special Slate
Walna Scar isn't just known for its views and old road. It also has a unique type of rock called slate. This slate has cool stripes and was dug out of the ground (quarried) until the early 1900s. This special striped slate was very popular for making floors in homes across the North of England. You can still see the old quarry today on the slopes of the hill, looking down towards the Duddon Valley. It's a reminder of the area's history and how people used the natural resources around them.
