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Four days to discover the heart of Cumbrian mining history beneath our feet

Step into the heart of Lakeland mining with expert guides by day and Tom McNally’s unforgettable underground world by night

Three historic mines, three brilliant experts, and one inspiring underground evening with Tom McNally

 

Dates:  Monday 20th April - Thursday 23rd April 2026 (optional add-on mountain day 24th April)

Locations: Langdale, Glenridding, Coniston & Honister

A journey into history unfolds for our Hikers on this mini-break.

Hiking Highs have put their mining connections into 1 week for you.

 

Monday 20th April:

The Langdale Connection - Elterwater, the site of gunpowder production. We will meet and greet our hikers for the week. A short welcome wander to hear the gunpowder story, will be followed by afternoon tea. 

Monday Evening:

Photographic Underground Journey told by Tom McNally.  Tom is an award winning documentary, adventure sports and lifestyle photographer.

2 course dinner at The Langdale Hotel Is included following Tom’s talk

 

Tuesday 21st April:

Tales of Greenside Mines will be told as we walk and talk with Warren Allison, who’s parents both worked at the mines, and has many a tale to tell first hand.

Find out more about Warren below.

Route details: Approx 10km & 550m ascent

 

Wednesday 22nd April:

Coniston Coppermines, The story of Boulder Valley, beneath and beyond.

Phil Johnstone, owner and inspiration behind the Coppermines valley as we know it today, will talk us through the mining historical timeline of this splendid valley and its people. 

Find out more about Phil below.

Route details: Approx 8km & 600m ascent

 

Thursday 24th April:

The Hidden Honistor tunnels: 

Hidden beneath Fleetwith Pike lie tunnels the public never normally sees. An expert from Honister Slate Mines will give us an exclusive tour through this secret world. With helmets and headtorches on, we will head into the depths and be amazed by what we uncover together.

Route details: Morning underground is an easy walking tour, Approx 3 km & 100m ascent

Afternoon hike onto Fleetwith Pike will be 6km with 400m of ascent approximately.

Nestled deep in the heart of the Lake District, the current owners of Honister are the proud guardians of the Westmorland Green Slate. This magnificent 450 million-year-old stone carries with it stories from aeons past, they been hewn from this very mountain for many a generation.

 

Friday 25th April (Optional add on £45):

Langdale Pikes Geology Tour with Liz Jolley - A true fell walking day out onto these iconic mountains, will push the boundaries of those who wish for 1 day out on the tops to complete their week of mining tales and history. (we will tick 4 Wainwrights too!)

Liz Jolley (geologist) will join us, to talk us through what lies beneath our feet, including visiting the Neolithic Axe Factory beneath Pike o’Stickle, and nearby outcrops of greenstone formed during volcanic activity millions of years ago, from which the axes were made. We’re excited to welcome you for a memorable day in the outdoors!

Mountain Day Walk Details - Distance: Approx. 7.1km with Ascent: 710m

 

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Cost:  £290 per person 

Included in the price:

• 3.5 x Guided low level hiking with qualified local guides and a Lakeland mines expert

• 1 x Evening Talk with Tom Mcnally

• 1 x Evening dinner at Langdale Hotel

What is NOT included in the price:

• Accommodation, and we recommend:
  - Langdale Hotel & Spa
  - The Quiet Site - Ullswater - kindly offering £60 off for 3 nights in a Glamping Cabin
  - Another Place Hotel - Ullswater

• Packed lunches (lovely healthy packed lunches for £15 each - on request)

 

Warren Allison’s connections to Greenside

My Great Great Grandfather on my mother's side came to Patterdale in the mid 1850's from Coniston where his family worked in the copper mines and slate quarries and his sons went to work at Greenside, so mining is in the blood.

I was born the same year as Greenside closed in 1962 and with my brother and sister, we stopped most weekends at my Grandmother's house in Glenridding. I still remember the day as an eight year old, Mum taking me to show me where her family had worked, which included her as she also worked at the mine as the wages clerk.

Picking up a Quartz crystal at the mine, I was hooked and from then on the mine has been my favourite place. As a ten perhaps twelve year old, Mum would drop me off at the mine and pick me up a few hours later, which started a 50 year interest in mining.

I am currently chairman of the Cumbria Amenity Trust Mining History Society which researches and explores mines all over the country but mainly in Cumbria. In 1992, we got permission to reopen the main entrance to Greenside and then spent six years digging through several roof falls underground which was proper mining.

Between 1999 and 2003, a friend and I put on exhibitions in Glenridding village hall showing the mine and what life was like in the parish when it was working. My Grandmother arranged for me to visit people most who I had never met and they lent their photographs which is now apparently one of the finest collections of a single parish in the country.

Grandmother moved into her house in Glenridding in 1918, which Mum still has and so the connection with the parish is now some 165 years. Jenkins Field which is  the large field on the lake shore by the steamer pier gets its name from my Great Great Grandfather.

 

Phil Johnston, Owner of Coniston Coppermines

My parents came from Manchester, moving to Cheshire before I was born in 1953.

Dad, born in 1901, was an early climber, In the Peak, and North Wales, and my parents met soon after the war on a walking holiday in North Wales. He was an engineer, who taught me the value of “ foresight”.

The early influences of mainly mountain walking holidays, led me to get a holiday job when I was 17, with a walking holiday company, in Coniston taking people on the fells.

I returned to Coniston a lot through my teens and  20’s, whilst pursuing a career in Estate Management, and then aged about, 24 with my own business,  in Architectural Salvage. 

On purchasing the land and very derelict buildings in Coppermines Valley in 1982, I set about a comprehensive programme of interpretation, restoration, conservation, economic sustainability for the site.

The business expanded, and once again we also manage other properties for a wide variety of clients, together with a small farm.

Most recently we have dedicated 65 acres of formerly rough fell grazing to a rewilding project, which you can see on the left hand side of Coppermines Valley as you ascend to the mines.

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