Up to the Coniston Copper-Mines

Having got back from Hawkshead, my next mini-adventure was to go up to the copper mines in the mountains/hills behind the Black Bull pub in Coniston:

Have just read that copper-mining existed high above Coniston from Elizabethan times up until the mid-20th century. More recently, the copper-mining area has been redesigned for tourism.

Heading up towards the copper-mining area, I first came across gushing waterfalls:

And what looked like a large stream/narrow river making its way down the mountain:

At times, the noise was really loud giving a definite atmosphere to the hike.

At first, I thought the building over the bridge below was a pub, but it turned out to be a Youth Hostel:

Shortly afterwards, I was up in the tourist area:

Which was laid out very well, offering a sense of what early copper-mining had been like in the area:

With another Youth Hostel building coming into view:

Really liked the kind of shed building below which offered further insights into the area's past copper-mining industry:

While looking inside the place, I couldn't help but think that it offered better shelter than my small tent next to the lake in the valley below.

I would guess that the Water Wheel below is one of the central features of the copper-mining tourism area:

While walking back down towards Coniston village, I got talking to a man from Milton Keynes who had been brought up not far from Coniston. 

He stressed that the mountain walk got more impressive further up from the copper-mining tourism area, especially around Levers Water Tarn, but, for me, this would have to wait for some time in the future.