From the high mountains crowding around its head to the gentle rolling hills at its foot, Coniston Water has a beautiful setting. Arthur Ransome spent his childhood summer holidays here and his vivid memories of sailing on the lake, exploring the gentle hills around the foot of the lake, making friends with the charcoal-burners in the lakeshore woodlands and climbing the craggy, mine-riddled bulk of the Old Man of Coniston overlooking the head of the lake surfaced later in his children's classic 'Swallows and Amazons'. Peel Island became the 'Wild Cat Island' of the book, the River Crake emerging from the lake is the 'Amazon', Allan Tarn is 'Octopus Lagoon' and the Old Man of Coniston is 'Kanchenjunga'. The Steam Yacht Gondola, which still provides a passenger service up and down the lake, was the inspiration for 'Captain Flint's' houseboat.

Starting at the charming Lakeland village of Coniston at the head of Coniston Water this delightful walk circumnavigates Coniston Water, breaking the journey at Spark Bridge at the foot of the lake. Highlights of the walk include idyllic Beacon Tarn and the breathtaking views of Coniston Water and the Coniston Fells from Blawith Beacon; Brantwood House, the beautiful home of John Ruskin, the writer, artist, philosopher, social critic and philanthropist; the 'sculptures in the forest'; the magnificent views from Carron Crag which include the major Lakeland mountains, Morecambe Bay and the Pennines; and the grave of John Ruskin, marked by a beautiful Celtic cross carved from local stone, in the churchyard of St Andrew's in the centre of the village of Coniston.